Ukraine is facing a shortage of funds to ensure the heating season - it currently lacks about $750 million out of the two billion needed to purchase imported gas. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this during a briefing, emphasizing that the government is actively negotiating with international partners to cover this financial gap.

According to the president, the issue of financing energy imports is key to getting through the winter without disruptions in gas supplies. “Today, we understand that we lack about 750 million out of the two billion we are talking about for gas,” Zelenskyy noted.

In this context, the president reported on a telephone conversation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. During the conversation, the European official assured that the European Union is ready to support Ukraine by allocating another 127 million euros for gas purchases. After the conversation, von der Leyen stressed on the social network X that Ukraine “will not face this winter alone,” emphasizing the EU’s solidarity with Kyiv.

Volodymyr Zelensky also noted that the Ukrainian Minister of Energy had met with representatives of the energy departments of the G7 countries. According to him, Canada, Italy, Germany and other partners expressed support, which demonstrates a broad international coalition in support of the Ukrainian energy sector.

Meanwhile, the Naftogaz group reported that in order to get through the winter stably, Ukraine needs to import an additional 4 billion cubic meters of gas. To this end, the company is already actively attracting financial resources from international financial institutions. In particular, in August, Naftogaz signed a loan agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for 500 million euros.

In addition, at the end of July, the company received loans worth 4.7 billion hryvnias from state-owned banks — Ukrgasbank and PrivatBank, and also signed an agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for 300 million euros. The funds raised are directed to the purchase of imported gas, the formation of strategic reserves and ensuring energy stability during the heating season.

In addition, the Ukrainian government allocated 8.4 billion hryvnias to Naftogaz to finance the purchase of natural gas abroad. Thus, thanks to international financial support and state resources, the country plans to ensure uninterrupted energy supplies in the winter, even despite the existing deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars.