Ukraine's Minister of Communities and Territories Development Oleksiy Chernyshov addresses a breakout session during the Ukraine Recovery Conference URC in Lugano on July 4, 2022. (ALESSANDRO DELLA VALLE / POOL / AFP)
KIEV / MOSCOW – Ukraine needs 4 billion euros (about $3.97 billion) to go through the winter cold season, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on Tuesday, citing Minister for the Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine Oleksiy Chernyshov.
"We need four billion euros to get through this winter — to renovate houses, to support health care and energy supplies," Chernyshov said at the International Expert Conference on the Recovery, Reconstruction and Modernisation of Ukraine in Berlin, Germany.
On Oct 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia's attacks had destroyed about 30 percent of Ukraine's power stations, causing massive blackouts across the country
Besides, Ukraine lacks backup equipment for water and power supply, such as mobile water purification stations, mobile heating stations, diesel generators and electric heaters, the minister said.
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Ukraine is facing an energy crisis ahead of the winter cold season due to the conflict with Russia that started on Feb 24.
On Oct 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia's attacks had destroyed about 30 percent of Ukraine's power stations, causing massive blackouts across the country.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva have discussed a new cooperation program between Kiev and the IMF, the Ukrainian government press service said on Tuesday.
At the talks in Berlin, Germany, Shmyhal voiced his hope that the new IMF program for Ukraine will start in 2023.
"We are making every effort to pass all the interim stages and transfer to the new program of cooperation with the Fund as soon as possible," he said.
Shmyhal and Georgieva exchanged views on the results of the IMF Ukraine mission that worked in Vienna, Austria, on Oct 17-20, which saw talks between Ukrainian authorities and the IMF staff team.
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The parties also touched upon the prospects for establishing an international donor platform, which implies a mechanism of coordination of aid to Ukraine.
So far this year, Ukraine has received $2.7 billion in emergency disbursements from the IMF under the Rapid Financing Instrument, according to Ukrainian media.
Separately, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday barred more persons of the European Union member states from entering Russia in response to their anti-Russian actions.
Among the newly blacklisted are representatives of European manufacturers of weapons and military equipment supplied to Ukraine and some lawmakers of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the ministry said in a statement.
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The Russian side did not specify who are subject to the travel ban.