By Vanora Bennett

A senior delegation from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), headed by Matteo Patrone, Vice President, Banking, visited Kyiv this week for talks with Ukraine’s government and major energy company heads on supporting the energy sector in the wake of major Russian attacks on the country’s power generation facilities.

The EBRD has significantly stepped up its investment in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale war on the country, deploying €4.6 billion(US$5.1million) there since 2022, of which at least €1 billion has been to energy companies Ukrenergo, Naftogaz and Ukrhydroenergo. 

With energy security currently at the top of the Ukraine agenda, the Bank has reworked its 2024 investment plans to address the urgent Ukrainian energy needs arising from the recent attacks. In Kyiv, the EBRD discussed progress on winterisation and emergency energy generation projects which are currently being prepared. 

The Bank is taking a holistic approach to supporting energy security, working both with state-owned companies and the financial sector to support energy generation facilities and infrastructure, construct new distributed flexible generation capacities and ensure stable and uninterrupted electricity supply all over Ukraine.  

On Wednesday, for instance, the EBRD launched its Energy Security Support Facility (ESSF), a landmark programme that will enable Ukraine’s financial sector to provide better access to financing for energy security investments in Ukraine. 

EBRD guarantees to partner banks under the ESSF programme will enable up to €700 million of finance supporting local firms, municipalities and households to buy generators and invest in other decentralised energy generation, energy storage and energy efficiency measures. Ukrgasbank and PrivatBank were the first to sign for the portfolio-risk-sharing facility, for a total of €325 million.

“Our key short-term priority is to support the winterisation of the energy sector. We have medium and longer-term plans for this sector as well. In order to achieve all this with our partners we need a conducive environment characterised by a credible and predictable corporate governance system and by swift and effective decision-making,” said Mr Patrone.

The EBRD delegation included the Bank’s Managing Director for Ukraine and Moldova, Arvid Tuerkner, and Harry Boyd-Carpenter, EBRD Managing Director, Climate Strategy and Delivery, who coordinates the EBRD’s work across the green economy agenda. With them were Irina Kravchenko, a deputy head of the EBRD’s Ukraine team, and Ukraine energy banker Olga Yeriomina.

During their four days in Kyiv, the EBRD representatives met Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal, First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko, Energy Minister German Galushchenko, and Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk. They also met officials from the Ministry of Restoration and Restoration Agency, as well as representatives of state-owned energy companies Ukrenergo, Ukrnafta and Gas TSO. 

The delegation visited the National Bank of Ukraine for talks with Governor Andriy Pyshnyy. The EBRD also discussed investments with Ukrainian Railways, the postal firm Ukrposhta and Ukraine’s largest systemically important bank, PrivatBank. 

Among international meetings were talks with EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova representatives of the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, European Investment Bank and European Union. The EBRD group also met  special envoy to France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Pierre Heilbronn, Italy’s envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine, Davide La Cecilia, and The Netherlands’ special envoy for Ukraine Erica Schouten.

The EBRD delegation also attended an event, “Demining Ukraine: Resilience, Recovery and Global Food Security,” part of an ongoing discussion on the impact on food production of Russian mines, which the US State Department estimates have contaminated over a third of Ukraine’s land. Mr Tuerkner participated in the YES (Yalta European Seminar) annual meeting, a gathering of senior statesmen and analysts.