EBRD approves $290 million loan for Ukraine's gas
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on March 26 approved a loan of 270 million euros ($290 million) for Ukraine's Naftogaz company to purchase gas for the next two winters, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
Norway is also allocating 140 million euros ($150 million) in grants through the EBRD, the prime minister added.
The news comes as Ukraine and Russia agreed to halt strikes against energy facilities as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Both sides have accused one another of violating the truce.
"This resource will help us accumulate gas reserves in underground storage facilities for the next winter," Shmyhal said.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine's gas infrastructure during the full-scale war, periodically pushing down the country's production by as much as 40% and forcing Kyiv to buy gas abroad.
Russian drones and missiles have also targeted Ukraine's gas storage facilities in western Ukraine.
In February, Ukraine's Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said Russian strikes had severely impacted Ukraine's domestic gas production capacity and that the country would need to import an estimated 1 billion cubic meters of gas by the end of the year.
The EBRD, a London-based developmental investment bank, is Ukraine's largest institutional investor. It has invested more than 6.2 billion euros ($6.7 billion) in the country since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022 and plans to raise this figure by $1.56 billion this year.
Kateryna Denisova
