EBRD provides record 2.9 billion euros to Ukraine in 2025, prioritizing war-hit energy sector
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provided a record 2.9 billion euros in financing to Ukraine in 2025, with nearly half directed to its Ukraine's embattled energy sector, the bank said in a press release on Feb. 5.
Russia's sustained drone and missile attacks against Ukraine have devastated the country's energy sector, leaving millions without heat, water, and electricity in freezing temperatures this winter.
Energy investments made up over 1.2 billion euros of the bank's financing to Ukraine last year, providing support for gas imports, decentralized generation, emergency repairs, and renewable energy projects, the bank said. Since 2022, the EBRD has deployed almost 3.3 billion euros to the energy sector.
The EBRD provided two loans to Ukrainian state oil and gas company Naftogaz to replenish gas reserves ahead of winter, including a 500-million-euro package in August after reserves dropped to an 11-year low in May — the bank's largest ever project in Ukraine.
After Russia began attacking Ukraine's gas production facilities in October of last year, leading to a loss of 60% of the country's production capacity, the bank also agreed to provide financing to cover emergency gas imports.
Although the bank's mandate focuses on private sector investments — which make up about 75% of its global portfolio — the wartime realities in Ukraine have meant more support for state-owned enterprises, especially in the energy sector.
The EBRD also secured a 50-million-euro loan to restore the confinement at the disaster site of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant after a Russian drone attack on the plant in February 2025.
Private sector investments in Ukraine accounted for 57% of the bank's total investments last year and 90% of its projects, the bank said in the press release.
"The share of public and private reflects the environment that we're in," Greg Guyett, EBRD head of client services, told reporters in Kyiv on Feb. 4. "I would expect that in a reconstruction situation, we'll see the amount of work we do in the private sector go up on a relative basis."
In 2025, the EBRD deployed another 1.2 billion euros through partner banks in Ukraine to help small- and medium-sized businesses access loans backed by donor guarantees.
Russia’s war has kept foreign investors away and restricted access to credit, leaving institutions like the EBRD to to step into to fill the lending gaps.
The bank provided a 50-million-euro loan to private postal carrier Nova Poshta to help the company expand job opportunities to underserved groups, an 11-million-loan to Karpaty Mineral Water, and $25 million loan to food retailer Varus to support food security during the war.
Since Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022, the bank has deployed 9.1 billion euros in the country. In 2024, the bank provided 2.4 billion euros to Ukraine.
The bank said that it will continue providing at least 1.5 billion a year to Ukraine during the war — a commitment backed by a 2023 agreement to raise the bank’s paid-in capital by 4 billion euros.
"Over the past four years of war, the EBRD has stood firmly by Ukraine — helping keep essential services running, safeguarding energy security and supporting businesses through unprecedented pressures," EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso said in the press release.
"We remain unwavering in that commitment and are already working with the government to lay the foundations for a resilient and sustainable reconstruction."
