Ukraine needs as much as $1 billion to restore critical infrastructure quickly in order to get through the winter, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Dec. 12.
"The estimated cost of supporting the power industry is estimated at $500 million, and the same amount is needed for the heating sector," he explained.
Shmyhal also said that, by attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure, Russia is trying to "flood" the European Union with a new wave of refugees.
He noted that Russian missile and artillery strikes on energy infrastructure facilities led to electricity and water supply outages that affected millions of Ukrainians amid freezing weather.
Shmyhal called on Western allies to provide Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems, among other air defenses, to counter Russian attacks.
On the previous day, Shmyhal warned of "significant" energy cuts this winter after Russia's missile blitz damaged "all thermal and hydroelectric power plants" across the country.
Since Oct. 10, Moscow has unleashed six large-scale strikes targeting Ukraine's energy sector, killing dozens of civilians and causing emergency blackouts.
Russia has fired over a thousand missiles and loitering munitions at energy infrastructure nationwide over the last two months, Volodymyr Kudrytsky, CEO of Ukraine's state grid operator Ukrenergo, said on Dec. 9.
The most recent nationwide attack on Ukraine occurred on Dec. 5, killing four and hitting energy sites in at least three regions.
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The operation targeted ships that, according to the source, could have transported nearly $70 million worth of oil and helped Moscow bypass international sanctions.
Ukraine's military reportedly struck one of southern Russia's largest oil refineries overnight on Nov. 29, Russian Telegram media channels reported.
Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 596 Shahed-type attack and decoy drones and 36 missiles of various types overnight.
"I'm going to the front and am prepared for any reprisals... I am an honest and decent person," Former Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak said.
A Russian military victory in Ukraine would cost Europe twice as much as a Ukrainian victory, according to a new study by Corisk and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs published on Nov. 25.
Orban reiterated his readiness to hold the peace talks on Ukraine in Hungary, even as plans for a summit in Budapest between Putin and Trump have been scrapped.
Vasyl Verameichyk, a Belarusian soldier who previously served as a volunteer fighter for Ukraine, was sentenced to 13 years in prison in Belarus, independent outlet Belsat reported on Nov. 28.
Andriy Yermak, head of the President's Office, submitted his resignation following searches by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) at his premises earlier on Nov. 28, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
As Russia bombards Ukraine with Shahed drones almost every night, the 12th Army Aviation Brigade takes to the skies in decades-old helicopters to intercept them. The Kyiv Independent’s Kollen Post joined the pilots to understand how they fly, maneuver, and shoot down drones in darkness — and what keeps them going.
As law enforcement raids the house of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s closest aide, European officials are voicing support for Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies — with one even expressing relief that a figure seen a toxic among some in Europe is being investigated.
In a letter, sent on Nov. 27 and seen by the Kyiv Independent, Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever labelled the EU's "reparations loan" scheme as "fundamentally wrong," and argued that moving forward on the initiative could complicate an eventual peace deal.





