EU urges donations to support Ukraine energy sector

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) -The European Commission urged European Union countries and companies to donate more money and equipment to support the energy sector in Ukraine, over a third of which has been destroyed by Russian missile and drone strikes.

“What is at stake is the protection and wellbeing of thousands and tens of thousands of households, vulnerable people, children and elderly before this coming winter,” EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said on Tuesday.

Speaking after a meeting of energy ministers in Luxembourg, she said Ukrainian transformers, circuit breakers and power lines had been destroyed, causing outages.

“It is urgent,” she told reporters.

She said clearly more was needed than the 20.5 million euros ($20.43 million) worth of donations that has been collected. She encouraged private entities, such as companies, to do more too.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a conference on Ukraine reconstruction that Russian rockets and Iran-made drones had destroyed more than a third of his country’s energy sector.

($1 = 1.0032 euros)

(Reporting by Kate Abnett, Charlotte Van Campenhout; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Jonathan Oatis)