Vital supplies of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) will begin flowing into war-torn Ukraine this winter via a pipeline across the Balkans.
The deal was announced after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens on Sunday. Greece is working to increase the flow of American LNG to its terminals to “replace Russian gas in the region,” Mitsotakis said recently.
The European Commission plans to ban all Russian gas imports to EU member states by the end of 2027 on the grounds that Russian gas sales are used to finance the war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy is currently in France, where President Emmanuel Macron has signed a letter of intent to buy up to 100 Rafale jets.
Fighting continued throughout the night in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, Kherson, and Donetsk regions, with six people killed in Russian attacks.
Russian forces said they had taken control of three additional Ukrainian villages, one each in Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
No report can be independently verified.
Earlier in Athens, Prime Minister Zelenskyy was quoted as saying that U.S. LNG supplies would begin in January.
“We rebuild every time the Russians destroy, but this requires gas imports, time, a lot of effort and equipment to compensate for the destruction of our production by the Russians,” he said.
“Greece is becoming a provider of energy security for our homeland,” Mitsotakis told the Ukrainian president.
According to news agency Reuters, Zelenskyy said Kiev had allocated funds for gas imports from European partners, banks under European Commission guarantees and Ukrainian banks to cover imports until March, at a cost of nearly 2 billion euros (1.8 billion pounds, $2.3 billion).
Ukraine has been receiving supplies from several EU countries since it stopped buying Russian gas directly in 2015.
The Soviet-era Trans-Balkan Pipeline connects Ukraine with LNG terminals in Greece via Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria.
There have been concerns about an energy crisis in Ukraine this winter following continued Russian attacks on the country’s energy facilities, particularly thermal power plants.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs issued an official warning, saying, “The coming winter poses new risks for Ukrainians… as intensified attacks on energy networks undermine efforts to keep homes, schools and health centers warm.”
The letter, signed by Zelensky and Macron during a visit to the Villakoublé air base near Paris, outlines a future deal for Ukraine to acquire Rafale fighter jets “along with associated weapons.”
The letter, which is not a purchase and sale agreement, also lists deals for SAMP-T air defense systems, radar systems and drones.
Prime Minister Zelenskyy, who visited Sweden last month, signed a letter of intent to purchase 100 to 150 Gripen fighter jets.
From France, Zelensky went to Mont Valerien, west of Paris, to visit the initial headquarters of a planned multinational force that would one day help oversee a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, tens of thousands of people, mostly soldiers, have been killed or injured and millions of civilians have fled their homes.
