Athens— Ukraine has secured imports of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Greece to cover its winter needs from December through to March next year, Greek and Ukrainian officials said on Sunday during a visit to Athens by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine will import gas via a pipeline that runs across the Balkan peninsula to secure critical supplies after Russian attacks on energy infrastructure and gas production facilities.
Greek gas company DEPA and Ukraine’s state firm Naftogaz said in a joint statement that the deal was effective starting December. Zelensky, speaking alongside Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said deliveries would begin in January.
“We rebuild each time the Russians destroy, but this truly requires time, much effort, equipment and, regarding gas...imports to compensate for the destruction by the Russians of our own production,” Zelenskiy told reporters.
Ahead of his Greek visit, Zelenskiy said Kyiv had allocated funds for gas imports from European partners and banks under European Commission guarantees, as well as from Ukrainian banks, to help cover nearly the €2bn needed.
Ukraine’s government was also working with US partners to ensure full financing, he added.
The deal comes after Greece clinched its first long-term deal to supply US LNG to Europe from 2030 after the EU approved a ban on Russian LNG from 2027 over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, which is now in its fourth year.
“Greece is becoming an energy security provider for your homeland”, Mitsotakis told Zelenskiy, adding that the agreement will also help stop Russian natural gas from entering Europe.
Earlier, Zelensky and his security council chief said Ukraine was working to resume the exchange of prisoners with Russia, hoping for the release of 1,200 Ukrainians.
“We are counting on the resumption of exchanges,” Zelensky said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday. “Many meetings, negotiations and calls are now devoted to this.”
His security chief, Rustem Umerov, said on Saturday he had held consultations in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the support of Kyiv’s partners, on resuming the process of exchanges.
“As a result of these negotiations, the parties agreed to return to the Istanbul agreements,” he said. “This concerns the release of 1,200 Ukrainians,” Umerov said in a statement on Telegram.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow on Ukraine’s statements.
Reuters
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