KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said early on Tuesday that he had held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Japan’s energy aid to Kyiv.
“Restoring our energy supply after Russian shelling and preparing for winter are tasks we are actively working on now,” Zelenskiy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. “Together with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, we discussed the situation in the energy sector.”
Both Zelenskiy and Kishida are in the United States to attend sessions at the U.N. General Assembly and where the Ukrainian leader is also set to present his “victory plan” to the leadership of the United States.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Japan has been one of several nations sending support, including $4.5 billion this year, according to the Japanese foreign ministry website.
Japan has provided Kyiv with equipment for restoration work and increasing the capacity of the Ukrainian power system to get through winter amidst Russia’s continued strikes on energy infrastructure.
Ukraine’s electricity supply shortfall could reach about a third of expected peak demand amid the attacks and the expiry of a gas supply contract at the end of this year, the International Energy Agency said in a report last week.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Oleksandr Kozhukhar in Kyiv; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Lisa Shumaker)
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