U.S. Announces $55 Million in Assistance to Help Ukraine Prepare for Winter

Today in Ukraine, Administrator Samantha Power announced a $55 million investment in Ukraine’s heating infrastructure to aid the country’s preparations for winter amid the Russian Federation’s brutal war. This assistance will support repairs and maintenance of pipes and other equipment necessary to deliver heating to homes, hospitals, schools, and businesses across Ukraine.

The new USAID assistance will directly benefit up to seven million Ukrainians in 19 regions. USAID will also provide power generators and alternative fuel sources to hospitals, centers for internally-displaced persons, and shelters for socially vulnerable citizens, helping provide the people of Ukraine with access to warm shelter during winter. The assistance will target parts of Ukraine that have been devastated by Putin’s war, including the regions of Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhya, and Zhytomyr.

The new funding comes in addition to significant USAID assistance to Ukraine’s energy sector since the start of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion and will help Ukraine ensure continued supplies of heating and hot water to its citizens. Under the initiative, USAID has already provided heating pipes and other equipment to help restore services to 22,000 people in Kyiv who had lost access due to the Russian military’s destruction of civilian infrastructure.

The assistance is being delivered through USAID’s Energy Security Project. The five-year activity aims to help Ukraine build a more secure and transparent energy sector that ensures stable and affordable supplies to citizens while reducing the country’s dependence on Russian gas and electricity. Since the start of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, USAID has helped Ukraine connect its electricity grid with the European electricity system, allowing Ukraine to export electricity to the European Union for the first time.

The U.S. government has responded to the Russian Federation’s brutal war against Ukraine by delivering $8.5 billion in direct budget support to the Government of Ukraine to help maintain critical government services, such as paying salaries of first responders, meeting pension obligations, and maintaining hospitals. In addition, the U.S. government has provided $1.5 billion in humanitarian assistance to millions of persons, both in Ukraine and in neighboring countries, since February 2022.

In addition to strengthening Ukraine’s energy security during wartime, USAID assistance helps farmers in Ukraine to continue growing food for domestic and global markets, supports Ukrainian efforts to document and seek accountability for war crimes and human rights abuses, fills key gaps in Ukraine’s health system, including supporting the delivery of 53 million doses of PEPFAR-funded antiretroviral drugs for 150,000 people across Ukraine living with HIV/AIDs, as well as nearly one million additional doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, and helps local government bodies in 91 communities respond to challenges caused by Putin’s brutal invasion.