Zelensky: "Russian Airstrikes Destroy Half of Ukraine's Power Facilities, Halving Electricity Consumption"

Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, claimed that power plants equivalent to half of the country's electricity consumption since last winter have been destroyed due to Russian airstrikes.

President Zelensky said on the 11th (local time) at the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference held in Berlin, Germany, "9GW of power generation capacity was destroyed by Russian missile and drone attacks," adding, "Electricity consumption last winter peaked at 18GW."

According to major foreign media, Ukraine's power generation capacity recently plummeted from 55GW before the war to below 20GW.

President Zelensky also stated at the conference that contracts worth billions of euros will be signed in the fields of weapons production, energy infrastructure repair and construction, housing reconstruction, education, and medical equipment.

Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine [Photo by Yonhap News]

The conference, held over two days until the 12th, is attended by about 2,000 officials and businesspeople from over 60 countries to discuss reconstruction plans such as revitalizing private investment. The World Bank estimates that at least $486 billion (approximately 670 trillion KRW) is needed to recover from the damages caused by the war in Ukraine.

Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine, appealed for investment, stating that $10 billion to $30 billion (approximately 13.8 trillion to 41.4 trillion KRW) per year is needed for economic reconstruction.

Following this conference, the Group of Seven (G7) summit will be held from the 13th to the 15th in Puglia, Italy, and the Ukraine Peace Conference will be held from the 15th to the 16th in W?rgenstock, Switzerland.

At the G7 summit, plans to assist Ukraine using the returns from frozen Russian assets in various countries since the outbreak of the war are expected to be the main topic of discussion. The 27 European Union (EU) countries agreed last February to establish a fund of 50 billion euros (approximately 74 trillion KRW) over four years until 2027 to support Ukraine's reconstruction and modernization.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.