During a working visit to Helsinki, First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Energy Denys Shmyhal held a series of high-level bilateral meetings.
During a meeting with Finland’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Sari Multala, the parties discussed deepening cooperation between the two countries in the energy sector.
Denys Shmyhal thanked his counterpart for visiting Ukraine on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster. The parties also reached agreements on jointly developing nuclear energy as a strategic area of cooperation.
“I shared our plans for building a new architecture of Ukraine’s energy system. Nuclear energy will form its foundation, while renewable energy sources will be developed to balance the system. Finland’s experience in this area is particularly valuable,” the Minister of Energy of Ukraine noted.
The ministers also discussed the transfer of equipment from decommissioned CHP plants, which would significantly strengthen Ukraine’s generation capacities.
Denys Shmyhal thanked Finland for its support of Ukraine’s energy sector, including 71 humanitarian shipments with a total weight of 689.3 tonnes. Transformers and generators provided by Finland are of particular importance for strengthening Ukraine’s energy resilience.
The Minister of Energy invited Finnish companies to make use of Ukrainian gas storage facilities and stressed that Ukraine looks forward to expanding joint projects aimed at strengthening both Ukraine’s resilience and regional energy security.
During a meeting with Finland’s Minister of Defence, Antti Häkkänen, Denys Shmyhal expressed gratitude for the military support provided to Ukraine and for the minister’s personal commitment to this issue.
“We have consistent and comprehensive support from our Finnish partners — both in the defence sphere and in the energy sector. Finland’s recent announcement of its intention to join the Drone Coalition is an important contribution to strengthening Ukraine’s defence capabilities and protecting critical infrastructure,” he stated.
The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy underlined that Ukraine highly values the established cooperation with Finnish partners on technological and military solutions for the protection of energy facilities, noting that the parties intend to further develop this area.
“Ukraine and Finland are strategic partners. Combining our cooperation in defence and energy is key to strengthening the resilience not only of Ukraine, but of Europe as a whole,” Denys Shmyhal concluded.
