Monday 14 March 2022

Britain charges up Ukraine

As the war in Ukraine enters its 19th day, the UK Government has unveiled plans to provide energy support to Ukraine.

Britain will donate more than 500 mobile generators to help keep the lights on in Ukraine, the government has announced today.

These mobile generators are manufactured to provide much-needed energy to essential facilities across Ukraine, including hospitals, shelters and water treatment plants that have suffered serious blackouts after the Russian invasion.

These units are forecast to provide enough power to cover the electricity demands of 20,000 homes.

The donation follows the government's work to create a taskforce with distribution network operators and the Energy Networks Association to source and send the generators to Ukraine.

It is believed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had previously asked for this support in recent talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "We are seeing the tragic consequences in Ukraine from Putin's grave mistake every day and we will continue to do everything we can to support Ukraine's resistance against this illegal invasion through economic, diplomatic and humanitarian measures, as well as providing defensive military equipment.

"We will now be sending generators to ease the difficulties caused by the current power outages and help keep vital services running so the people of Ukraine can continue to defend their country."

Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: "Sending portable electricity generators to Ukraine will help keep essential services running, weaker Putin's attempts to cripple Ukraine's power supply and help support extraordinarily brave Ukrainian response to the Kremlin's war waging."