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Significant supplies of U.S. liquefied natural gas will begin flowing into war-torn Ukraine this winter via pipelines across the Balkans.
The deal was announced after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens on Sunday. Mitsotakis recently said Greece was working to increase flows of U.S. LNG from its terminals to “displace Russian gas in the region.”
The European Commission plans to ban all Russian gas imports to EU member states by the end of 2027, arguing that revenue from such sales helps fund Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Zelensky is currently in France, where President Emmanuel Macron signed a letter of intent to purchase up to 100 Rafale fighter jets.
Fighting continued throughout the night, with six people reportedly killed in Russian attacks in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, Kherson and Donetsk regions.
The Russian military said it had taken control of three more Ukrainian villages – one each in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
None of the reports could be independently verified.
Speaking in Athens earlier, Zelensky reportedly said deliveries of U.S. LNG would begin in January.
“Every time the Russians destroy, we rebuild, but it does take time, a lot of effort, equipment, and gas … imports to compensate for the Russians’ destruction of our own production,” he said.
“Greece is becoming an energy security provider for your homeland,” Mitsotakis told the Ukrainian president.
Zelensky said Kyiv had earmarked funds to import gas from European partners, banks guaranteed by the European Commission and Ukrainian banks to help cover imports through March at a cost of nearly 2 billion euros (£1.8 billion; $2.3 billion), Reuters reported.
Ukraine has been receiving gas supplies from EU countries since it stopped direct purchases of Russian gas in 2015.
The Soviet-era Trans-Balkans pipeline connects Ukraine to Greek LNG terminals through Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria.
There are fears of an energy crisis in Ukraine this winter following Russia’s continued attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities, particularly thermal power plants.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs issued a formal warning saying “the coming winter brings new risks to Ukrainians… as attacks on energy networks intensify, disrupting efforts to keep homes, schools and health centers warm”.
The letter, signed by Zelensky and Macron during a visit to Vera Coublay air base near Paris, outlines possible future contracts for Ukraine to purchase Rafale fighter jets “and their associated weapons.”
The letter is not a purchase and sale contract, but also lists deals for SAMP-T air defense systems, radar systems and drones.
Zelensky signed a letter of intent to purchase 100 to 150 Gripen fighter jets during his visit to Sweden last month.
In France, Zelensky also traveled to Mount Valerian, west of Paris, to visit the nascent headquarters of a planned multinational force that may one day help oversee Ukraine’s ceasefire with Russia.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, tens of thousands of people, mostly soldiers, have been killed or injured and millions of civilians have fled their homes.
