The Diplomat
The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) reiterated yesterday at the Paris Donors’ Conference Spain’s commitment to send 163 electrical equipment to Ukraine, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, had announced the day before in Brussels, and announced that Ukraine will be a priority country for Spanish Cooperation in 2023, which will include the launch of a program to support the country’s recovery.
This was announced by the director of AECID, Antón Leis, during his speech at the Conference of Solidarity with the people of Ukraine, held in Paris at the invitation of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, with the aim of coordinating European and third-country efforts to expedite donations and the effective arrival of humanitarian aid to Ukraine in order to mitigate the rigors of winter. As a result of the war launched by Russia, 70% of Ukrainian citizens are currently below the poverty line and more than ten million people lack access to a regular and stable electricity supply in the country.
During the meeting, the 46 participating countries and 24 international organizations pledged 1.05 billion euros in donations, according to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna. These “new commitments”, expressly adopted “thanks to the holding of this conference”, consist of “donations in kind, not loans”, said Colonna. The aid “will be deployed in the coming days and during the winter months, which will help to strengthen the resilience of civilian infrastructures”, and almost half of the donations, some 400 million, will go to the Ukrainian energy sector, which is suffering from Russian air attacks, she said. The aid will consist mainly of light bulbs, generators and electrical transformers, as well as food, water, health, transport and reconstruction.
France, the host country, will provide 125 million euros, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, pledged to finance the purchase of 30 million energy-saving light bulbs requested by Ukraine to reduce the pressure on its electricity grid. The conference also launched a system for coordinating international winter aid to avoid duplication of equipment and other assistance. The system foresees the creation of an Internet platform through which Ukraine will be able to present its needs and donors will be able to report their aid.
The President of Ukraine, Zolodymyr Zelenskyy, addressed the audience by videoconference, assuring them that his country will need 800 million euros in emergency aid to overcome its energy needs this winter. “Generators have become as necessary as armored vehicles and bulletproof vests,” he warned.
AECID and Red Eléctrica
During his speech, Antón Leis announced that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in partnership with Red Eléctrica, a subsidiary of Redeia, is to supply a contingent of high-voltage electrical equipment to the operator Ukrenergo. The AECID will be responsible for transporting the material donated by Red Eléctrica, consisting of 163 reconditioned and in perfect condition pieces of equipment for electrical substations, which are essential for the proper operation of the high voltage transmission grid. Specifically, Red Eléctrica will donate 107 current transformers and 28 voltage transformers, both of which help to manage the safety of the transmission grid. It will also supply 26 lightning conductors and two disconnectors, electromechanical equipment that allow electrical circuits to be mechanically isolated so that maintenance work can be carried out.
This aid completes the donation of fourteen generators made last November, during José Manuel Albares’ visit to Kyiv, and is part of the emergency humanitarian response plan for Ukraine launched at the end of February by the Ministry through the AECID, which already amounts to more than 37 million euros (32 million from the Agency itself and the rest from other Ministries, autonomous communities and local authorities).
At the Paris Conference, Spain also announced that, following the 2022 emergency response, the situation in Ukraine will become a humanitarian priority for Spanish Cooperation in 2023 and that AECID will launch a program to support the country’s early recovery and resilience in collaboration with multilateral partners.
On the other hand, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, visited yesterday the facilities of the company Finanzauto in Arganda del Rey (Madrid) to witness the preparations for the shipment to Ukraine of a generator set of 660 kilowatts of power, which is one of the three large electric generators donated by the company Repsol.
Overall, the goal of the Ministry of Defense and the three companies involved in this shipment is that most of the nearly 50 pieces of equipment to be provided will arrive in Odessa and other Ukrainian cities before Christmas. Twenty-five power generators will be sent to Ukraine this week and 23 additional generators will be sent next week. Robles thus responds to the express request of the Ukrainian authorities during his visit to Odessa on December 10 and to the subsequent worsening of the electricity shortage in this city and in many others in that country.
In addition, and thanks to “the solidarity of large companies such as Repsol and others who have preferred to remain anonymous”, the Ministry of Defense will continue to provide logistical support for successive shipments to alleviate the very serious electricity supply problems caused by Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilian electricity generation and transmission infrastructures.
