About 3 thousand generators are already working in the medical system of Ukraine, said Deputy Minister of Health Alexei Yaremenko.
“We understand that there are mass outages. About 3 thousand generators are already working in the medical system now,” he said on the air of the National Telethon on Thursday.
At the same time, Yaremenko noted that “a huge amount of fuel, at least 1,600 tons per day,” is needed to provide the generators.
“Providing fuel is the responsibility of the hospital and local administrations. However, given that hospitals are classified as critical infrastructure, they are the first to be included (in the grid – IF-U) and it is done so that hospitals can be led as much as possible on a fixed power grid. If there is no light in the hospital, generators are turned on automatically or manually,” he said.
Yaremenko reminded that equipping surgical clinics with generators has been an obligatory condition for several years, in order to be contracted by the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) to participate in the Medical Assistance Program.
At the same time, Yaremenko specified that in the case of power outages, therapeutic patients who are not life-threatening will be advised to continue treatment at home.
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aikhan Hajizada said Azerbaijan provided Ukraine with 50 generators and 45 power transformers as humanitarian aid.
“Azerbaijan continues to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine. 45 power transformers and 50 generators provided by Azerenerji were sent to Ukraine. As of today, Azerbaijan has provided more than 30 million manats (more than $50 million) in aid to the needy population,” Hajizada tweeted on Sunday.
Azerenerji is the largest producer of electricity in Azerbaijan.
Exchange rate according to the Ministry of Finance on December 10: $0.59/AZN, AZN1.7/$1.
Ukraine has imported power generators and generator equipment worth $60m over the last two weeks, First Deputy Economy Minister Denis Kudin said.
“The second item of imports for the last two weeks were generators and generator equipment. Second only to fuel. We’ve imported $60 million worth of such equipment in those two weeks, and judging by what we know from the companies, the volume of generators that are on the road waiting for delivery in the second half of December, January, February and March is just off the charts,” he said during a discussion at the Center for Economic Strategy on Thursday.
Kudin added that, according to his data, Lviv and Kyiv are compensating businesses for 75 percent of the cost of generators.
The Ukrainian bakery industry has applied for the provision of electricity generators from international partners, organized for representatives of the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the equipment can be delivered to Ukraine within one to two months.
At the same time, there is a shortage of generators all over the world, and the equipment purchased now can be delivered to Ukraine in January, Yuriy Duchenko, the First Vice President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Bakers and Director of Kyiv Khlib LLC (the Kyivkhlib brand), told Interfax-Ukraine.
“We have submitted applications to cover the needs for generators, the partners have responded, but this issue has not yet been resolved. We are promised them perhaps in a month, perhaps in two. Unfortunately, it is not known when the next shelling will take place and what it threatens us with. That is, this question the ministry is engaged in, but 99% of decisions need to be made independently and their decision falls on the shoulders of the producers,” the director specified.
According to him, the company has recently purchased 650 kW generators for its mill and bakery for more than EUR100,000 to ensure emergency operation, but he noted that such a solution does not allow powering the production for a long time. In addition, the electricity they produce costs 3-4 times more than electricity from the network.
“For bakeries, working on generators is an emergency mode. It is possible for half a day or a day. But it is impossible to ensure the constant operation of the enterprise on a generator. This also applies to technological issues, and such that generators need to be constantly maintained and refueled. It is very difficult now organize. But we have to provide it for emergencies,” Duchenko stressed.
According to him, the issue of selling bread and bakery products during planned and emergency power outages is not as acute as with other perishable products, and the main problem is the lack of communication and access to the Internet during a power outage.
“The main difficulty today arises in the fact that when the power goes out, the connection disappears. This is very critical. Even if we organize emergency operation of stores and production on generators, it is difficult to accept an order and ship products. It’s all tied up through computer networks. We had a case, that we made the products, but could neither print invoices nor contact the store,” the expert explained.
The European Union will send 40 generators to Ukraine as part of its support in addition to the already supplied 550, European Union diplomatic chief Josep Borrel said.
“Russia is trying to break Ukraine’s fighting spirit by striking at its energy infrastructure and using winter as a weapon of war against civilians. At the G7 meeting, we are coordinating our support; the EU is sending 40 generators in addition to the 550 already provided through the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations mechanism,” Borrel wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
As reported, the European Commission reported that 200 medium transformers and a large autotransformer from Lithuania, a medium autotransformer from Latvia and 40 heavy generators from the EC reserve located in Romania (rescEU) were prepared to be sent to Ukraine through the EU Emergency Response Coordination Center. According to the report, each of the generators can provide uninterrupted power to a small or medium-sized hospital.
The EC is also additionally working on a new rescEU energy hub in Poland to provide assistance from third parties and facilitate its coordinated delivery to Ukraine, including with G7 partners.
Germany will provide Ukraine with €56 million in financial aid and 350 generators to restore its energy infrastructure, the German government’s press service said after a conversation between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“President Zelensky briefed on the consequences of Russian airstrikes on civilian infrastructure, water and electricity supplies. The Chancellor condemned the ongoing shelling and assured Ukraine of further short-term support. So far, the federal government has provided short-term financial assistance to repair energy infrastructure of about 56 million euros, and Germany is providing more than 350 generators,” the chancellor said in a statement posted on his website Tuesday evening.
In addition, Scholz “confirmed Germany’s continued support for Ukraine, including air defense and long-term reconstruction.”
