Ukraine
Ukraine Energy Support Fund reaches record efficiency in 2025 as winter 2026 needs intensify
The Ukraine Energy Support Fund, administered by the Energy Community Secretariat, has released its 2025 Annual Report. Throughout the year, both contributions to the Fund and its donor base grew; the Fund has become the principal mechanism through which international contributions are channelled into life-saving support to Ukraine's energy sector.
This growth will be key in 2026, as a newly optimised procurement process and the establishment of a strategic equipment reserve for energy companies are helping shorten emergency response times. The Secretariat is also launching a new de-risking mechanism. The mechanism is designed to stimulate private investment in the energy sector that has thus far been held back by war-related risks, and a new model of energy recovery that mobilises private capital, alongside public and donor financing.
2025's experience offers a window into why these funds are critical in the lead up to next winter.
In 2025, support channelled through the Fund went to mitigate the effects of the most difficult winter since the onset of the full-scale war, compounded by extremely low temperatures and targeted, intensified attacks on energy infrastructure that created prolonged states of emergency in the major cities of Ukraine. Amid this, the Fund's donor base, contributions, and operational capacity all expanded in step with the demands placed on it. Donor contributions grew by more than 40%, reaching by the end of 2025 EUR 1,613.6 million cumulatively (over EUR 2.1 billion to date).
The donor base expanded to 36 countries and institutions (38 at the time of this writing). Meanwhile, the Fund signed 367 purchase agreements in 2025 — more than a third of every agreement concluded in its history — and reported delivery worth EUR 446.9 million in energy support during the year, nearly three-quarters of everything it has delivered since its founding.
This support went to the hardest-hit areas of Ukraine: 76% of support targeted electricity generation, distribution, and transmission, with power generation equipment and transformers making up 40% of all deliveries, concentrated in the regions facing the heaviest bombardment.
Meanwhile, through the Fund's Ray of Hope initiative, the Fund expanded its installation of solar PV panels with battery storages at healthcare facilities throughout Ukraine – sustainable energy systems that help power life-saving services even during attack-induced blackouts. Since its inception in mid-2024, the initiative has expanded rapidly. With17 hospitals originally targeted, applications from 210 healthcare facilities had been received and approved by the end of 2025, each of which were prioritised by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and approved by the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine in cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. Responding to this growing demand, Ukraine plans to scale the initiative to over 600 hospitals nationwide. As of this writing, 89 healthcare facilities are generating electricity.