Ukraine lacks capacity to restore all destroyed and damaged critical and energy infrastructure, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said at a joint news conference with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, Hromadske Radio reports.
"In conditions of Russia's systematic and consistent policy of destroying critical infrastructure, Ukraine lacks its own capacities to restore all destroyed and damaged facilities. At one time alone Russia launches about a hundred missiles to achieve its terrorist goal, namely the total blackout of Ukraine," Shmyhal said.
According to him, 40-50% of distribution networks that supply electricity to the population have already been damaged. Up to 12 million Ukrainians are now left without constant power supply.
"The whole country is forced to live not in the conditions of rolling blackouts, but in the conditions of rolling blackouts when electricity is available only for several hours a day. And all this in winter time with sub-zero temperatures," he stressed.
At the same time, he noted that he believes that Ukraine together with international partners will give an adequate response to Russia's actions.
"That is why today we have discussed the creation of an effective and efficient platform that will collate information on the urgent needs of Ukraine, on the one hand, and provide mechanisms for providing an immediate response from our partners," he added.
He expects that each participant of today's event in Paris will find its place in supporting Ukrainians.