U.S. Will Help Ukraine Plan for Heating as Fighting Continues
By Kateryna Choursina and Mark Drajem October 06, 2014
The U.S. promised to help Ukraine (UADPRYOY) plan how to keep homes and businesses heated during the winter months as fighting continued in several parts of the battle-torn eastern part of the country.
There were moves to establish a buffer zone aimed at cementing a wobbly, monthlong truce between government forces and pro-Russian separatists. The U.S. is helping Ukraine come up with its plan for the winter, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said.
Ukraine is bracing for the onset of winter, when temperatures at times drop below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit), with Russian gas supplies shut off and the energy infrastructure damaged by the fighting that has engulfed the country’s easternmost regions. The fuel shortage has already limited access to hot water.
“We have a team in Ukraine looking at the immediate issues of this winter,” Moniz said at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York today. “The issues are, unfortunately, challenging.” Analysts are looking at ways of shifting away from natural gas to other fuels for home heating, he said.
In Kiev, President Petro Poroshenko met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and mentioned the need for “urgent measures” to avoid a huminatarian disaster in the eastern part of his country with winter coming on, according to the president’s website. Poroshenko spoke of restoring supplies of natural gas, electricity and food products.
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http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-06/u-dot-s-dot-will-help-ukraine-plan-for-heating-as-fighting-continues