Ukraine needs 4 bln euros to go through winter season: minister

KYIV -- Ukraine needs 4 billion euros (about 3.97 billion US dollars) to go through the winter cold season, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on Tuesday, citing Minister for the Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine Oleksiy Chernyshov.

"We need four billion euros to get through this winter -- to renovate houses, to support health care and energy supplies," Chernyshov said at the International Expert Conference on the Recovery, Reconstruction and Modernisation of Ukraine in Berlin, Germany.

Besides, Ukraine lacks backup equipment for water and power supply, such as mobile water purification stations, mobile heating stations, diesel generators and electric heaters, the minister said.

Ukraine is facing an energy crisis ahead of the winter cold season due to the conflict with Russia that started on Feb. 24.

On Oct. 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia's attacks had destroyed about 30 percent of Ukraine's power stations, causing massive blackouts across the country.