Ukrainian Embassy and NGOs Launch Heat for Ukraine Fundraiser

Bratislava/Kiev, 23 January (TASR) - The Ukrainian Embassy in Slovakia, in cooperation with several partner NGOs, has launched a Heat for Ukraine fundraising campaign, Ukrainian Ambassador to Slovakia Myroslav Kastran told a news conference on Friday.
        The aim of the campaign is to help people in Ukraine cope with the consequences of attacks by the Russian armed forces on energy infrastructure during the winter. The initiative seeks to raise €500,000 to purchase generators, back-up power sources and other technical equipment for the most severely affected locations.
        "Ukraine is now undergoing the most severe winter since the beginning of the Russian war. The goal of the campaign is to raise funds for generators and charging stations, which are synonymous with survival for Ukrainians. Every single euro today means real warmth in a Ukrainian house as early as in a week," said Kastran.
        According to Kastran, Russia has been systematically trying to "switch off" the whole of Ukraine. Over the course of the past year, it's fired some 2,000 missiles at and sent more than 54,000 drones to Ukraine, the vast majority of them targeting the energy network. He described the scale of the damage as shocking. Ukraine has lost 8.5 gigawatts (GW) of capacity since October 2025 alone, nearly half of the country's total energy needs. With temperatures dropping to minus 20 degrees Celsius, the electricity supply deficit has become critical. Ukraine needs some 18 GW, but it's able to generate only 6.4 GW. For ordinary people, this means being unable to cook food, heat their homes or recharge their mobile phones.
        "Our equipment stocks have been exhausted. There are no spare transformers and generators available in stock, and any further attack, which I expect in the coming days, could be fatal," stated Kastran. According to him, the entire left-bank Ukraine, with some 15 million people, is currently at risk of a complete power outage.        
        The money raised will therefore be used to purchase generators and charging stations, as well as to cover logistics for the most vulnerable areas - Kiev, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions - based on current needs and in cooperation with regional and local authorities. If more funds are raised via the campaign, the aid will be expanded to cover additional regions.        
        Similar fundraising initiatives have been launched in Poland and the Czech Republic, and the ambassador believes that the initiative will be successful in Slovakia as well. At the same time, he thanked the Slovak government for a financial contribution at the end of last year thanks to which generators have already been purchased. The first of them were sent to Ukraine in late December, and there are plans to send another consignment in late January.