Ukraine secures US LNG imports from Greece to cover Winter needs.

Ukraine has secured imports of U.S liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Greece to cover its winter needs from December through to March next year, Greek and Ukrainian officials said on Sunday during a visit to Athens by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine will import gas via a pipeline that runs across the Balkan peninsula to secure critical supplies after Russian attacks on energy infrastructure and gas production facilities.

Greek gas company DEPA and Ukraine’s state firm Naftogaz said in a joint statement that the deal was effective starting December. Zelensky, speaking alongside Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said deliveries would begin in January.

“We rebuild each time the Russians destroy, but this truly requires time, much effort, equipment and, regarding gas imports to compensate for the destruction by the Russians of our own production”, Zelensky told reporters.

Ahead of his Greek visit, Zelensky said Kyiv had allocated funds for gas imports from European partners and banks under European Commission guarantees, as well as from Ukrainian banks, to help cover nearly the 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) needed.

Ukraine’s government was also working with U.S. partners to ensure full financing, he added. The deal comes after Greece clinched its first long-term deal to supply U.S. LNG to Europe from 2030 after the EU approved a ban on Russian LNG from 2027 over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, which is now in its fourth year. “Greece is becoming an energy security provider for your homeland“, Mitsotakis told Zelensky, adding that the agreement will also help stop Russian natural gas from entering Europe.

Earlier, on 07th November, 2025, Greece agreed to import 700 million cubic metres of U.S. liquefied natural gas per year starting in 2030 in its first long-term deal with Washington, which seeks to replace Russian supplies to Europe. The 20-year deal aims to boost U.S. LNG exports from Greece to its northern European neighbours including Ukraine and comes weeks after the European Union approved a ban on Russian LNG from 2027 over its war in Ukraine.

The EU pledged to buy $ 250 billion in U.S. Oil, LNG and Nuclear Technology annually for the next three years in a trade deal with the Trump administration signed in July. The 07th November’s deal could see U.S. LNG purchases by Greece increasing to about 2 billion cubic metres per year, the country’s biggest gas utility DEPA said in a statement. The supply will be facilitated by a joint venture between DEPA and energy firm Aktor with U.S.-based Venture Global DEPA said.

Meanwhile, in a major development, Ukraine, Romania have expressed their keen interest in buying LNG. The U.S. officials hailed the deal at an energy conference in Athens. They said on 06th November, 2025, that they want to replace “every last molecule” of Russian gas in Western Europe in the coming years.

“Greece had been at the end of a pipeline of a Russia-dominated energy supply system. Today, Greece becomes a launch point, the entry into Europe for American energy trade“, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told a press conference.

Ukraine and Romania have expressed interest in buying up to 3.7 billion cubic metres of LNG from the Greek joint venture in the 2030-2050 period, DEPA said. This is a result because of Greece has tripled gas imports since 2020 and backed a transportation scheme via a once underused Transbalkan pipeline to export more gas from its terminals to Ukraine as it seeks to bolster its role as a transit route of U.S. LNG into northern Europe through Bulgaria, its prime minister said on Friday.

“Most of the gas that now comes into Greece does not stay in Greece“, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at the energy conference, adding that the EU ban on Russian gas was a major opportunity to redraw the energy map of South Eastern Europe.

As of now, Ukraine has resumed gas imports via the Transbalkan route to keep its heating and power systems running through the winter after widespread damage to its energy infrastructure from intensified Russian attacks. Wright have promised to keep Ukraine supplied this year and the gas grid operators of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine on Friday signed a joint letter, asking their regulators to approve increased transportation capacities from Greece to Ukraine through the Transbalkan pipeline until April 2026.

Team Maverick