Bring light to Ukraine: EU donates 800 generators and 30 million LED bulbs 

The European Commission is ready to mobilise €30 million to purchase 30 million LED light bulbs for Ukraine. This was announced today by Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President at the ‘Standing with Ukrainian people’ event in Paris, France.

These energy-efficient bulbs will be part of a larger donation of 50 million bulbs that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the international community to make. 

“These LED light bulbs are so vital because they are 88% more efficient than the old-fashioned light bulbs. If deployed they would save the energy that would amount to one GW of electricity which is equivalent to the annual output of one nuclear power plant,” von der Leyen said, adding that this will help to reduce the pressure on the Ukrainian power grid.

The President also announced that the EU has mobilised around 800 power generators to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion. 

The latest energy assistance channelled through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism includes:

• 40 new large generators from the rescEU reserve to provide uninterrupted power to 30 hospitals across the country.
• 100 small to medium power generators from France; 19 generators from Slovakia, 23 generators from Germany, 52 transformers from Lithuania and 4 emergency power systems from Poland as well as 252 transformers from Lithuania.

Ursula von der Leyen also reported that the European Union is working to increase the amount of electricity the EU can trade between Ukraine and Moldova and the rest of Europe. “Let us literally bring light to Ukraine,” said von der Leyen.

According to von der Leyen, a new hub, created by the EU in Poland, will become operational already this week. “It is quite simply a network of warehouses from which goods can be transferred quickly into Ukraine so this hub will guarantee a rapid, reliable and cost effective delivery. We are ready to finance both the storage and the transport then from Poland to Ukraine,” explained von der Leyen.

Overall, the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre has channelled more than 76,677 tonnes of assistance to Ukraine via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism since February 2022.

Find out more

Press release