Russia continues targeting Ukraine’s grid. Britain’s $381.5 million package bets on nuclear fuel to keep it running

Britain has pledged nearly $381.5 million to help Ukraine rebuild and keep its lights on. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the recovery and energy-security package at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, covering nuclear fuel for Ukraine’s reactors, two new wind farms, support for business, and an overhaul of the justice system, the British government said.

The package is anchored by the $282 million deal for British firm Urenco to supply enriched uranium to state operator Energoatom, which the UK first announced on 16 June and has now folded into its Gdańsk pledge.

“The deal will also boost the British economy, as Urenco employs more than 650 people in the UK and its Chester site supports more than 4,500 jobs around the UK in the wider supply chain,” the UK government said. 

Britain funds war-crimes cases

Part of the package goes to modernizing Ukraine’s justice system. The funding will help build systems to hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable, speed up court processes, and fight corruption, the government said.

Cooper framed Ukraine’s security as inseparable from Britain’s own, called a just and lasting peace “urgent and non-negotiable,” and said backing Kyiv now creates a strong partner for London later.

Investment arm backs wind power

British International Investment, the UK’s development-finance institution, will invest about $85 million into Ukraine’s renewable energy and banking sectors alongside the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The money will help build two new wind farms and support Ukrainian businesses through Bank Lviv.

“An enduring peace in Ukraine will not be secured through military support alone, but through our collective commitment to rebuilding communities, strengthening institutions, and deepening joint action,” Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said. 

Nuclear fuel replaces Russian supply

The fuel deal continues Ukraine’s break from Russian nuclear supply. After 2022, Kyiv switched its reactors from Russian fuel to Western assemblies and now relies on nuclear power to replace the thermal capacity destroyed by Russian strikes.

Urenco’s enriched uranium, financed through UK Export Finance over two years, adds another non-Russian link in that chain as Moscow keeps targeting the grid before winter.