Sayenko Kharenko acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on providing a EUR 20 million financing package to enable the procurement of modern trolleybuses and the upgrade of related infrastructure in the city of Cherkasy.
The financing includes EUR 16 million loan and a grant of up to EUR 4 million, both of which will be provided to Cherkasyelektrotrans, the municipal public transport operator in Cherkasy. EBRD’s loan is fully guaranteed by the city of Cherkasy and benefits from partial risk coverage under the European Union’s Ukraine Investment Framework Municipal Infrastructure and Industrial Resilience Programme (UIF MIIR), while the grant will be provided from the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund.
The project is part of the EBRD’s Resilience and Livelihoods Framework, aimed at safeguarding essential municipal services during wartime. It will improve mobility for residents, including internally displaced people, and significantly reduce polluting emissions, contributing to better air quality. Aligned with the Paris Agreement’s mitigation and adaptation goals, the project is classified as 100% green finance. In addition to its environmental benefits, the project also promotes inclusion by increasing accessibility for passengers with limited mobility and supporting gender equality through a partnership with UN Women’s She Drives programme, which will train and certify women and youth as trolleybus drivers.
EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. EBRD has substantially increased its investments in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war in 2022, deploying more than EUR 8.5 billion to support energy security, vital infrastructure, food security, trade and the private sector.
Sayenko Kharenko team working on the transaction included Igor Lozenko and Oles Trachuk.