Baker & McKenzie acted as Ukrainian law counsel to the European Investment Bank (EIB) in connection with its EUR55 million loan to the State Administration of Railway Transport of Ukraine (Ukrzaliznytsia) and the related sovereign guarantee.

The loan will finance the construction of a new 1.8 km twin-track railway tunnel in Ukraine to improve transport connections between Ukraine and the European Union. Under the project, the new tunnel, located in the Carpathian Mountains at Beskyd in southwest Ukraine, will replace the existing single-track tunnel, which is the only single track section of the twin-track electrified line between Lviv and the Hungarian and Slovak borders. The new tunnel will add significant transport capacity on this international rail corridor and make it possible to cope with expected future demand.

The Firm’s team was led by Kyiv partner Serhiy Chorny with support from associates Victoria Ischenko and Hanna Shtepa.