Almost half of the objects throughout Ukraine are connected to heating as of today, says Prime Minister

Ensuring a stable passage of the heating season and providing people with electricity, water and gas is one of the essential objectives for the Government, stressed Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in his opening statement during a Government session on November 4.

"As of today, almost half of the objects throughout Ukraine are connected to heat. These are schools, kindergartens, hospitals, and residential buildings. Most of those facilities are in Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia and Kharkiv regions. In Kyiv, 78% of buildings are currently with heating," said the Head of the Government.

Denys Shmyhal emphasized that 14.5 billion cubic meters of gas had been accumulated in underground gas storages. Taking into account the expected deliveries from foreign partners, these volumes will be sufficient to get through the heating season.

"We are preparing for any scenarios. We stockpile energy generation equipment in case of emergencies. Yesterday, a coordination meeting was held with the systems of the UN and USAID. We were talking about gearing up for winter. We have already received 700 generators from donors. Another 900 are to be delivered in the near future," the Prime Minister said.

The Head of the Government emphasized that with regard to the preparation and passage of the heating season, an important personnel decision had been made - the appointment of Oleksii Chernyshov as the Chairman of the Board of JSC Naftogaz of Ukraine.

Denys Shmyhal added, taking into account an initiative of the newly appointed Chairman of the Naftogaz of Ukraine Board, with the support of relevant ministries and the nomination committee, the Government had commissioned to launch a new competitive procedure for the selection and appointment of the Supervisory Board of the Naftogaz of Ukraine.