More than 13 million citizens have applied for funds under the Winter Support programme and almost 12 million of them have already received payments. This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during a meeting of the Cabinet on 4 February.
According to him, Ukrainians spend most of their Winter Support funds on utility bills – 56% – and also on medicines, books and donations to the Armed Forces.
Denys Shmyhal emphasised that another programme of the Winter Support, Affordable Subsidies, was also working successfully.
“Almost 3 million families receive assistance from the state to pay for utilities. These are subsidies and housing benefits that we provide to everyone who needs them. It takes 15 minutes to apply for a subsidy, including online,” the Prime Minister stressed.
He added that another 250,000 households from frontline communities received over UAH 3.4 billion to buy firewood and coal. This is a payment of up to UAH 21,000 per family for households that do not have heating due to hostilities and other reasons.
The tariffs for gas, heat and electricity will remain unchanged until the end of the heating season. According to Denys Shmyhal, the Government has also differentiated the electricity tariff for consumers using electric heating systems.
In addition, since 29 January this year, a subsidy for renting housing for internally displaced persons has been launched, which is available to families who spend more than 20% of their income on rent.
The Head of Government stressed that participation in various government programmes such as National Cashback and Winter Support does not affect the calculation of the total family income for the purpose of granting subsidies.
According to Denys Shmyhal, the first two winter months have shown that all components of the Winter Support programme work synchronously, complement each other and are in demand in society.
“Our goal is to provide additional support to Ukrainian families this winter and strengthen our country. Because the resilience of each family is the resilience of our entire country,” he said.