Prime Minister: Ukraine has already pumped 11.3 billion cubic meters of gas, Naftogaz is tasked with accumulating 19 billion cubic meters of gas by the heating season

Sufficient gas and coal reserves and preparedness for any emergency are among the main aspects of gearing up for the heating season. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stressed at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on July 15.

According to him, the Government has been actively preparing for various scenarios of the heating season for three months now. The corresponding headquarters has been created.

"Gas continues to be pumped into Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities. As of today, Ukraine has already accumulated 11.3 billion cubic meters of gas. Almost 3 billion cubic meters of gas have been pumped since the beginning of the year. Opportunities have been created for the physical reverse supply of gas from Europe. Despite the military action, gas production by the state-owned company Ukrgazvydobuvannya has hardly decreased. Naftogaz is tasked with pumping 19 billion cubic meters in storages before the start of the heating season," said Denys Shmyhal.

In addition, as of mid-July, Ukraine has already accumulated 1.5 million tons of coal. The Prime Minister emphasized this is two and a half times more than the guaranteed reserves for this time determined by official documents.

"We continue to increase domestic production as well. We are shaping agreements with partner countries so that by the beginning of the heating season, our reserves will exceed 2 million tons," said the Head of the Government.

The Prime Minister also noted that the Government had allocated UAH 1.4 billion for the purchase of stand-by equipment for regions given emergency situations arise: "When your geographical neighbor is an insane terrorist, we must prepare for any scenarios."