Dear colleagues, fellow Ukrainians!

We are starting a regular meeting of the Government.

The state continues to implement the comprehensive Winter Support policy initiated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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.

Winter Support includes both new and existing programmes that the Government has expanded so that more citizens can benefit from them.

The first two winter months have shown that all the components of the Winter Support work synchronously, complement each other and are in demand in society.

The first programme is Winter eSupport, under which every Ukrainian can receive a thousand hryvnias. The payment is available for children in particular.

So far, more than 13 million people have applied for the funds. Almost 12 million of them have received their payments.

Ukrainians spend the most of the Winter Support funds on utility bills – 56%. People also use this assistance to buy medicines, books and donate to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The second programme is Warm Winter.

We have decided to pay UAH 6,500 to each child from low-income families and IDP families receiving state support.

Last year, almost 600,000 people received these payments. These funds are spent on winter clothes and other things children need. The Government has recently updated the programme, and now funds will be transferred to about 5,000 more families.

The third programme is Unchanged Winter Tariffs.

Tariffs for gas, heat and electricity remain unchanged until the end of the heating season. The Government has also differentiated electricity tariffs for consumers using electric heating systems. As a result, the amounts in their bills have been reduced.

The next Winter Support programme is Affordable Subsidies.

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.

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.

It is important to note that participation in various government programmes such as National Cashback and Winter eSupport does not affect the calculation of a family’s total income when granting subsidies.

The sixth programme of Winter Support is aimed at helping IDPs.

Starting from 29 January this year, IDPs can apply for a rental subsidy. It is available to families who spend more than 20% of their income on rent.

The amount of the subsidy depends on the number of people in the family, the place of residence and the family’s income.

The programme helps IDPs to better adapt to their new communities, and it is an important support for those who were forced to leave their homes.

Another Winter Support programme is free meals for schoolchildren.

This winter, more than a million primary school students have already been provided with free meals. For this purpose, the state has allocated a resource of over UAH 2.8 billion to communities this year. We plan to expand the programme to cover all students.

The eighth Winter Support programme is the Teacher’s Supplement.

Since January this year, school teachers have been receiving an additional monthly payment. We are talking about an additional payment of UAH 1,000 ‘in hand’ depending on the teacher’s teaching load. Starting from September, this supplement will be increased to UAH 2,000.

We have provided UAH 12 billion of subventions in the budget for this year, and thanks to this, almost 500,000 teachers receive the supplement.

The ninth programme of the Winter Support is Affordable Medicines.

We expanded this programme at the end of last year. We added more than 50 more medicines to the list of available medicines. Thanks to a record budget of UAH 6.6 billion, another 500,000 citizens will be able to benefit from the programme this year.

In total, Ukrainians are already receiving more than 600 different types of medicines and medical products free of charge or with a small surcharge.

Last year, doctors issued more than 14 million prescriptions under the Affordable Medicines programme. We expect that this year the number will be even higher.

As part of the programme, we are also expanding the network of accessible pharmacies.

Currently, such pharmacies are already operating in 14 regions. In particular, the service has recently appeared in Poltava region.

Our goal is to give access to medicines to residents of the most remote communities, including those in the frontline areas.

The tenth Winter Support programme is eBook.

18-year-old Ukrainians can receive UAH 908 to buy Ukrainian books. More than 90,000 people have already applied. More than 84,000 applicants have received the money.

In this way, young Ukrainians read more Ukrainian books, and at the same time we support Ukrainian book publishing.

Through Winter Support, we are helping people who really need it, taking care of the nation’s health, improving the educational environment and stimulating demand for Ukrainian products.

I am grateful to everyone who strengthens Ukraine at the front and in the rear.

I am grateful to the defenders, rescuers, law enforcement officers, power engineers, teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs and people of all professions who work in solidarity for a strong Ukraine.

Together we will win!

Thank you for your attention! Glory to Ukraine!