I greet everyone, distinguished colleagues, dear Ukrainians.

The main challenge now remains to ensure the smooth operation of the energy system and the passage of the heating season. The activity in this direction does not stop even for a minute.

The heating season has started despite the shelling, sabotage, cyber attacks by russia. 

Almost 60% of all facilities in the country have already started receiving heat. Southern regions are being connected at a slower pace, but this process has also commenced there. In five regions the level of connection to heating is more than 85%, and in two regions it has already reached 100%

Pumping gas into our storage facilities also goes on. Relatively mild autumn and energy savings allow to pump more gas than it is withdrawn from gas storages. As of today, Ukraine has 14.6 billion cubic meters of gas in its reserves, of which 98% is Ukrainian gas, and 2% belongs to non-residents.

The state-run company Ukrgazvydobuvannya has produced almost 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 9 months of this year. Despite the war and all the challenges we face, this is only 2% less than was produced during a similar period last year.

1.5 million tons of coal are stored in the storage facilities of TPPs and CHPs, which is almost twice as much as the required guaranteed reserves. There is a sufficient amount of resources for the winter period. And the key challenge is just deliberate damage to energy infrastructure by russia.

Now russian terrorists are focused on the destruction of electricity generation and distribution systems. Therefore, unfortunately, we cannot rule out further attacks on water and heat supply systems.

The most serious situation in terms of electricity is in Kyiv, Kyiv and Kharkiv regions. russian terrorist troops targeted the distribution network in these regions, trying to ruin the transmission lines and substations. Now the energy sector employees are working to gradually adjust the outage schedules to make them more predictable for people and businesses.

Obviously, we all have to understand that this is possible only provided that there are no new damages. And we will all be conscious about saving electricity consumption.

I will once again return to the topic of evacuation of the population from Kyiv or any other city. An honest conversation here is both crucial and relevant. Therefore, I stress once again the position of the Government and responsible agencies: evacuation can be applied only as an emergency step. It is always essential to have a plan B, but now the situation is far from declaring the evacuation of any non-frontline city, let alone the capital. Energy companies are working, air defense forces are working. We are making every effort to restore the full operation of the power system as soon as possible.

The Government, power engineers, local authorities and utility companies continue to prepare for the winter. We are purchasing reserve equipment, preparing additional heating points, actively negotiating with international partners on the delivery of necessary equipment and machinery to Ukraine in order to quickly repair everything and be prepared for different situations.

Today, the Cabinet of Ministers is to approve a decree that will exempt from VAT and import duties the goods important for the passage of the heating season. These are gas generators, electric motors and generators, electric generator units and rotary converters, transformers, electric batteries, electric water heaters and radiators, as well as some other goods for energy and heat supply. This is important in order to accelerate repairs, improve the availability of light and heat, meet the demand of the population and reduce prices for the relevant products as well.

The Government's support for all Ukrainians for this winter is a moratorium on the increase of all utility tariffs, in particular tariffs for heat, which make up the largest part of the bill in winter.

Almost 2.5 million households receive subsidies from the state. It is expected that this number will increase in the coming months, as people continue to apply for the relevant assistance. The average subsidy is projected to amount to about UAH 1,800 per month. The Budget for both this and the next year has enough funds to support the most vulnerable segments of the population and provide the necessary assistance in the form of subsidies

I want to thank today everyone who is responsible for the consumption of electricity. By doing so, you help our power engineers to balance the system and help yourselves, because the less consumption, the less likely emergency outages.

We make every effort to ensure that every family in Ukraine has light and heat.

Thank you for your attention. Glory to Ukraine!