Residential buildings almost 100% ready for heating season - PM Shmyhal

This was stated by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on October 15, Ukrinform reports citing the Prime Minister's Telegram.

“Ukraine is on the verge of the heating season. The government, regional military administrations and community authorities are working synchronously in three key areas to ensure that all homes have light and warmth in winter. The first area is infrastructure preparation. Today, the readiness of residential buildings is over 99%. The number of schools, kindergartens and hospitals ready for the winter is also close to 100%. More than 18,000 boiler houses and 4,800 central heating stations are at the stage of readiness to supply heat,” he said.

Shmyhal also noted that Ukraine currently has 12.2 billion cubic meters of gas in its gas storage facilities and 3.1 million tons of coal in warehouses. According to him, this is enough to get through the winter.

“All 9 nuclear power units under Ukraine's control are currently operating,” he emphasized.

The Prime Minister added that one of the areas of preparation for winter is the creation of decentralized generation.

“The energy sustainability programs initiated by the government are working. These include 0% loans for individuals, loans for condominiums under the GRIDIM program, 5-7-9% loans for small and medium-sized businesses, and preferential loans from the Decarbonization Fund of Ukraine for utilities and communities. In total, banks have already issued loans worth UAH 2 billion to various categories of borrowers,” he said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Ukraine is starting to prepare for the heating season and is now starting to supply heat.