KIEV, July 29. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s capital city Kiev should get prepared for a “very hard winter” over gas shortages, a top-ranking official of the Kiev city administration’s public utilities department said on Tuesday.

“Ukraine’s current gas resources are distributed between the regions very neatly,” Dmitry Novitsky, the head of Kiev’s housing and utilities infrastructure department, told the Kiev television and radio company. “Thus, a total of 1.2 billion cubic metres of gas were allocated to Kiev, and this gas is to be used for heating only. But this amount of gas is not enough to ensure a stable heating season, to ensure comfortable temperature.”

He said the city authorities were trying to “save certain amounts of gas to ensure a stable heating season” but warned that more houses would be cut off hot water supplies.

Apart from that, he did not rule out that heating fees during the heating season might be adjusted. “I think that the Kiev authorities must work out a mechanism to charge payment for consumed services only,” Novitsky said. “Kiev residents must get it clear that ensuring gas supplies in the country is a matter of Ukraine’s national security now.