MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. Ukraine has outpaced expectations and already accumulated enough gas, 14.7 bln cubic meters, in its storage facilities to make it through the heating season, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy said.

"As of September 19, the total volume of natural gas in underground storage facilities has reached 14.7 bln cubic meters. Thus, the plan of the Ukrainian cabinet of ministers to reach the forecasted volume of natural gas in underground facilities necessary to make it through the heating season was fulfilled ahead of time," the ministry said on its page on Facebook (prohibited in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).

Energy Minister German Galushchenko stressed that the energy and oil and gas sectors are actively preparing for the heating season.

In early July, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said that the Ukrainian authorities were planning to accumulate stockpiles of 14.7 bln cubic meters of gas and 1.8 mln tons of coal by the beginning of the heating season. In September, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky held several meetings on the issues of energy and infrastructure. Alexey Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, pointed out that Zelensky was dissatisfied with how the country’s infrastructure was being prepared for the next heating season. Following this, all the agencies involved in the preparations intensified their work.

Earlier, the Ukrainian presidential office recognized that the upcoming winter is bound to be more difficult than the last one. In relation to this, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office urged residents to prepare space heaters and other equipment.