The Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis in the first reading the bill No. 5891-1 on the allocation of funds to pay off debts to miners.
The document provides for amendments to the law on the state budget of Ukraine for 2021 and the allocation of UAH 2.4 billion for salaries to employees of state coal mining enterprises.
The corresponding decision was supported by 311 MPs at an extraordinary session of parliament. Now the document must be considered in the second reading and adopted as a whole.
In early December, in the city of Dobropolye in the Donetsk region, miners went on strike because they were not paid their salaries. The debt has reached UAH 100 million.
On December 15, Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal said that more than UAH 700 million will be allocated to the state coal mining enterprises to pay off the wage arrears to miners. For his part, Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko said that UAH 370 million had already been transferred.
Denis Shmyhal also assured that Ukraine will have enough energy resources – gas and coal – to pass the heating season 2021-2022.
