Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has instructed regional state administrations to address the problem of debt repayment for the consumed gas.

"The increase in the debt for the consumed natural gas in 2015 only for a few months was UAH 9 billion! And that's according to old tariffs!" Yatseniuk said at a visiting session of the Cabinet of Ministers in Kharkiv.

The prime minister said the amount of current debt is unacceptable and noted that the money is needed for gas purchase and pumping into underground gas storage facilities.