The Ukrainian government has accumulated $1.3 billion to pass the heating season, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has announced.

"The government of Ukraine has accumulated about $1.3 billion for the autumn-winter period," he said at a meeting with the heads of regional state administrations in Chernivtsi.

According to the press service of the government, Yatseniuk said that the heads of regional state administrations have to ensure that the heating season begins in a timely fashion.

"If there is no heat, people will not pay their bills. The second thing is that you must collect money on time. If there is no money there won't be gas as well," he said.

According to Yatseniuk, the task that the government has set for itself is end Russian gas dependency, and he said that Ukraine currently buys 70% of its gas from Europe.

Yatseniuk also said the government "removed oligarchs from the gas sector" to have direct contracts with European companies only.

He also said that another problem is the necessity to reduce gas consumption, adding that as the country failed to tackle the issue 20 years ago, Ukraine has lost "$20 billion."