NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, in the event of a decrease in coal reserves, is ready to help thermal power generating companies with its import, chairman of the board Yuriy Vitrenko said in the Pravo na Vladu program on the 1+1 TV channel.

"We, as Naftogaz, have offered our help import coal in recent days, but so far even without this help, companies that generate electricity from coal are doing well," Vitrenko said.

According to him, to support the energy system, Naftogaz is currently supplying natural gas to the heat and power plants in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Bila Tserkva.

"They are paying, this is good news," he said.

As reported, ZN.ua and Ukrayinska Pravda published a letter from the Security Service of Ukraine to the government dated December 8 on Thursday evening and Friday morning about critically low coal reserves as of December 1: some 486,200 tonnes with the plan of 2.632 million tonnes. The SBU believes that this situation poses a threat to the energy security of the state and the reliable passage of the heating season, which can lead to "emergency man-made events, an increase in social tension among the population and discrediting government bodies."