Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has warned officials that they will be held personally responsible if there are flaws in the preparations for the heating season.

"I would like to draw the attention of all officials to the fact that people don't need good reports, they need to see the results of real actions by us. Everyone will be taken to account… I'm warning all of you to avoid mistakes in the future – if just one kindergarten, school or hospital goes unheated, the officials in charge of the relevant districts will be fired without question," he said while opening a meeting of the government in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"It is necessary to provide hospitals, clinics, schools, kindergartens, blocks of flats, and business premises with heat and hot water, not the asphalt covering the heating [pipes]," the premier said.

Azarov said the heating season should be launched in stages, starting from the first ten days of October.