President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that one of the urgent problems of the coal industry was the wage arrears of the miners of the state mines, which should be paid in the coming months.
During the All-Ukrainian Meeting of Coal Industry Workers of Ukraine, the Head of State noted that the wage arrears of the miners exceeded 1 billion hryvnias.
"Some colleagues said it (wage arrears - ed.) included years 2014-2016. Today, it is over 1 billion. There will be one and a half billion, as the attendees said. Therefore, I call on the repayment of all the debts to the miners in the next two months - March, April. If we do not repay it and miss at least one day, then, it seems to me it would be fair that the whole government does not receive salaries for these months,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
The Head of State noted that the problems of the coal industry were the most critical and needed urgent solution.
According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, coal and electricity imports are among the issues that need to be addressed immediately.
“What kind of imports can we talk about if the countries we import from do not let us into their markets. Hence our coal, our miners, our electricity first. And if a certain type is not produced in our country, then we can raise the issue of importing that type. This is an urgent task,” he said.
