Authorities allot 200,000 food, hygiene packages for free - Ukrainian PM Shmyhal

KYIV. April 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) - About 200,000 food and hygiene packages have been allotted for free, consistent with a government program, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

"As for food security, a program aimed at the free allotment of food packages has begun. About 200,000 packages of the kind, containing food and hygiene products, have been allotted, mostly, in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions," Shmyhal said at a government meeting on Tuesday.

In all, 12 million packages will be available, and 133,000 tonnes of food worth of almost 4 billion hrynvi have been procured to this end, he said.

"We are buying as much as we can from Ukrainian enterprises, thus providing Ukrainian enterprises with orders," Shmyhal said.

The government is closely cooperating with retail chains to make sure that all cities and rural areas have food, social goods, and essentials, he said.

"We are realize that stores have encountered numerous force majeure incidents and problems. We will be helping them," Shmyhal said.