KIEV, Sept. 2 - The Ukrainian government has decided to increase the strategic gas reserves kept at the Naftogaz Ukrayiny's underground storage facilities to 17 billion cubic meters, but a lesser amount of gas may prove sufficient to get through the heating season, Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman said.

"We are looking for the ways to find the optimal figure between 17 billion cubic meters and 14.5 billion cubic meters so that we get through the winter normally," he said at a joint press briefing with European Commission Vice President for the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic in Kiev on Friday.