Rada decides to return to cancellation of summer time in Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada decided to return to the cancellation of summer time in Ukraine.

Member of Parliament Yaroslav Zhelezniak (the Holos faction) announced this in his Telegram channel, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"According to the previous agenda, in the coming plenary week, the Verkhovna Rada will consider the Speaker's bill 4201 in the second reading, which provides for the cancellation of the transition from summer to winter time in Ukraine and vice versa," he said.

Zhelezniak called it the right initiative, adding that he would support it.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on the night of March 31, Ukraine switched to summer time, moving the hands of the clock forward by 1 hour.

The transition to winter and summer time takes place in accordance with Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 509 of May 13, 1996 "On the procedure for calculating time on the territory of Ukraine". Every year, on the last Sunday of March at 3:00 a.m., the clock is moved forward by 1 hour, on the last Sunday of October (at 4:00 a.m.) - by 1 hour back.

The time in force in Ukraine in winter is natural for the territory of Ukraine and corresponds to its geographical location, and in the period from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October, summer time is introduced in order to effectively use the light part of the day and save electricity.

In 2021, the issue of canceling summer time was raised in Ukraine. In March 2021, the Verkhovna Rada sent the bill 4201 for finalization, which proposed to cancel the seasonal change of time.

In October 2021, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, who was the initiator of the bill 4201 on the rejection of the further transition to winter and summer time, said that after Ukraine's transition to winter time in October, the issue of canceling summer time should be raised in the parliament.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal supported the cancellation of transition to summer time.