Leadership Change at Ukrenergo Amid Political Controversy

Leadership Shake-Up at Ukraine’s Electric Company Amid Controversy

In a significant development, the head of Ukraine’s electric utility company, Ukrenergo, was dismissed on Monday, following allegations of political interference. This decision comes just one week after a devastating Russian aerial assault on the power grid, which resulted in widespread blackouts across Kyiv and other major cities.

Volodymyr Kudrytsky, who took the helm of Ukrenergo in 2020 prior to the onset of the full-scale Russian invasion, was removed from his position as CEO after a vote by the supervisory board on Monday. The board issued a statement on Tuesday confirming the decision. Multiple Ukrainian media outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda, Forbes, and Censor.net, have reported that Mr. Kudrytsky faced criticism for not successfully completing essential defensive measures at power plants before the August 26 attack, which marked the largest strike on energy infrastructure since the beginning of the 2022 invasion.

In response to his dismissal, Mr. Kudrytsky took to Facebook on Tuesday to assert that he was not let go due to any failures in protecting the infrastructure. Instead, he claimed to be a target of a smear campaign orchestrated by unidentified individuals seeking to seize control of the utility company.

This abrupt firing has sparked what could become a significant political conflict surrounding Ukraine’s energy sector, which has been a primary focus of Russian aggression in recent years as part of its efforts to destabilize the Ukrainian economy and erode domestic support for the ongoing war.

In light of these events, two members of Ukrenergo’s supervisory board, Daniel Dobbeni and Peder Andreasen, publicly announced their resignations in protest of the decision to remove Mr. Kudrytsky, labeling the action as “politically motivated.”