The president of Ukraine is afraid of a negative public reaction to long-term power outages expected this winter and is trying to shift the blame to others, says the former head of a Ukrainian state-owned energy company.
Volodymyr Kudrytsky, 39, who headed Ukrenergo until he was forced to resign last year amid internal disputes over political control of the energy sector, says he is one of the people the President's Office wants to use as a scapegoat.
In an exclusive interview with POLITICO, he predicts that Ukraine will face a “very difficult winter” under relentless Russian bombardment, and argues that the government in Kiev has made the situation worse through a series of poor decisions.
An additional reason for the conflict with Zelensky's team was Kudrycki's indictment last week for embezzlement, which sparked outrage among Ukrainian civil society and opposition MPs.
They argue that Kudrytsky's indictment over the deal — one of hundreds — he approved seven years ago when he was Ukrenergo's deputy director, is a stark example of Ukrainian authorities' aggressive use of legal remedies to intimidate opponents, silence critics and cover up their own mistakes.
Kudrycki adds that there is no doubt that the charges against him had to be approved by the Chancellery of the President and “could have been falsified only on Zelensky's orders.”. Zelensky's office declined to respond to POLITICO's repeated requests for comment.
Before his arrest, Kudrycki said he had been the subject of criticism from “anonymous Telegram channels that support the president, [powtarzając] false allegations that I had misappropriated funds.” He took this as the first sign that he would likely be subject to tougher sanctions.
Kudrycki, who was released on bail last Friday, says the criminal charges against him are “nonsense” but were brought so that “the president's office could more easily convince the public that I am responsible for not preparing the energy system for the coming winter, even though I have not worked at Ukrenergo for over a year.”
“They're scared as hell” of society's reaction this winter, he adds.
Competing plans
Kudrycki also says the public backlash against the leadership in Kiev will be justified in part because the fight to maintain electricity supplies will be exacerbated by delays in implementing more decentralized power generation.
The former head of Ukrenergo explains that Ukraine's energy challenges as colder days arrive will be intensified by the government's lack of a quick response to the plan he presented to Zelensky three years ago. His proposal involved decentralizing energy production and moving as quickly as possible away from a system based on huge, centralized Soviet-era power plants, which are a more attractive target for Russian attacks.
The plan was based on the assumption that decentralizing energy production would be the best way to counter Russian missile and drone attacks. These attacks have escalated to alarming levels in recent weeks, and on some days Russia attacked Ukraine's energy infrastructure, using 500 Iranian-made drones and 20-30 missiles in each attack.
Instead of quickly backing the decentralization plan, Zelensky approved — according to Kudrytsky — a rival project backed by his powerful chief of staff Andriy Yermak to “create a massive fund to attract hundreds of millions of foreign investments in hydrogen and solar energy.”
Last year, the government focused on decentralization, eventually adopting Kudrycki's plan. “But we lost a year,” comments its author.
Kudrycki also says the slow pace of strengthening the country's energy infrastructure to better withstand direct strikes or explosions — including building concrete shelters to protect transformers at power plants — is a “gigantic failure of the government.”
Ukrenergo, in Kudrytsky's own words, began strengthening facilities and building concrete shelters for transformers in 2023, but other energy companies have done little work.
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Regression of democracy
Kudrycki was suddenly forced to resign [ze stanowiska szefa Ukrenergo] last year in what several Ukrainian energy executives say was a maneuver planned by those close to the president determined to monopolize political power.
His departure raised alarm in Brussels and Washington, with Western diplomats and global lenders even issuing a rare public rebuke, breaking their usual public silence on Ukraine's domestic politics. They called on Kyiv to change course.
So far, international partners have not publicly expressed their opinion on Kudrycki's arrest and prosecution. However, a group of four prominent Ukrainian think tanks issued a joint statement on October 30, a day after Kudrytsky was put on trial, calling on authorities to conduct the investigation with the “utmost impartiality, objectivity and political neutrality.”
Think tanks also warned against political persecution. In their statement, they said: “The practice of taking politically motivated actions against professionals in power in any country, especially in a country experiencing extremely difficult times of war, is a blow to statehood, not a manifestation of justice.”
The embezzlement case against Kudrycki was described by one of the most prominent anti-corruption activists in the country, Daria Kaleniuk, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, as making no legal sense. Kaleniuk says the prosecutor did not present evidence that the former energy sector boss enriched himself in any way, and she, along with other civil society leaders, said his case was another episode of democratic regression.
I’m Ashley Davis as an editor, I’m committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accuracy in every piece we publish. My work is driven by curiosity, a passion for truth, and a belief that journalism plays a crucial role in shaping public discourse. I strive to tell stories that not only inform but also inspire action and conversation.
