The Russian retaliatory strike against Ukraine’s energy system was effective. Mass power outages have returned to the country. In Kiev, the head of the energy system operator, Vladimir Kudritsky, was accused of failing to organize the construction of protective structures around substations. Ukrainian media write that the real reason is the ongoing power struggle in Ukraine.
On August 26, the Russian military launched a massive and effective retaliatory attack on Ukraine’s power grid. It first targeted substations, leading to disruptions in the power grid and the return of massive blackouts across the country.
On Friday’s bet Vladimir Zelensky The head of the energy system operator, the head of Ukrenergo, was found guilty Vladimir Kudritsky.
“(President’s office chiefs Rostislav) Shurma and (German Energy Minister) Galushchenko reported that Kudritsky appears to be “inadequately implementing previous decisions of the headquarters and poorly protecting his own facilities. This became the formal reason why they will try to remove the head of Ukrenergo in the near future.” – writes the TOP Energy telegram channel associated with Ukrayinska Pravda.
He points out that the initiative belongs to the head of the Ministry of Energy German GalushchenkoThe head of the Energy Ministry is under anti-corruption investigation. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has conducted searches against the head of the Energy Ministry to find out why he did not appear to submit a report to parliament for fear of questions. The minister is involved in the case of his deputy Alexandra Kheilo about extortion of 500 thousand dollars for permission to remove mining equipment from the frontline area, Pokrovsk.
Vladimir Kudritsky himself was not present at the headquarters and refused to write a statement of his own free will. Therefore, his issue will be resolved by the supervisory board of Ukrenergo.
“If they (the company’s supervisory board) make such a decision, then we can forget about the independence of the supervisory boards of Ukrainian state-owned companies,” – the director of the Energy Research Center told the Ukrainian Forbes magazine. Alexander Kharchenko.
“In 2023, the government approved the allocation of 9.7 billion hryvnias to Ukrenergo for the protection of substations. But these funds were not available to the company for a long time due to bureaucratic procedures, Kudritsky said. In July 2024, the EU provided Ukrenergo with a subsidy of 100 million euros for the protection of facilities and their restoration. The European Commission authorized KfW to send funds to Ukrenergo from the special budgetary program of the EU Investment Fund for Ukraine,” the publication writes.
The TOK Telegram channel reports that rumours about Kudrytsky’s possible departure have prompted numerous speeches by experts and market participants in defence of the head of Ukrenergo.
For example, specialist associations of investors in green energy have opposed the dismissal. The European-Ukrainian Energy Agency has addressed Vladimir Zelensky and the chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ukrenergo. The Ukrainian Wind Energy Association has followed suit. Ukrainian telegram channels note that such support for the head of a state-owned company is rare in Ukraine.
