Former Head of Ukrenergo Kudrytskyi Comments on President’s Reaction to His Case

Former Ukrenergo head Volodymyr Kudrytskyi was charged with large-scale fraud over substation fencing contracts awarded in 2018. He called the accusation “absurd” and was released on bail.

Former CEO of NEK Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi called President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s comment on the criminal case against him “quite curious.” He wrote this on Facebook, Zaxid.net reports.

During a briefing on November 7, a foreign journalist asked President Volodymyr Zelenskyy whether Kudrytskyi’s case could raise concerns among Western partners and affect Ukraine’s European integration process. Zelenskyy replied that he holds no personal ill will toward Kudrytskyi and added that “it is difficult to comment on things written by someone else.”

“He (referring to Volodymyr Kudrytskyi) was the head of a large system. This system was supposed to ensure the security of our energy sector. He was supposed to do that, and he did not,” Zelenskyy said.

The president added that the case of the former head of Ukrenergo is a matter for the judicial system.

“Ukrenergo is very bad – together with the Recovery Agency, they built 74 anti-drone shelters for autotransformers, while others built none. The conclusion is obvious: the shelter construction program failed precisely because of the Agency and Ukrenergo.

The blackout in November 2022 is also Ukrenergo’s fault. They could have dodged Russian missiles better. Members of the commission know the secret methodology. They took on too many loans from international institutions; recovery could have been done without so much money. All of this is abuse and state treason,” Kudrytskyi wrote ironically.

At the same time, he noted that the parliamentary temporary investigative commission found no abuses or violations in the work of the Ministry of Energy, Energoatom, Centrenergo, regional power companies, or other CHP plants (except those in Kyiv), and so on.

What Volodymyr Kudrytskyi Is Suspected Of

The 39-year-old former head of NEK Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, was detained in Truskavets, Lviv region, on October 28. He was charged with fraudulently embezzling funds from the state enterprise in collusion with businessman Ihor Hrynkevych during tenders for the reconstruction of Ukrenergo substation fencing in 2018.

At that time, Kudrytskyi held the position of Deputy Director for Investments at SE NEK Ukrenergo. According to the State Bureau of Investigation, two contracts were signed for a total of over UAH 68 million. The state enterprise transferred more than UAH 13.7 million in advance payments to a contractor controlled by Hrynkevych, which the perpetrators embezzled without completing the work.

Ihor Hrynkevych was additionally notified of suspicions of fraud, forgery of documents, and money laundering, while Volodymyr Kudrytskyi was charged with particularly large-scale fraud.

Kudrytskyi himself called the charge “absurd,” stating that he signed the contracts in accordance with procedure following the results of the tenders.

On October 29, the court placed the detained former head of Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, under arrest with the option of release on bail set at UAH 13.7 million. The judge did not take into account statements from “Holos” party MPs Inna Sovsun and Maksym Khlapuk, who offered to guarantee Kudrytskyi’s bail. The court also rejected MP Yaroslav Zhelezhniak’s request because he was absent from the hearing. On October 30, the bail was paid for the former official.