Ukraine dismisses electricity industry chief again, West 'concerned'

Ukraine's Suspilne TV station said Volodymyr Kudrytskyi was fired by the company's Supervisory Board by a vote of 4-2. They said he would be replaced by Oleksiy Brekht.

The decision follows a meeting last week between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior military officers to discuss Russian airstrikes on energy targets. Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko also attended the meeting.

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of Ukrenergo, Ukraine's electricity grid operator. Photo: Reuters

Ukrainian media have published a letter from Western organizations operating in Ukraine, including the European Union, expressing "deep concern" to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal about Kudrytskyi's impending dismissal.

“Such an event could jeopardize our shared ability to support Ukrenergo and other important energy security priorities for Ukraine,” the letter said.

Yaroslav Zhelezniak, an opposition member of the Ukrainian parliament , wrote on the messaging app Telegram, predicting that the international reaction would be “swift and quite painful.”

Ukrainian media reported that the main reasons for the dismissal were the company's inability to provide proper protection for energy sites and irregularities in awarding contracts.

Kudrytskyi, who has headed the company since 2020, did not implement decisions made at previous meetings of the Ukrainian military command, the Ekonomychna Pravda newspaper quoted unnamed government sources as saying.

Since the conflict with Russia began, President Zelenskyy's administration has dismissed a number of high-ranking officials, both civilian and military, from the military commander, the Ambassador to the United Kingdom, the Chief of the Armed Forces Medical Staff, the Minister of Defense, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and most recently the Air Force Commander.

Hoang Anh (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/ukraine-lai-cach-chuc-nguoi-dung-dau-nganh-dien-phuong-tay-bay-to-quan-ngai-post310363.html