President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the criminal proceedings against the former head of the board of Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytsky, emphasizing that this matter falls within the jurisdiction of the country’s judicial system.
This is reported by Kyiv24
President’s Position and Kudrytsky’s Response
During a briefing on November 7, Zelensky noted that Kudrytsky led a “large system” that was supposed to guarantee Ukraine’s energy security. According to the head of state, Kudrytsky was responsible for protecting the energy infrastructure, but in his opinion, he failed to fulfill this task.
“He was supposed to do this, and he did not do it,” said the head of state.
In response, Kudrytsky described the president’s comment as “quite absurd” on his Facebook page. He emphasized that Ukrenergo, together with the Recovery Agency, built 74 anti-drone shelters for autotransformers, while other organizations did not build any. Thus, Kudrytsky believes that the failure of the shelter construction program is directly related to the activities of the Agency and Ukrenergo.
Circumstances of the Criminal Proceedings
On October 29, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv selected a preventive measure for Kudrytsky in the form of detention until December 26 on suspicion of fraudulent acquisition of funds from a state enterprise. The bail was set at 13.7 million hryvnias, which was paid on October 30, after which Kudrytsky was released from pre-trial detention.
The former head of Ukrenergo calls the suspicion “absurd and unfounded.” Kudrytsky was detained by the State Bureau of Investigations on October 28.
According to the SBI, in 2018, during the tender processes for the reconstruction of the external fencing of the substations of the Southern and Western energy systems, Kudrytsky, who was then the deputy director for investments at the State Enterprise “NEC Ukrenergo,” allegedly conspired with representatives of a private company. As a result, two contracts worth over 68 million hryvnias were concluded, and the state enterprise transferred over 13.7 million hryvnias in advance payments to the contractor, which, according to the bureau, were embezzled without the intention of fulfilling obligations.
Volodymyr Kudrytsky has been informed of the suspicion of committing an offense under Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – fraud committed by a group of individuals in a particularly large amount.
Later, Kudrytsky stated in a comment that he has the status of a witness in the criminal proceedings, and the case pertains to events from 2025, when he was no longer working at the company.
It is worth noting that in September of last year, the majority of the supervisory board members made the decision to prematurely terminate Kudrytsky’s powers as the head of Ukrenergo. He himself stated that there was a campaign to discredit the company in anonymous Telegram channels and some media outlets.