The arrest and detention of a former top energy official in Ukraine this week is an alarming new episode of democratic backsliding, Ukraine’s civil society and lawmakers say — the latest in a series of politically motivated attacks on individuals and institutions.
Volodymyr Kudyrtskyi, formerly head of Ukraine’s state grid operator Ukrenergo, was arrested on Oct. 28 in western Ukraine and accused of hiding from pre-trial investigation, his lawyers told the Kyiv Independent.
The accusations against him include conspiring to embezzle Hr 13.7 million ($327,000) in a case from 2018, which his lawyers have called “pure nonsense.”
“The allegations are false,” Kudyrtskyi told the Kyiv Independent in a phone call on Oct 31. “We shouldn’t be silent and we have to talk about this as part of an active civil society,” he said.
Kudyrtskyi headed the enterprise from 2020 to 2024, before that, working as the company’s director for investments. His success in attracting more than 1.5 billion euros during his tenure as Ukrenergo head gained him the reputation of a reliable figure, particularly among Ukraine’s international partners that provided aid to the company after Russia began attacking the country’s energy system in 2022.
But Ukrenergo — a lucrative state enterprise which receives substantial international funding — has repeatedly been the center of political infighting and the target of various power struggles to gain dominance and control over the energy sector.
Kudrytskyi was forced to resign in 2024 on shaky grounds that he had failed to adequately protect Ukraine’s energy infrastructure from Russian attacks, a move that prompted resignations of independent board members and condemnation from international partners.
As they were resigning, the two board members called the dismissal “politically motivated,” saying that it had no valid grounds. Similarly, Kudrytskyi told the Kyiv Independent following the raid on his home last week that “someone with high rankings” with influence over law enforcement could be behind the actions against him, though he declined to name names.
The motivations for his detention or why anyone would be going after Kudrytskyi, at this moment, are unclear. A recent Ukrainska Pravda article revealed that when questioned by President Volodymyr Zelensky over why some energy facilities still don’t have fortifications, officials shifted the responsibility to their predecessors.
“Kudrytskyi’s firing last year was already problematic for the corporate governance of Ukrainian state enterprises,” Roman Waschuk, head of Ukraine’s Business Ombudsman Council, told the Kyiv Independent.
“Launching criminal proceedings on evidence that is thin at best further compounds the problem,” he added.
A consortium of four leading Ukrainian think tanks, RRR4U, put out a joint statement on Oct. 30 calling on the authorities to conduct investigations with “the utmost impartiality, objectivity, and political neutrality.” It also cautioned against political persecutions.
“The practice of politically motivated actions against professionals in power in any country, especially in a country experiencing the extremely difficult times of war, is a blow to statehood, not a manifestation of justice,” the statement says.
The European Union, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the International Finance Corporation publicly expressed concern when Kudrytskyi was fired in 2024. They have been conspicuously silent on the issue of his arrest, so far issuing no public comments.
Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is under intense attacks from Russian air strikes, and will likely rely on European partners for emergency support and repairs to critical infrastructure. The EBRD is preparing to lend 500 million euros to Ukraine’s state gas company Naftogaz to fund emergency gas purchases.
Since leaving Ukrenergo in 2024, Kudyrtskyi worked in the private sector, but has been outspoken about corruption at Ukrenergo.
Last week, he was stopped by a man in military attire who asked to see his phone, snatched it, and ran off before returning minutes later with officers from the State Bureau of Investigation, Kudrytskyi told the Kyiv Independent at the time.
The same day, the State Bureau of Investigation arrived at his house with a warrant and conducted a search. It remains unclear what the warrant stated.
Prosecutors allege that Kudrytskyi went to Lviv Oblast to hide from the investigation and flee abroad. However, Kudrytsky’s family left their passports in Kyiv, and had booked the accommodation on Sept. 27 — before he was aware of the investigation — according to his lawyers.
He was released on bail on Oct. 30, after unnamed individuals “who sympathize with his situation” paid the bail, according to his lawyers.
“He will be required to wear an electronic bracelet, surrender his passports, and not leave the city without permission from the investigator and the court,” his lawyers told the Kyiv Independent.
The episode comes three months after an attempt to subordinate Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies to the prosecutor-general, who in Ukraine is a political appointee.
Ukraine’s European partners were also silent in the months leading up to the move on the agencies, despite signs they were experiencing pressure from the highest levels of the Ukrainian government.
The bill was reversed after mass protests against the centralization of power under Zelensky’s government, and pressure from international partners, including the European Commission.
Inna Sovsun, opposition Ukrainian MP and member of the parliament’s energy committee, said that the arrest would erode trust amongst international partners.
“It is a terrible signal to our international partners and is damaging to the reputation of Ukraine,” Sovsun told the Kyiv Independent.
“This is not what the country is fighting for.”
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