Not revenge, but responsibility: how Bankova explains the case of ex-head of Ukrenergo Kudrytskyi
7 November 19:08
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused former Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi of failing to ensure the security of the country’s energy system. The head of state said this during a briefing on November 7, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to Zelenskyy, Kudrytskyi headed an extensive system that was supposed to guarantee security for the Ukrainian energy system and translate these guarantees into reality. However, this did not happen.
The President of Ukraine emphasized that the proceedings against Volodymyr Kudrytskyi are not an act of personal revenge and that he himself has a neutral attitude towards the former CEO of Ukrenergo.
It is difficult to comment on things that someone wrote about. Moreover, these are things that are very far from the real situation. This is not a question for me, this is a question for the Ukrainian judicial system. I have no personal attitude towards this person,” Zelensky said.
Earlier, Forbes Ukraine wrote about the alleged personal conflict between the Ukrainian president and Volodymyr Kudrytskyi. The media published a story in which journalists revealed the details of the case.
It says that during one of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s meetings in 2023, the president asked:
“Why is there no anti-drone protection at the Trypillia TPP?
Kudrytskyi replied:
I am not responsible for Centrenergo.
Zelensky reacted with words:
You are not responsible for anything.
According to Forbes’ interlocutors, after this incident, the head of state regularly criticized Kudrytskyi at the Ponds.
“After the story with Shurma’s solar stations (the OP suspected Kudrytskyi of ‘leaking’ information to journalists about companies related to Rostyslav Shurma’s brother Oleh – ed.), Zelensky was very angry with Volodymyr (Kudrytskyi – ed.) and criticized him at almost every meeting,” Forbes Ukraine quoted a source close to the former Ukrenergo CEO as saying.
What is known about the case of former Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi
At the end of October 2025, former CEO of NPC Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi was served with a notice of suspicion as part of an investigation into possible fraud during the 2018 contracts. The case concerns two contracts for the reconstruction of power grid facilities worth over UAH 68 million and advance payments of over UAH 13.7 million. Kudrytskyi denies any wrongdoing, calls the suspicion absurd, and claims that the company has not suffered any damage. The investigation is ongoing.
Read also: Kudrytskyi’s case: the tape has been blown off. What about the procedure?
on October 21, 2025, the State Bureau of Investigation conducted searches at Kudrytskyi’s place of residence, Ukrenergo’s offices, and at contractors whom the investigation considers to be involved in the possible scheme.
On the same day, the police stopped the car of former Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi and seized his phone without a court order, and, according to UP media, this happened immediately after he publicly criticized the then Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, who blocked a tender for distributed generation, which resulted in the country losing more than 400 MW of new capacity that was supposed to provide electricity to Chernihiv and Kryvyi Rih.
on October 28, 2025, Kudrytskyi himself was notified of being suspected. According to the investigation, he colluded with businessman Ihor Hrynkevych.
The investigation believes that in 2018, two contractor agreements were concluded for the reconstruction of Ukrenergo’s infrastructure, under which the contractors received an advance payment of more than UAH 13.7 million, without performing the work in the agreed amount. The materials mention, in particular, Vizin Rich LLC with an advance of over UAH 8.8 million.
“Ukrenergo demanded a refund and partially returned the funds. At the same time, the investigation continues to clarify the issue of personal responsibility of officials, including Kudrytskyi.
By the way, according to the ZN.UAmedia outlet , the court ordered Concord Bank to pay Ukrenergo UAH 8.8 million of the bank guarantee and UAH 19 thousand of interest for the delay, and also collected another UAH 17.9 million in fines and penalties from Vizin Rich.
The offense is classified under Part 4 of Art. 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (fraud committed by a group of persons on a particularly large scale). The article of the Criminal Code provides for up to 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property in case of proof of guilt.
on October 29, 2025, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv imposed a pre-trial restraint on the former CEO of Ukrenergo: detention until December 26, 2025, with bail set at UAH 13.7 million. The next day, Kudrytskyi was released on bail.
The bail was not paid by my family, it was paid by my, let’s say, partner friends, whom I cannot name without their permission. But it was money from, let’s say, business – Ukrainian business, which obviously does not like lawlessness and arbitrariness either. And we know that business often suffers from it, even despite all the forums, conferences and all these working groups created to help business – to overcome some kind of police arbitrariness,” Kudrytsky said at the time.
He added that he believes his criminal prosecution is politically motivated.
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According to him, the suspicion from the SBI, his detention in the isolation ward and the hearing in the Pechersk court are “a poorly planned political reprisal. “ Kudrytskyi emphasized that the case against him was opened because of the actions of Ukrenergo’s management, which in 2018, on the contrary, protected the interests of the state-owned company by returning advance payments and penalties from a contractor who failed to fulfill its obligations.
He said that in recent days he had become convinced that there were “huge problems not only in the energy sector, but also in the justice system,” and called it a natural result of the overall degradation.
Kudrytskyi emphasized that his case is not about personal responsibility, but about “complete lawlessness and injustice”, which, in his words, Ukraine is being plunged into. He believes that the purpose of the prosecution is to show what happens to people who dare to openly criticize the authorities.
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