“They Are Terrified of Public Outrage This Winter.”

Volodymyr Zelensky faces mounting pressure from critics demanding reliable electricity and heating supplies as Vladimir Putin intensifies strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. According to the former head of the state-owned company Ukrenergo, the president fears public anger over likely long power outages this winter and is trying to shift the blame.

Thirty-nine-year-old Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, who led Ukrenergo until his forced resignation last year amid a struggle for control of the sector, claims that it is the president’s office that is trying to make him a “scapegoat.”

In an interview with POLITICO, he predicted that Ukraine will endure a “very difficult winter” under constant Russian bombardment and added that the government’s actions have only worsened the situation. The conflict with Zelensky’s team escalated after prosecutors filed embezzlement charges against Kudrytskyi last week — a move that sparked outrage among civil society groups and opposition lawmakers. They argue that the criminal case, tied to a contract signed seven years ago when Kudrytskyi was deputy director of Ukrenergo, exemplifies how Ukrainian authorities use the judiciary to pressure opponents, intimidate critics, and cover up their own failures.

Kudrytskyi said he has no doubt the case was coordinated with the president’s office and “could only have been organized on Zelensky’s orders.” The president’s office declined to respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment.

According to Kudrytskyi, even before his arrest he became the target of attacks from “anonymous Telegram channels linked to the presidential administration” that spread false embezzlement claims — an early sign, he believes, that harsher measures were being prepared against him.

Released on bail, Kudrytskyi called the charges “absurd” and insisted their real goal is to make it easier for the president’s administration to convince the public that he is “responsible for the failure to prepare the energy system for winter, even though I have not worked at Ukrenergo for more than a year.”

“They are mortally afraid of public outrage this winter,” he added.

Kudrytskyi argued that public frustration with Kyiv’s leadership this winter will be largely justified, as the energy crisis deepens due to delays in implementing more decentralized generation sources. He claims the current difficulties have been compounded by the government’s failure to adopt the plan he presented to Zelensky three years ago — a roadmap that envisioned gradually phasing out large Soviet-era power plants, highly vulnerable to Russian strikes, in favor of a distributed energy production system.

The essence of his proposal was that decentralization would provide the greatest resilience against Russia’s missile and drone attacks. In recent weeks, their intensity has sharply increased: on some days, Russia launches up to 500 drones and 20–30 missiles in a single assault on Ukraine’s energy system.

However, Kudrytskyi claims that instead of approving his initiative, Zelensky supported an alternative project promoted by presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak — the creation of a large fund to attract hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign investment for the development of hydrogen and solar energy.

According to him, the authorities only returned to the idea of decentralization last year, effectively implementing the approach he had proposed, but “we lost an entire year.”

He also accused the government of “astonishing negligence” in reinforcing energy facilities that were meant to be protected from direct hits and blast waves — including the construction of concrete shelters for transformers. Kudrytskyi noted that Ukrenergo began building such protective structures back in 2023, but most other energy companies have done virtually nothing.

Kudrytskyi was forced to resign last year — a decision that, according to several Ukrainian energy experts, resulted from behind-the-scenes maneuvering by people close to the president who sought to consolidate power. His departure alarmed officials in Brussels and Washington: Western diplomats and international lenders made a rare exception, breaking their usual silence on Ukraine’s internal affairs and openly calling on Kyiv to change course.

So far, international partners have not publicly commented on Kudrytskyi’s arrest or the charges against him. However, on October 30 — the day after his detention — four prominent Ukrainian think tanks issued a joint statement urging investigators to act “with maximum impartiality, objectivity, and political neutrality.” The authors also warned against politically motivated prosecutions, emphasizing that “the practice of exerting political pressure on professionals in public office, especially during wartime, undermines the foundations of statehood and has nothing to do with justice.”

The embezzlement charges brought against Kudrytskyi are legally unfounded, said Daria Kaleniuk, one of Ukraine’s leading anti-corruption activists and head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center. According to her, prosecutors have presented no evidence that the former Ukrenergo head received any personal benefit. Kaleniuk and other civil society figures called the case yet another sign of democratic backsliding.

Overnight on Sunday, Russia launched new strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, attacking regions across the country. According to Zelensky, “in just this week alone, the Russians have used nearly 1,500 attack drones, 1,170 guided bombs, and more than 70 missiles of various types to destroy life in Ukraine.” Unlike in previous wartime winters, Russia is now also systematically targeting gas infrastructure.

Since his resignation, Kudrytskyi has openly criticized what he calls the government’s mismanagement of the country’s energy sector, drawing attacks on social media and accusations of being unpatriotic. He sees it differently: “Most Ukrainians understand that even during war, it’s necessary to speak about the government’s mistakes — otherwise it will only harm the country,” he said.