Mystery Surrounds Firing of Deputy Reconstruction Minister

It took less than a day for the news about the possible sacking of the deputy prime minister for infrastructure to result in a successful voting in the parliament. Many sources who spoke to Kyiv Post were surprised by how it turned out – even the minister himself, as he stated in his public Facebook post. 

On May 9, lawmakers also voted for the sacking of the agrarian minister Mykola Solskyi, who faced charges of illegal land acquisition from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). 

“We only knew about Solskyi, but not Kubrakov,” a source close to senior Servant of the People party members told Kyiv Post. 

Criticism of Kubrakov’s policies have been dragging in the Cabinet of Ministers for the last four months, a source close to the Ministry of Economy told Kyiv Post. 

It could have started from the beginning of his tenure – the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development were joined in one institution especially for Kubrakov without performance indicators of its effectiveness, the source said. 

Another top official in the Cabinet of Ministers added that Kubrakov’s ministry failed to complete reconstruction projects in recent months and also mounted debt without any forecast of how to repay it. 

“They built defensive constructions over the Trypillya thermal plant without any project documentation, and then Russian missiles destroyed them – it is impossible to build missile defense over such constructions at all,” the source said. 

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The Kyiv Post source close to the President's office also said they felt offended that Kubrakov worked with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). 

They helped start investigations against some lawmakers, a member of the Coordination Committee at UNCAC Coalition Andrii Borovyk wrote in a Facebook post. 

NABU declined to comment on its possible cooperation with Kubrakov due to the secrecy of the investigation. 

“Many organizations from RISE Ukraine – Coalition for Reconstruction (me including) actively cooperated with the Ministry of Reconstruction, including preparations of bills and regulatory acts,” Oleksandra Betlii, of the Institute of Economic Policy and Development, wrote in a Facebook post.  

Two individuals close to negotiating with the ministry praised Kubrakov’s coordination with donors and think tanks. 

“I heard donors were against Kubrakov’s resignation and this was the reason he stayed in his chair for a long time,” one of them said told Kyiv Post, asking to remain unnamed. 

Kubrakov’s policies were questioned even during pre-war Zelensky’s presidency. 

Ukraine’s major investigative media site “NashiGroshi,” alongside “Liga Antytrasty” NGO had accused Kubrakov of allowing a cartel to be created during a campaign of road reconstruction. 

NashiGroshi reported that 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) of roads were built with a whole budget of Hr.120 billion ($3 million) – but “Nashi Groshi” found that tenders to build roads were repeatedly won by the six same companies and that there wasn’t fair competition. 

The reconstruction minister is unlikely to be replaced with a new one, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak stated in his post. 

Inside the parliament, the Kyiv Post source said that they expected his deputies to take over the ministers’ chair. 

“But now I have no idea what is going on,” they said. 

Kyiv Post asked the Ministry of Reconstruction and the Presidential Office to comment on why Kubrakov was sacked. The offices accepted the inquiries but had not replied or given a time frame for when they would reply at the time of publication.