Ukraine’s top reconstruction official quits in new blow for Zelenskyy

The top Ukrainian official overseeing wartime reconstruction and defence fortifications has resigned, claiming his agency was being systematically undermined by the government. Mustafa Nayyem’s departure is the latest in a series of personnel changes in Kyiv that have shaken the confidence of western partners in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government and irked some of Ukraine’s own officials.

Zelenskyy is expected to attend the conference while in Berlin to deliver a speech to the German parliament. But experts said the absence of the top bureaucrat in charge of Ukraine’s reconstruction was unlikely to sit well with foreign partners at an event focused on rebuilding the country.

“It sends our partners a message that recovery is not a priority any more,” said Hlib Vyshlinsky, the executive director at the Kyiv-based Centre for Economic Strategy. “This situation is really bad for perception of the Ukrainian government and Ukraine generally. Ukraine is and has to be perceived as unbroken,” Vyshlinsky said. The sacking of Kubrakov and Nayyem’s departure “build an image of weak and unpredictable governance that is unjust to efforts of Ukrainians during these years”.

Origin: Financial Times.