by Christopher Miller at Financial Times
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.
Nayyem, head of the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, told the Financial Times that Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal had barred him from participating in the annual Ukraine Recovery Conference on June 11 and 12 in Berlin, where donors will meet to support projects for rebuilding cities and infrastructure destroyed by Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The void left by Nayyem and the absence of an infrastructure minister are likely to prompt questions about Kyiv’s ability and commitment to protect its critical infrastructure as Russian forces continue to conduct air strikes on Ukraine’s power plants and mount offensives in the country’s east. Two agency officials responsible for anti-corruption policy and procurement resigned with Nayyem on Monday.
Six Ukrainian and western officials told the FT that a series of…
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