On Thursday, the Parliament of Ukraine voted to dismiss Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Development and Infrastructure, and Minister of Agriculture Mykola Solski from their positions.
Kubrakov stated before the vote that neither the club of the ruling presidential Servant of the People party nor Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal had previously discussed his resignation with him. “I was not invited to the meeting of the club and the parliamentary committee,” he wrote on Facebook.
Kubrakow recalled that in May 2021 he was appointed to the position of Minister of Infrastructure, which from the first days of the full-scale war with Russia was responsible for military logistics and the renovation of destroyed houses and infrastructure. In December 2022, the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) appointed him deputy prime minister for the reconstruction of Ukraine and minister of the new combined ministry of development and infrastructure.
According to sources of the Ukrainska Pravda portal in the Servant of the People party, Kubrakov’s dismissal is the result of plans to divide his ministry into the ministry of infrastructure and the ministry of regional policy. “The issue of reappointing Oleksandr Kubrakov will not be discussed until the division of the Ministry of Development of Territories and Infrastructure is ready,” the portal wrote.
Agriculture Minister Solski resigned at the end of April after allegations of illegal acquisition of state land worth approximately $7 million. On April 25, by decision of the High Anti-Corruption Court, Solski was arrested, but a day later the court released him from custody after paying a bail of UAH 75.7 million ($1.9 million).
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) reported on Tuesday that Solski is suspected of illegally acquiring land worth 291 million hryvnias (about $7 million). In addition, he allegedly tried to illegally take over land worth UAH 190 million (about $4 million).
Solski rejected these accusations. He stated that the events mentioned by NABU took place in 2017-2018, when he was a lawyer and did not hold the position of minister.
