UPDATE 1-Head of state-run Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz quits
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KYIV, Nov 1 (Reuters) – The Ukrainian government accepted the resignation of Yuriy Vitrenko as chief executive of state energy company Naftogaz on Tuesday.
In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, Naftogaz said Vitrenko would remain in the role until Nov. 3, but gave no further details.
Asked by Reuters about the reason behind his resignation, Vitrenko declined to comment.
“By a decision dated November 1, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the resignation of the chairman of the board of Naftogaz of Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko,” Naftogaz said in a statement posted under a photograph of Vitrenko.
“Yuriy Vitrenko will continue to hold the position of head of the national company until November 3, 2022 inclusive,” it said, promising a more detailed communication on his last day in the role.
The government did not immediately provide any details.
Vitrenko, 46, had been chief executive of Naftogaz since April 2021. His departure had been widely expected.
Naftogaz declined comment on reports by Ukrainian media and by a senior member of parliament that Vitrenko was set to be replaced by Oleksiy Chernyshov, minister for communities and territorial development.
Vitrenko’s departure follows a series of Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks as the war in Ukraine drags on.
Naftogaz is also locked in a legal dispute with Russia’s state energy company Gazprom over the transit of Russian gas. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Max Hunder, Editing by Timothy Heritage)