Everything You Need to Know About Ukraine’s New Vice PM

On Dec. 1,  parliament appointed Oleksandr Kubrakov, an independent politician, to the post of Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine – Minister for the Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure from his previous post as Minister of Infrastructure. In his new position, Kubrakov will be responsible for the after-war recovery of Ukraine.

This appointment also merges the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development to reduce budget expenditures. There are several functions where the two ministries intersect, particularly European integration and the development of border areas. However, some functions are radically different. In particular, in this new position Kubrakov will be responsible for continuing decentralization reform, which was recognized in 2021 by the European Parliament for its success.

Short bio

Oleksandr Kubrakov was born on August 20, 1982, in Pershotravensk, Dnipropetrovsk, studied marketing at Kyiv National Economic University, and completed a short-term program at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Beginning in 2006, Kubrakov held various positions at telecommunications company Kyivstar, rising to the head of marketing.

From 2011 to 2015, he served Kyiv mayor Oleksandr Popov, and afterward, Vitali Klitschko, as an IT advisor. Kubrakov implemented an electronic document management system in the mayor’s office and worked with the World Bank on a strategy for the development of the Kyiv transport system.

From 2016 to 2019 he acted as head of the telecommunications and IT sector at the Better Regulation Delivery Office under the leadership of Oleksiy Honcharuk, the future  prime minister.

Then from 2019 to 2021 Kubrakov was head of the State Road Agency of Ukraine.

During his tenure there, in May 2020, the anti-corruption group Bihus.info accused Kubrakov and his team of restricting free competition in the road construction market and of artificially inflating construction prices.

On May 26, 2020, the news program “Our Money with Denis Bigus” was dedicated to an investigation of the road agency and several road constructions companies: Onur, Avtomagistral-Pivden, and Rostdorstroy.

Kubrakov, called the story fake and blamed the journalists for discrediting him. Under pressure he handed over records of the agency to the Security Service of Ukraine.

During 2020, according to official reports, the road agency successfully implemented projects amounting to more than $3.5 billion, or Hr 100 billion, of the state budget.

On May 20, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Oleksandr Kubrakov as Minister of Infrastructure. In his new position the minister focused mainly on large-scale infrastructure projects.

Minister Kubrakov has been recognized for the successful implementation of the grain agreement unblocking the Odesa ports of the Black Sea.

On July 22, 2022, the grain agreement was signed in Istanbul between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the UN for the export of grain and other agricultural products.

As of Nov. 14, 456 vessels have left the ports of Odesa, exporting 10.7 million tons of Ukrainian food to Asia, Europe and Africa.