The head of the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Projects, Mustafa Nayyem, announced that he is leaving his position due to prolonged obstruction of the agency's work and funding issues. He also initiated a review by law enforcement agencies of the lawfulness and transparency of the decisions made by the agency.

"I made the decision independently due to systemic obstacles that prevent further effective performance of my duties. Since November of last year, the agency's team has faced constant opposition, resistance, and the creation of artificial barriers... I will continue to perform my duties until the government decides on my dismissal and will hand over my responsibilities to my successors. I am ready to do everything in my power to ensure that the agency continues to implement critically important projects for the country," Nayyem wrote on Facebook on Monday.

According to him, the Agency has had its budget for road restoration and maintenance projects eliminated. "I understand the limited resources and the importance of military spending. But the cancellation of funds for the maintenance of infrastructure will inevitably affect, first of all, the condition of defense roads and, as a consequence, all military logistics. If this does not change, next season we will face a complication of military logistics and exports products," Nayyem wrote.

"Secondly, we began to have a 'nightmare' of bureaucracy, when documents for payment for protective structures, fortifications or restoration took months to be agreed upon by the Government, were returned six to eight times with ridiculous comments, were delayed for several months, and some have not yet been agreed upon... This is negative affects the country's defense capability, cargo logistics, protection of critical infrastructure and the export of our goods. It is clear that sooner or later such actions should lead to criticism of our team and dissatisfaction of international partners," he added.

Thirdly, according to Nayyem, since the beginning of the year, the lion's share of workers has had their salaries cut to 68%: "a senior specialist at the Agency received a little more than UAH 30,000, and now – UAH 14,000." "As a result, since the beginning of the year, we have already lost 25% of our team... I believe that this was done deliberately, so that in the Agency, which to some extent became a model for building processes from "0," there would simply be no professional and motivated people left, and the Agency itself was considered ineffective and unnecessary," he said.

At the same time, the National Agency has not failed or stopped a single project during the entire war and is now simultaneously coordinating the work of 353 reconstruction construction sites throughout Ukraine, Nayyem said.

He did not rule out that there would subsequently be attempts to persecute and discredit the work of the Agency in the public sphere. "In fact, this has been happening for a long time. I am ready for this and before my dismissal I asked all law enforcement and regulatory authorities to take all measures to verify the legality and transparency of the decisions made by the Agency," Nayyem said.

As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine appointed Mustafa Nayyem as head of the State Agency for Reconstruction and Infrastructure Projects in January 2023.