On April 15, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine appointed Yegor Perelyhin as a deputy to Svitlana Hrynchuk, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, thus filling a position that had been vacant during the entire time of the former Minister.
EcoPolitic decided to find out what responsibilities the ministry has assigned to the new official. We filed an official request to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine and, based on the order on the distribution of functional powers between the deputies, prepared an analysis for you.
What are the responsibilities of Deputy Minister Yegor Perelyhin at the Ministry of Environment?
1. Coordinates, directs and controls the formation and implementation of policy in the field of
- geological exploration and rational use of subsoil;
- development of strategic, program and planning documents (coordinates their and coordinates their implementation);
- strategic planning in the field of environment;
- state and regional environmental policy;
- environmental tax issues;
- deregulation of economic activities within the competence of the Ministry of Environment.
- 2. Organizes work and ensures:
preparation of proposals for determining the list of subsoil areas for which permits to use are put up for auction; - control over the application of special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions);
- development of environmental education and information on environmental protection and environmental education, formation of environmental awareness of the population, science, and research.
3. On the instructions/resolutions of the Minister, he/she approves and signs memorandums, agreements and other documents within the scope of his/her competence, in accordance with the law.
4. Directs, coordinates and controls activities:Strategic Planning and Restoration Department;
- The Department of Sustainable Environmental Management (within its competence).
- On behalf of the Minister, it interacts with the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine.
It should be noted that Yegor Perelyhin's assignment to these particular areas is related to his previous work experience. The official is an expert in the field of subsoil use. Since 2018, he has been managing Petro-Consulting (now European Lithium Ukraine LLC), and in 2021-2025 he twice headed the United Mining and Chemical Company JSC. In January 2025, he resigned as acting chairman of the company's board.
How did this affect the distribution of responsibilities among other deputies
1. Olga Yukhymchuk, Deputy for European Integration, is currently responsible for two major areas:
- European integration and international cooperation (in particular, the implementation of EU law into Ukrainian legislation);
- climate change (including monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions).
Previously, it was also responsible for the rational use of subsoil. This responsibility has now been transferred to the new deputy, Yegor Perelyhin.
2. Deputy Minister Yegor Perelyhin is responsible for the following areas
- subsoil use (previously handled by Olga Yukhymchuk);
- development of strategic documents (before his appointment, Victoria Kireeva was responsible);
- environmental tax (also assigned to Victoria Kireeva);
- deregulation of economic activity (formerly Oleksandr Semenets);
- management of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and radiation protection (formerly Oleksandr Semenets);
environmental education.
Until now, environmental education has been the responsibility of the Ministry's State Secretary, and now this area has been transferred to one of the deputies.
The other deputies have not changed, except for the areas and responsibilities transferred to Yegor Perelyhin.
3. Deputy Minister Victoria Kireeva is responsible for the following areas:
- atmospheric air protection;
- industrial pollution
- environmental monitoring;
- compliance with the Aarhus Convention;
- state supervision and control in the field of environment;
- land use;
- nature reserve fund;
- biological and landscape diversity;
- genetically modified organisms;
- protection of animals from cruelty.
4. Deputy Minister Oleksandr Semenets is responsible for the following areas:
- waste management;
- forestry;
- chemical safety and management of chemical products;
- environmental impact assessment (EIA) and strategic environmental
- assessment (SEA);
- environmental certification and labeling;
- pesticide and agrochemicals management.
5. Deputy Minister for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalization Serhiy Vlasenko is responsible for the following areas:
- digitalization in the field of environmental protection;
- operation of the Unified Environmental Platform “EcoSystem”;
- water resources;
- critical infrastructure issues.
We can conclude that the workload of the other deputies has been reduced since Yegor Perelyhin started his work.
As a reminder, the position of the First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Environment has been vacant since January 24. On January 23, Olena Kramarenko made public her resignation, and the next day the Cabinet of Ministers accepted her resignation.
As EcoPolitics reported on April 15, the government appointed Yegor Perelyhin as Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine. After that, we prepared a material about the personnel changes in the ministry during Svitlana Hrynchuk's tenure.
EcoPolitics also published an article about the salaries of the Ministry of Environmental Protection officials, where we calculated how much it cost taxpayers to pay for their maintenance last year.
