Olena Kramarenko has been appointed Deputy Minister of Economy and Environment of Ukraine. The specific area of responsibility for which she will be accountable has not yet been specified.
This was revealed in an order published on the government’s website.
Professional experience
Olena Volodymyrivna Kramarenko has around 20 years’ experience in public administration in the environmental sector.
From 4 October 2024 to 23 January 2025, she held the post of First Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources during Svitlana Hrynchuk’s term of office. Prior to that, from 13 May 2022, she served as Deputy Minister under Ruslan Striltsa. At that time, Kramarenko was responsible for the formulation and implementation of state policy in the areas of environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment, state environmental control, and the reform of the chemical safety system in Ukraine.
Her previous positions included: Deputy Director of the Department of Environmental Safety and Permitting and Licensing — Head of the Division for Environmental Impact Assessment and Permitting and Licensing. Olena Kramarenko held this role at the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources when it was headed by Ostap Semerak.
Overall, the official has around eight years’ experience in senior roles within relevant ministries.
Dubious rumours
Olena Kramarenko has on several occasions been implicated in allegations made by environmental activists. In particular, her name allegedly appeared in a case involving a bribe of 200,000 hryvnias in gold, which the SBU found in the possession of Serhiy Lukyanchuk, director of the Department of Environmental Safety. At the time, the new deputy minister was his assistant.
The official was also linked to schemes involving the sale of timber, which were presumably carried out by national parks. This involved the undervaluation of timber, in some cases by a factor of five.
As a reminder, the separate Ministry of the Environment was abolished in July 2025. Following this, its then head, Svitlana Hrynchuk, took over as head of the Ministry of Energy. Just four months later, following the ‘Midas’ anti-corruption investigation, she resigned.
The merged Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture operated for about a year. As early as July 2026, the agricultural department was separated from it, whilst environmental matters remained under the jurisdiction of the economy. Oleksandr Kravchenko, a former business consultant, became the head of the revamped Ministry of Economy and the Environment.
Incidentally, in the first speech by the newly appointed Prime Minister, Serhiy Koretskyi, there was virtually no mention of the environment.
