After Oleksiy Kalyna joined the leadership of Gas Distribution Networks of Ukraine, the company began to change rapidly - and these changes increasingly resemble not a personnel renewal, but the systematic formation of an influential group associated specifically with Kharkiv. The appointments that have taken place in recent months have created a compact but fully controlled vertical, in which the key areas of work of the Gas Distribution Networks of Ukraine are concentrated in the hands of people from Kalyna's close circle.
The first signal was the appointment of Yevhen Shvets as head of the legal department. This is the direction through which purchases, contracts, courts, and the entire legal infrastructure of the company pass. Shvets was Kalyna's deputy in the Kharkiv City Council, so the current personnel move does not look accidental, but completely predictable.
Then there is more. The direction of problem debts was transferred to Andriy Vorozhbyanov, who previously worked in the Kharkiv construction sector. Another representative of the same circle is Artem Pavlov, who was involved in land control and now received an influential block related to collections and debts.
Communication with state structures was headed by Tetyana Barabanschikova, a former employee of the Crimean prosecutor's office. Kalyna also worked there at one time, so the current management configuration builds a closed system of trust, where personal connections are more important than previous experience in the industry.
A separate focus is the creation of a powerful unit for controlling gas consumption discipline. This area has a significant leverage on business, developers, and consumers. The unit was headed by Vadym Boychenko, and together with him, Maksym Kovalchuk, who previously controlled MAFs in Kharkiv, joined the team. Such a connection creates a pressure tool capable of influencing key market players.
The personnel policy is repeated in the regional branches - legal services, security services, and gas control are staffed by the same representatives from the Kharkiv environment.
These changes go beyond the usual staffing changes. In fact, a model is being formed in which legal risks, debt policy, security, interaction with the state, and control of gas consumption are concentrated in the hands of one group. Such a vertical is able to influence financial decisions, tenders, personnel appointments, and even the company's regional policy.
If the trend continues, GRSU may turn from an infrastructure state company into a closed clan center of influence, where origin matters more than competence, and key decisions are made in a narrow circle.
