"The Purpose of an Injunction is to Maintain the Status Quo Pending a Merits Decision"

26.12.2025

The Commercial Court has blocked the formation of a new supervisory board for JSC “Ukrainian Distribution Grids” (UDG) until the legal dispute is resolved. This decision follows an application by Andrii Kostrytsia, who is challenging his early dismissal from the company’s supervisory board.

Oleksii Hnatenko, Juscutum

To delve into the legal details of this precedent, Energy Club spoke with Oleksii Hnatenko, Partner in the Dispute Resolution Practice at Juscutum. The lawyer explained what this ruling means for the company, why the court partially granted the claims, and what the next steps in the legal defense will be.

— Mr. Oleksii, how did this legal story begin?

— We were approached by Andrii Kostrytsia, who informed us of his intent to file a lawsuit in the Commercial Court of Kyiv against the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine and JSC “Ukrainian Distribution Grids” (UDG). Mr. Kostrytsia expressed this intent because the termination of his contract as an independent member of the UDG Supervisory Board occurred in violation of the law and was linked to scandals in the energy sector with which the client had no involvement. At the first stage of implementing the client’s rights protection strategy, we applied for an injunction (interim measures) prior to filing the statement of claim. This was done to minimize risks of actions that could complicate effective protection in the future.

— What specific interim measures did you request the court to apply?

— In the application, we requested the court to apply a series of measures, including:

• suspending the decision issued in the form of Order No. 505 dated 09.12.2025, in the relevant part;
• prohibiting the selection committee (established under CMU Resolution No. 1596 dated 03.12.2025) from taking actions within the competitive selection process;
• prohibiting JSC “Ukrainian Distribution Grids” from concluding contracts with new supervisory board members, registering changes in the Unified State Register (USR) or other registers, and holding the first meetings of the new supervisory board composition — until the dispute is resolved on its merits.

— What was the court’s ruling?

— The court partially granted the application. Specifically, the court prohibited JSC “Ukrainian Distribution Grids” from taking actions regarding:

• the conclusion of civil law contracts with new members of the supervisory board;
• the registration of changes to the personal composition of the supervisory board in the USR or other registers;
• holding the first meetings of the new supervisory board composition — until the case is resolved on its merits and the decision enters into legal force.

The court denied the remaining claims.

— Why did the court not support the other requirements?

— In the ruling, the court stated that the request to “suspend” the decision to terminate powers, in the court’s view, does not affect the subsequent possibility of restoring the applicant’s rights, as such a decision is considered to have already been executed at the moment of adoption. Additionally, the court drew attention to Part 12 of Article 137 of the Commercial Procedural Code of Ukraine, which prohibits interim measures that result in interference with public competitive procedures conducted on behalf of the state or with the participation of a state-appointed entity within the relevant committee.

— What are the next steps following this ruling?

— Since the injunction was applied before the lawsuit was filed, the applicant must present the claim within 10 days from the date of the ruling. Furthermore, the ruling may be appealed, but an appeal does not stay its execution. Moving forward, we will prepare and file the lawsuit within the established procedural timeframe and continue to represent and protect the client’s interests in court until the dispute is resolved on its merits.