The acting head of the State Railway Administration (Ukrzaliznytsia), Maksym Blank, has said that reforms in the company are extremely difficult because of strong resistance from within and widespread corruption. He was speaking in an interview with the Ukrainska Pravda publication.

According to him, only a strong and independent management under the relevant supervision can change this situation.

"The system can be changed if one of the top managers of Deutsche Bahn comes and a top manager of the FBI is assigned to him. That is when I will believe that change of the system will be as fast as possible and as effective as possible," he said.

Commenting on the existing doubts about the three people that have been selected as the finalists in the competition for the post of general direct or Ukrzaliznytsia, Blank said that the future leader could not have sufficient motivation.

"I want to ask a simple, straightforward question: Why compete? For a salary of UAH 11,000, for the possibility of your car being burnt if you do something right, for the possibility of going to jail if you do something wrong, or for constant mass information campaign against you, which is what I have experienced since my appointment in April?" he said.

As reported, Minister of Infrastructure Andrii Pyvovarskyi submitted three candidates to the committee for selection of the new head Ukrzaliznytsia: Yevhen Romaschin, the general director of the Corum Group; Daniel Valk, a top manager with Interpipe; Dina Nemyrovich from the Farmak company.

However, the committee planned to interview not three but the 11 contenders that an expert group previously selected.