Updated

Ukraine's economy minister says routine efforts from government leadership to shoot down reforms — further damaging the country's already crippled economy — prompted him to resign from his post.

Aivaras Abromavicius wrote in his resignation letter published on Wednesday that Ukraine's leadership lacks the political will to enact much-needed changes and has routinely obstructed reforms.

Ukraine's leadership has made little progress in enacting reforms and the country's oligarchs still maintain huge sway in government decisions.

When he came to office 14 months ago, Abromavicius advocated deregulation and large-scale privatization meant to attract foreign investment.

His predecessor, Pavlo Sheremeta, resigned after under a year in office, frustrated by the slow pace of reforms.