This paper examines the reforming process in the coal mining industry in Ukraine and analyses reform outcomes which a gradualist approach adopted to recover the industry has delivered. Ukraine’s gradualist approach is addressed in the paper narrowly through the lens of rent seeking, established in the coal industry in Ukraine in the 1980s, which persisted and stretched across the highest tiers of the government after the country gained independence. By now, reform achievements turned to be much less fruitful than in other countries - proponents of gradualism, first of all CEE and FSU countries. Detailed analysis of strategic documents which define development of the coal mining sector, reveal inconsistencies all of which lead us to the conclusion that the recent reform attempts are not purposed, in fact, towards implementation unlike declared. Strategic documents are not timely consistent when it comes to defining stages of the coal mining reform and a clear implementation timeline, not speaking about agreement on all major reforming steps to be undertaken.