Russian forces apparently shot five unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) in Donetsk Oblast earlier this November, the Prosecutor General's Office said on Nov. 26, launching a war crime investigation.
Andriy Kostin's resignation was supported by 255 members of parliament.
The formal reason for Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin's resignation on Oct. 22 was the ongoing major corruption scandal involving hundreds of prosecutors who obtained disability benefits, including financial support, the ability to evade the military draft and leave the country at will. A crucial question is whether Kostin's resignation will
There have been multiple reports of the executions of Ukrainian POWs by Russian soldiers during the full-scale invasion, but they have increased dramatically over the last year.
"I am grateful to the president of Ukraine and Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada for their trust. But in this situation, I believe it is right for me to resign from the post of prosecutor general," he said.
In light of "information that Putin may attend the G20 summit in Brazil, I would like to reiterate that it's an obligation for the Brazilian authorities as a state party of the Rome Statute to arrest him if he dares to visit," Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin said.
"The killing of prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and an international crime. A criminal case has been opened over the violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder," Kostin posted on X.
Cyrpus has stripped Ihor Kolomoisky's Cyrpus citizenship after concluding that the notorious Ukrainian oligarch had withheld vital information related to criminal charges he faces, Philenews reported.
Controversial Ukrainian Member of Parliament Artem Dmytruk fled the country on Aug. 25 after being charged with assaulting a soldier as well as a law enforcement officer in separate altercations, the Prosecutor General's Office announced.
The Russian-installed head of occupied Kherson, Volodymyr Saldo, was charged in absentia on Aug. 15 on charges related to seizing and relocating over 2,800 tons of Ukrainian grain, the Prosecutor General's office announced.
Anton Krasovsky was convicted for his calls to "burn and drown Ukrainian children" on air on one of his shows on the Russian state-run channel RT, formerly known as Russia Today. He also said that Ukraine "should not exist at all."
Japanese Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi arrived in Ukraine on Aug. 5 to discuss cooperation in judicial reform and the fight against corruption.
Law enforcement officers have uncovered a major embezzlement scheme involving Hr 138 million ($3.3 million) allocated from the state budget for the needs of Ukraine's Armed Forces, the Prosecutor General's Office announced on July 19.
One of the prosecutors had been charged and detained at their workplace following an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).
"For the sake of international justice, cases like the intentional attack on the biggest child hospital in Kyiv (are) worth lifting to the ICC," Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told Reuters on July 11.
Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin earlier announced that his office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) had launched an official investigation into Dmytro Verbytskyi's assets. Verbytskyi is accused by journalists of alleged illicit enrichment.
The Prosecutor General's Office is preparing to request the extradition of two suspects accused of attempting to assassinate the Kazakh opposition activist and journalist Aidos Sadykov in Ukraine.
The suspects were the first to fire shots at EuroMaidan protesters on Feb. 20, 2014, according to the investigation. As a result of the Feb. 20 murders, 48 protesters were killed, and 90 others were injured.
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin announced that his office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) had launched official investigations into the assets of Kostin's Deputy Prosecutor General, Dmytro Verbytskyi.
Earlier in June, Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin said that over 800 Ukrainian children have been killed since the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014.
Law enforcement officers are investigating over 450 criminal offenses related to the illegal organization of gambling as of mid-May, the Prosecutor General's Office said.
More than 2,500 gambling websites that had operated without a license were blocked in Ukraine as of April 27, the Prosecutor General's Office reported.
The Prosecutor General's Office announced on April 8 that it had opened a criminal investigation after the journalist of the Ukrainian investigative outlet Slidstvo.Info, Yevhenii Shulhat, had been allegedly targeted by military enlistment officers as retaliation for his investigation into a Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) official.
The Prosecutor General's Office has opened an investigation into a video that purportedly shows Russian soldiers shooting three captured and unarmed Ukrainian servicemen in Kherson Oblast, the office announced on April 7.
Ukraine has collected pretrial information on over 128,000 victims of war crimes, Veronika Plotnikova, the head of the Coordinating Center for Support of Victims and Witnesses of the Prosecutor Generals Office, said on air on March 18.
Editor’s note: This is issue 43 of Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak’s weekly “Ukrainian Economy in Brief” newsletter, covering events from Feb. 12-18, 2024. The digest highlights steps taken in the Ukrainian parliament related to business, economics, and international financial programs. The Kyiv Independent is republishing with permission. IMF
Parliament appointed lawmaker Andriy Kostin, a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky's party, as prosecutor general. 299 lawmakers supported the president's candidate on July 27. Kostin, seen as a staunch Zelensky loyalist, has been accused of sabotaging judicial reform. He also used to be the Zelensky administration's preferred candidate for the
Oleksiy Symonenko, who became acting prosecutor general on July 17, may be formally appointed as the prosecutor general by the Verkhovna Rada next week, with his past record suggesting he values loyalty to the presidential administration more than being effective on the job. “He’s as loyal to the authorities
Editor's Note: Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and Security Service Head Ivan Bakanov were fired by parliament on July 19, 10 hours after the article was published. President Volodymyr Zelensky dropped major news on a typically slow Sunday evening, removing from office two of his staunchest allies – Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova
Andriy Smyrnov, a deputy chief of staff for President Volodymyr Zelensky, clarified on July 18 that Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and Ivan Bakanov, head of the Security Service of Ukraine, had been suspended but not fired yet. According to Smyrnov, the top officials' suspension was needed to prevent their potential
The standoff between the Prosecutor General's Office and ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, the country's largest steel mill, reached new heights on Jan. 4 when the company's bank accounts were frozen by the state. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the non-cash funds of the steel mill were frozen as part of
Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said late on Dec. 2 she would step up more than 200 criminal cases against “the owner of several well-known television channels, coal companies, and energy companies.” Although Venediktova did not refer to him by name, this appeared to be a veiled reference to oligarch Rinat
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