Politics

Ukraine's prosecutor general says he approved charges against anti-graft agency chief after resigning

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Ukraine's prosecutor general says he approved charges against anti-graft agency chief after resigning
Ruslan Kravchenko delivers a speech during the ''United for Justice: Accountability for Crimes against Civilians'' International Conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 7, 2026. (Marianna Kotyk/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Editor's note: This story is being updated.

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who has submitted his resignation, had approved the charges against Semen Kryvonos, director of Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), he said in an addressed released on Sept. 14.

"I suspect (Kryvonos) of falsifying official documents in order to obtain especially large illicit benefit," Kravchenko said.

He also claims to have approved charges against a person close to Oleksandr Klymenko, head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), without naming them.

The statement came after Kravchenko denied any connection to a criminal organization running protection for scam call centers to launder millions of hryvnias, allegedly involving a senior official in the Prosecutor General's office.

The alleged criminal scheme was uncovered by Ukraine's two chief anti-corruption bodies — NABU and SAPO — on Sept. 4.

Kravchenko, long seen as a staunch loyalist of President Volodymyr Zelensky, resigned on Sept. 7 after NABU detectives exposed an alleged scam call center protection racket run from the Prosecutor General's Office

Kravchenko claims that Zelensky had previously sought to prevent him from approving the charges against the NABU chief. Kravchenko called on Kryvonos and Klymenko to resign.

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Kateryna Denisova

Politics Reporter

Kateryna Denisova is the reporter for the Kyiv Independent, specializing in Ukrainian politics. Based in Kyiv, she focuses on domestic affairs, parliament, social and war-related issues. Kateryna began her career in journalism in 2020 and holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. She also studied at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.

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