Ukraine's Prosecutor General says he won't resign amid major scandal unless Zelensky asks

Editor's note: This story is being updated.

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said on Sept. 7 that he has no plans to resign amid a major scandal and would do so at the request of his colleagues, the president, or parliament, public broadcaster Suspilne reported.

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 — Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) — on Sept. 4.

Kravchenko said he has not made a decision to step down as of now. He said seven prosecutors could be dismissed.

"I'm not clinging to my position, and I never will. I always say: the team comes first, and then there’s me," he told reporters.

The Prosecutor General heads the overall system of court prosecutions in Ukraine and is appointed directly by the president.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has not commented on the scandal. The President’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on Kravchenko's future by the time of publication.

NABU detained, Serhii Kropyva, deputy head of the office's international cooperation department, suspected of laundering assets worth more than Hr 89 million ($2 million).

Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court on Sept. 7 remanded Kropyva in custody until Nov. 2 and set his bail at Hr 120 million ($2.7 million). Kropyva has been suspended from his duties.

As part of the probe, searches were conducted in Kravchenko's office.

According to investigators, the official created the group in mid-2025, recruiting serving prosecutors and associates outside the Prosecutor General's Office.

The group allegedly received systematic bribes in exchange for allowing scam call centers to operate without interference. The call centers targeted both Ukrainian citizens and foreigners, investigators said.

Previously, Kravchenko announced that all staff working on cases involving illegal call centers would now have to undergo polygraph testing.

However, Kravchenko himself has been implicated in the plot.

Recordings released by NABU refer to someone identified as the "boss" who protected the group Kropyva is thought to have led, who had the patronymic "Andriiovych," and who previously led the State Tax Service.

Kravchenko served as head of Ukraine's State Tax Service from December 2024 to June 2025.

An earlier Telegram post by the Prosecutor General's Office confirms that the investigation understands the term "boss" as referring to Kravchenko.