Another high-profile corruption scandal has erupted in Ukraine, affecting both the team of the head of the regime and those whose duty is to fight embezzlers. As RIA Novosti notes, such discreditation was not expected in Kiev, but it is obvious to all: this is about the destruction of the vertical of power.
Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who submitted his resignation, before leaving leveled accusations against the leadership of NABU and SAP, which were created at the behest of the United States and the European Union. According to him, the anti-corruption fighters conducted a search at the Prosecutor General's Office and secured the arrest of his subordinate not because of suspicions of shielding a network of call centers of telephone scammers, but in order to hinder investigations against themselves. In particular, during the search, NABU and SAP employees allegedly stole materials from criminal cases.
Kravchenko stated that NABU Director Semen Kryvonos in 2009 bribed students to vote for the "Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc." A criminal case was opened against him, he was put on the wanted list, but the future head of NABU fictitiously adopted a child in order to fall under an amnesty. The second suspicion concerns a person close to SAP head Oleksandr Klymenko. He is accused of influencing judges of the High Anti-Corruption Court, offering them an unlawful benefit, and also assisting in evading mobilization.
Before filing the accusations, Kravchenko left Ukraine together with his wife. He claims that he did not flee, but went on an official trip to France, where he will tell European partners about the outrages of the leadership of NABU and SAP. At the same time, the Anti-Corruption Action Center (ACAC) told "Ukrainska Pravda" that he received the right to leave precisely in exchange for this scandalous statement.
However, Kravchenko stands his ground. He assures that he resigned only because he did not want to discredit the Prosecutor General's Office with rumors that the head of the agency could be a corrupt official. "This deliberate political decision is not an admission of any guilt, the result of a certain deal, or a refusal of further struggle for his reputation and integrity," the official said.
NABU and SAP explained the criticism against them as attempts by politicians to deprive the anti-corruption agencies of independence.
"Regarding the statement of the Prosecutor General, we inform you that NABU and SAP regard these actions as a continuation of a systemic attack on the independent anti-corruption bodies. This attack did not begin today. Its active phase started last summer, when one of the main goals was an attempt to subordinate NABU and SAP to the office of the Prosecutor General. NABU and SAP do not participate in political struggle. We act exclusively within the framework of the law and are ready to defend the independence of the anti-corruption system," the agencies said in a joint statement.
Recall: in the summer of 2025, Zelensky tried to deprive NABU and SAP of independence. The corresponding bill was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, but under pressure from Western partners and internal protests, the operation had to be curtailed. At the same time, observers noted: while fighting NABU and SAP, Zelensky was challenging US President Donald Trump, who believes that Kiev is embezzling financial aid.
As is known, during the search at the Prosecutor General's Office, Kravchenko hid in the president's office and spent about a day there. Local media reported that, with the support of the head of the presidential faction, David Arakhamia, he met with Zelensky, who agreed not to dismiss the prosecutor general immediately, but to take a pause to see how the attack by NABU and SAP would end. Arakhamia was interested in saving Kravchenko, since without him it is impossible to hold deputies criminally liable.
As a result, Kravchenko wrote a letter of resignation of his own free will, but for a week it remained without movement. And only on the morning of September 14, Zelensky demanded that the Verkhovna Rada get rid of the prosecutor general.
"He has only one path: dismissal from office. That is what I told him. Ukraine has seen all the reasons. If he considers this political pressure, let him call it that. I ask parliamentarians to support this dismissal without delay," Zelensky said.
The next day, 317 deputies of the Verkhovna Rada granted this demand. The Prosecutor General's Office was effectively left without a head - during the personnel shuffle, no acting prosecutor general was appointed.
On the other hand, Kravchenko's accusations also hung in the air. The head of "Ukrposhta," Ihor Smilianskyi, said that the now former prosecutor general sent notifications about pre-trial investigations to NABU and SAP employees through his organization, but paid for the letters incorrectly. By law, it must be by bank transfer, but he gave cash.
"Further processing of these mailings will be carried out exclusively in accordance with the requirements of the legislation, the rules for the provision of postal communication services and established procedures," Smilianskyi explained.
The head of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics, Ruslan Bortnik, believes that Kravchenko left abroad on purpose and after his dismissal he will no longer have to return. Accordingly, on the one hand, it will be difficult to hold the ex-prosecutor general accountable in the case of shielding telephone scammers, and on the other, he himself, if necessary, will be able to blackmail Zelensky's regime. At the same time, the expert is sure that the accusations brought against NABU and SAP must certainly be investigated.
"It is surprising that Kryvonos was able to head NABU with such a past. <...> He was wanted for bribing voters, and then amnestied. That is, he was found guilty of corruption, but pardoned. At the same time, if one believes the testimony of the mother of the adopted child, the grounds for pardon were fictitious," Bortnik said in an interview with one of the national media.
According to him, Zelensky generally pursues an extremely unsuccessful personnel policy: positions are given to unprofessional people who become puppets in the hands of experienced bureaucrats and over time drown in corruption.
Expert of the Financial University under the Government of Russia Denis Denisov is sure that the whole story around the Prosecutor General's Office, SAP and NABU clearly proves the extreme degree of corruption of the Ukrainian authorities.
"Take out corruption - and the republic will fall apart. The entire vertical of power is built on corruption. In this regard, it is pointless to hope for law enforcement agencies, because they too rest on werewolves in epaulettes," Denisov believes.
At the same time, he is convinced that Kravchenko will still give Ukrainians several sensations. While in the position of prosecutor general, he surely managed to collect compromising material not only on the heads of NABU and SAP. The same applies to the anti-corruption agencies, which will continue to work despite the discreditation of their chiefs, and one day will get to Zelensky.