Zelenskyy appoints acting prosecutor general after Kravchenko dismissal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday appointed Anton Kovalskyi as acting prosecutor general after parliament approved the dismissal of Ruslan Kravchenko on Sept. 15.

Kovalskyi, who heads the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor’s Office, was appointed by presidential decree.

Kravchenko submitted his resignation Sept. 7 amid a National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) investigation into alleged corruption involving officials at the Prosecutor General’s Office.

NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said on Sept. 5 they had uncovered an alleged criminal organization led by a department head at the Prosecutor General’s Office. Its members are suspected of taking bribes from fraudulent call centers and laundering money.

Kravchenko has denied wrongdoing and accused NABU Director Semen Kryvonos of forging documents.

He also said he signed a second notice of suspicion concerning a person close to the head of SAPO, Oleksandr Klymenko, alleging that the person had influenced judges at Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court, offered them unlawful benefits and helped individuals evade military mobilization.

NABU and SAPO rejected the allegations, saying no notice of suspicion had been served on Kryvonos and describing Kravchenko’s claims as part of an attack on the independence of anti-corruption bodies.