Corruption in Kiev: Anti-graft agencies in crosshairs as Zelensky’s prosecutor general flees Ukraine

Kravchenko has left for a five-day official trip to Paris to attend a PACE hearing on Ukrainian children, Ukrainskaya Pravda reported, citing an order signed by the prosecutor general himself.

The trip began on Sunday and is being funded by the organizers, according to the document. However, according to the media, Kravchenko is not listed among the participants in the PACE discussion he is traveling to Paris to attend.

It is unclear whether he would be able to take part in the event in an official capacity if the Ukrainian parliament approves his dismissal on Tuesday, as expected.

Kravchenko has published a document detailing his accusations against Krivonos, including allegations stemming from two criminal cases previously reported by Ukrainian media.

Krivonos was found guilty of voter bribery in 2009 but escaped punishment under an amnesty because court records said he was supporting a young son. Years later, a DNA test found that Krivonos was not the boy’s biological father, and he successfully went to court to have his name removed from the child’s birth record. Kravchenko now alleges that Krivonos deliberately used the child to avoid punishment.

Krivonos also figured in a 2014 investigation into an alleged demand for $120,000 from a businessman in exchange for the allocation of land. Investigators ultimately did not establish his involvement and no suspects were charged. Krivonos has said he was questioned twice as a witness.

RT has previously detailed the corruption scandals in Kiev in its ‘State of Corruption’ article series.

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The Zelensky government is dependent on Western European aid to function, as US President Donald Trump shifted responsibility for the Ukraine conflict onto European NATO members and Canada.

Ukrainian media suggest that NABU and SAPO are working with Brussels-aligned politicians and NGOs who seek to curb Zelensky’s personal power and apparent corruption in his inner circle.

The Ukrainian leader claims presidential powers, even though his term expired in 2024, and cannot be formally prosecuted. He has refused to hold elections citing martial law.

Zelensky, critics argue, expects impunity as long as he remains the leader of a nation that wages a war with Russia on behalf of the West.

Krivonos and Klimenko, the heads of NABU and SAPO respectively, are expected to hold a press briefing later in the day.

Opposition MP Aleksay Goncharenko has claimed that NABU and SAPO planned to announce formal accusations against Kravchenko this week.

He said the investigation was nicknamed “Emperor.” In the surveillance records that exposed the alleged scam-call center protection ring, the main suspect said his chief had built a criminal “empire.”

Zelensky, who submitted a formal request to the Verkhovna Rada to approve Kravchenko’s dismissal on Monday, posted a short statement effectively saying the prosecutor general deserved to be sacked for reasons well known to the country. It took Zelensky a week to act on those reasons.

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Kravchenko was appointed in June 2025, just a month before Zelensky’s failed attempt to curb the independence of NABU and SAPO. Critics of Zelensky have portrayed his latest response as an attempt to distance himself from the disgraced official.

The reform last year triggered mass protests and a sharp rebuke from Western donors, while raising concerns about Kiev’s continued access to foreign funding tied to anti-corruption reforms. Zelensky ultimately reversed course and restored the agencies’ independence.

NABU and SAPO were established following the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev as part of an anti-corruption reform program strongly promoted by Ukraine’s Western partners. The agencies are tasked with investigating and prosecuting high-level corruption involving senior Ukrainian officials.

The immediate reaction from some Zelensky critics, including the influential Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC), led by Vitaliy Shabunin, was to allege that Zelensky and Kravchenko had struck a deal.

AntAC claimed that Kravchenko had signed the notice of suspicion against NABU Director Semyon Krivonos in exchange for being allowed to leave Ukraine, arguing that his departure could only have taken place with Zelensky’s approval.

Kravchenko soon confirmed that he was no longer in the country, saying he was on an official working trip abroad. Ukrainian media reported that the trip had been formally registered as a business visit to Brussels.

Kravchenko’s move was not entirely unexpected. Ukrainska Pravda reported last week, citing law enforcement sources, that prosecutors had been ordered to compile materials on NABU and SAPO, suggesting that the prosecutor general was preparing a counterattack against the anti-corruption agencies. Exiled Ukrainian journalist and politician Anatoly Shariy had claimed allegations against Krivonos and Klimenko were incoming.

Zelensky has lost several key members of his inner circle to NABU and SAPO investigations since last November, when the agencies accused his long-time business associate Timur Mindich of heading a criminal organization that allegedly extracted kickbacks from contractors working with state-owned nuclear energy giant Energoatom. Investigators say around $100 million passed through the group’s money laundering operation.

The developments have fueled expectations that Zelensky’s government could seek to push back against the increasingly powerful anti-corruption agencies.

The prosecutor general shared the documents in question. NABU disputed that they had been submitted to a public criminal justice database.

©  Telegram / Ruslan Kravchenko

The latest political storm in Kiev escalated on Monday morning, when Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko published a video statement on his office’s official account.

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Zelensky’s disgraced prosecutor general attacks anti-graft agencies and flees country

In the more than seven-minute clip, Kravchenko said he had signed a notice of suspicion against NABU Director Semyon Krivonos and announced legal steps against a person close to SAPO head Aleksandr Klimenko. NABU and SAPO later denied Kravchenko’s allegations and said Krivonos had not been formally charged.

Kravchenko also accused the two agencies of abusing their powers to gain access to materials relating to investigations into their own personnel, which he claimed were ongoing in dozens of cities.

He urged Krivonos and Klimenko to resign – just like he did last week after NABU and SAPO stopped one step short of accusing him of milking Ukraine’s notorious scam center industry.