Ukrainian parliament dismisses Prosecutor General Kravchenko in unanimous 317–0 vote
On 15 September, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada voted 317–0, with no abstentions or votes against, to dismiss Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko. The vote came a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree suspending Kravchenko under Ukraine's martial-law law. Kravchenko was not present in the chamber; he had left Ukraine the night before on a self-arranged five-day business trip to Paris, according to Suspilne sources.
Key points
- Verkhovna Rada voted 317–0 on 15 September to dismiss Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko; no MPs voted against or abstained.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree suspending Kravchenko on 14 September under Part 2 of Article 11 of Ukraine's Law on the Legal Regime of Martial Law.
- On 14 September Kravchenko announced he had signed a suspicion notice against NABU director Semen Kryvonos; Kryvonos said he had not received an official paper notification.
- NABU and SAPO characterized Kravchenko's statements and the suspicion against Kryvonos as a continuation of a systematic attack on independent anti-corruption bodies.
- Kravchenko did not attend the Rada session because he was abroad on a self-arranged five-day business trip to Paris, according to Suspilne sources.
- It was unclear at time of reporting who was performing the duties of Prosecutor General after the suspension.
- Kravchenko was appointed Prosecutor General on 17 June 2025; the relevant parliamentary committee supported his dismissal before the floor vote.
Why it matters
The dismissal removes a Prosecutor General who had held the post only since June 2025 and ends weeks of escalating confrontation between the Office of the Prosecutor General and the anti-corruption bodies NABU and SAPO. The immediate trigger was Kravchenko's announcement of a suspicion against NABU director Semen Kryvonos, which President Zelensky said made dismissal inevitable. The unanimity of the 317–0 vote signals rare cross-factional agreement on removing the head of a key wartime law-enforcement institution, but it is not yet clear who is performing the duties of Prosecutor General during the transition.
What happened
On 15 September the Verkhovna Rada voted 317–0, with no votes against and no abstentions, to dismiss Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko. The vote followed a 14 September decree by President Volodymyr Zelensky suspending Kravchenko under Part 2 of Article 11 of Ukraine's Law on the Legal Regime of Martial Law. The head of the Servant of the People faction, Davyd Arakhamia, had earlier announced that the Rada would consider the dismissal motion that day, and the relevant parliamentary committee supported the dismissal. Kravchenko was not in the chamber because he had left Ukraine the night before; according to Suspilne sources, he had self-arranged a five-day business trip to Paris. On the same day he left, Kravchenko announced that he had signed a suspicion notice against NABU director Semen Kryvonos and against a person close to SAPO head Oleksandr Klymenko. Kryvonos said he had not personally received an official paper notification and that no document had been delivered to NABU or SAPO. President Zelensky publicly said Kravchenko's only path was dismissal from office and urged deputies to support the motion. Following the suspension, it was not yet known who was performing the duties of Prosecutor General.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
All the supplied sources are Ukrainian-language domestic media and agencies. The coverage centers on Ukrainian institutional actors — the Verkhovna Rada, the Office of the Prosecutor General, NABU, SAPO, and the president — and foregrounds the procedural narrative (the suspension decree, the faction announcement, the unanimous 317–0 tally) alongside the confrontation between Kravchenko and the anti-corruption bodies, including the "Carthage" case and the suspicion against Kryvonos. Personal-side reporting on Kravchenko's Paris trip and on the whereabouts of his wife Oleksandra Shovkopliас is treated as part of the same story.
Where reporting differs
Sources differ on the date of the Rada's dismissal vote: most state 15 September, while one fact reports 15 May. They also differ on whether the suspicion notice against NABU director Semen Kryvonos was actually delivered — Kravchenko said he had signed and sent one, while Kryvonos and the OGP said no paper notice had been received, and Ukrposhta head Ihor Smiliansky said the letter was paid for in cash rather than under the standing agreement between Ukrposhta and the OGP. Sources also differ on Kravchenko's stated reason for the Paris trip: he said it was for meetings with international partners, while one report says he allegedly went to attend a PACE session, though he was not invited.
Background
On 4 September, NABU and SAPO searched premises linked to Prosecutor General Kravchenko, his deputy Mariya Vdovychenko, and Odesa OVA head Oleh Kiper; the OGP confirmed the searches the next day. The "Carthage" operation targeted an alleged criminal organization "covering" a network of fraudulent call centers, with NABU identifying Serhii Kropyva, deputy head of the OGP's Department of International Legal Cooperation, as the organizer. On 6 September the High Anti-Corruption Court placed Kropyva in custody with an alternative bail of UAH 120 million; on 7 September his 24-year-old partner Yelyzaveta Ivakhnenko was taken into custody with bail of UAH 20 million. On 7 September Kravchenko said he had written a resignation letter following a meeting with the president. Kravchenko had been appointed Prosecutor General on 17 June 2025. According to the Anti-Corruption Action Center, Kravchenko married lecturer Oleksandra Shovkopliас in spring 2026 and she changed her FOP surname to Kravchenko; Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, where she teaches remotely, said it had no information about her current whereabouts, and media sources reported she had left Ukraine two days before Kravchenko's trip. Opposition MPs called for restoring a competitive selection process for the Prosecutor General post and ending "political appointments."