Anton Kovalskyi Appointed Acting Ukrainian Prosecutor General
Anton Kovalskyi was appointed acting prosecutor general on September 17, following the dismissal of Ruslan Kravchenko. Kovalskyi said his priorities were to ensure the prosecutor’s office functions properly and remove employees he considers unsuitable, amid an investigation into alleged corruption and illegal call-center protection schemes.
Key points
- Ruslan Kravchenko was dismissed as prosecutor general on September 15 after parliamentary approval.
- Anton Kovalskyi was appointed acting prosecutor general on September 17.
- Kovalskyi retained his position as head of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
- The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau exposed a criminal organization on September 4.
- Prosecutors alleged the group took bribes from fraudulent call centers, laundered proceeds and enabled their operations.
- Kovalskyi said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered him the acting role and tasked him with ensuring the prosecutor’s office worked properly.
- Kovalskyi initiated an audit of the prosecutor’s office international cooperation department and changed its leadership.
Why it matters
The leadership change follows the exposure of an alleged criminal organization that allegedly took bribes to protect fraudulent call centers and laundered the proceeds. For Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office, the change raises questions about institutional cleanup, accountability and continuity while allegations involving its former leadership remain under investigation.
What happened
Ruslan Kravchenko announced his resignation late on September 7 and was dismissed as prosecutor general on September 15 after approval by the Verkhovna Rada. Anton Kovalskyi, who remained head of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor’s Office, became acting prosecutor general on September 17. He said he had not discussed a permanent appointment, and that the acting role was proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Kovalskyi also said the president would not call him directly and that he would carry out assignments given by the president. He reported beginning an audit of the international cooperation department, changing its leadership and returning specialists in international work. On taking office, he found uncertainty over who would perform the acting prosecutor general’s duties and sign documents.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian reporting centered on the change in the prosecutor’s office leadership, the new acting prosecutor general’s priorities and existing corruption allegations. It highlighted Kovalskyi’s account of arrangements with the president and his denial of contact with the so-called telephone law, while treating the illegal call-center investigation as the context for the dismissal and personnel decisions.
Background
On September 4, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau announced that they had exposed a criminal organization during Operation Carthage. According to investigators, the group systematically received bribes from fraudulent call centers, laundered the money and collected protection payments from operators. Investigators allege that a prosecutor’s office official formed the group in mid-2025 by recruiting serving prosecutors and close unofficial associates. The Bureau said the participants enabled shadow call centers that defrauded Ukrainians and foreign citizens.