President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, to vote on September 15 to approve the dismissal of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, in a new video address.
Zelensky said he had already suspended Kravchenko from office by presidential order and had submitted a formal motion to parliament seeking his removal.
He said Ukraine had seen the reasons for this decision, and that there should be enough votes in parliament to support it.
Zelensky also called for an end to the issue of fraudulent call centres operating in Ukraine, noting that bills introducing tougher criminal liability for such call centres were also on parliament's agenda.
Kravchenko's Public Accusation and Departure
On the morning of September 14, Kravchenko released a video statement announcing that he had notified Semen Kryvonos, director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), that he was suspected of a crime. In the same video, Kravchenko said he had previously been held back from making this decision for political reasons by President Zelensky.
It later emerged that Kravchenko had left Ukraine overnight on September 14. According to Kravchenko himself, he was on a work trip.
Zelensky's Response
Zelensky reacted in less than an hour, saying the prosecutor general had only one path left: dismissal from office. He also asked members of the Verkhovna Rada to support the dismissal without delay.
The press service of the Prosecutor General's Office confirmed to Radio Svoboda on September 14 that Kravchenko had travelled to France. According to the press service, the trip would last five days from September 13, during which Kravchenko would take part in a hearing of the Parliamentary Network of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
The Suspension Decree
Zelensky suspended Kravchenko from the post of prosecutor general under presidential decree No. 905/2026. The text of the decree states that the decision was made under Article 11, part 2, of Ukraine's law on martial law. That legislation gives the president the power to suspend officials whose appointment or dismissal falls within his authority or requires his agreement.
Anti-Corruption Bureau's Reaction
NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP), Ukraine's two main independent anti-corruption agencies, described Kravchenko's statement against Kryvonos as a continuation of a systemic attack on independent anti-corruption bodies.
Weeks of Speculation Before Resignation
Kravchenko had already submitted his resignation as prosecutor general on September 7.
Before that, commenting on an anti-corruption investigation into a criminal organisation linked to fraudulent call centres, Kravchenko said he had no relation to covering up illegal call centres, had not given instructions to facilitate such activity and had not used his powers as prosecutor general to do so.
The day before, the outlet Ukrainska Pravda, citing sources in political circles, reported that Kravchenko could not be found since the start of a NABU and SAP operation codenamed "Carthage." Sources cited by ZN.UA said the prosecutor general was in Kyiv, in a private clinic. The Prosecutor General's Office denied these reports. Its press secretary, Natalia Bayurko, said on September 5 that Kravchenko was at his workplace.
The Prosecutor General's Office said the materials cited in the court ruling contained no direct evidence that Kravchenko had given instructions to facilitate call centre activity, obstructed its exposure or investigation, received money from such activity or any improper benefit, or paid for repairs or an alarm system using proceeds of crime.
The Call Centre Investigation
On September 4, NABU reported a special operation exposing a criminal organisation linked to fraudulent call centres. According to the bureau, the organiser was one of the heads of a structural unit within the Prosecutor General's Office. The bureau said it had exposed five suspected participants in the organisation.
Investigators say the official created and led the criminal organisation from the middle of 2025, and that its members allegedly set up a system of receiving regular bribes in exchange for not obstructing the illegal activity of the call centres.
Late on the evening of September 4, the Prosecutor General's Office, commenting on the NABU investigation, said it would give the investigation full cooperation.
A court has remanded two suspects in the "Carthage" case, which concerns the covering up of illegal call centre operations, into custody with the possibility of bail: Serhiy Kropyva, deputy head of the Prosecutor General's Office's Department of International Cooperation, and Yelyzaveta Ivakhnenko.
