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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Ruslan Kravchenko resigned. A few hours before that he said he wasn’t going anywhere. And late in the evening 7 September suddenly reported that he had made a "political decision" and does not want the office of the Prosecutor General to be used as an instrument of political confrontation.
A very nice formulation. Especially in light of what the country is now learning about the Carthage case. Read more in an exclusive column for 24 Channel.
But in all this story, what worries me is not why Kravchenko ultimately left. Much more important is who will come after him. Because if we simply replace one politically loyal person with another, this whole story could repeat itself.
"One family" from NABU and SAP.
Let us recall where it all began.
Almost immediately after Kravchenko's appointment, in 2025 year the Verkhovna Rada hurriedly passed a law that significantly expanded the Prosecutor General’s powers and effectively limited the procedural independence of NABU and SAP.
Then Kravchenko argued that he did not seek additional powers. And about his relations with anti-corruption bodies he spoke beautifully: now everyone would become one family. "Let’s live in harmony.".
Only society somehow did not appreciate this "friendship." After protests and huge public outcry, changes had to be rolled back. And now, a year later, we see the Carthage case. And we learn entirely different details.
"Our" call centers and the "foreign" call centers.
According to the investigation, the Office of the Prosecutor General operated a scheme covering up fraudulent call centers. Participants in the organization systematically received bribes for not hindering offices that deceived not only Ukrainians but also foreigners.
And here what Elena Shcherban, acting executive director of the Centre for Countering Corruption, said on our air is especially important. According to her, with Kravchenko’s arrival the Office of the Prosecutor General centralized the monitoring of such cases.
Effectively, the call centers were divided into "one's own" and "others'." The others were attacked, the one's own were covered.
In parallel, competitions for administrative positions in the prosecutor's office were canceled, after which mass appointments of their own people to leadership positions began.
And here we come to the main point. This is no longer a story about one Krupiv or even just about Kravchenko alone. It is a story about a system that allows concentrating enormous power in the hands of people whose independence from the state’s political leadership raises very serious questions.
Resignation does not heal the system.
It’s possible to celebrate Kravchenko’s departure now. One can discuss the "Chancellor," the "Muse," Porsche, Loro Piana, Miu Miu, fur coats, jewelry, and the famous "to love the queen, but to steal a million". All of this spreads on social networks, but the meme is not funny at all.
Because NABU and SAP speak of tens of millions of hryvnias that could be legitimized through real estate, accounts of relatives, jewelry, and other property.
And if after all this we simply find a new Prosecutor General, seat him in the same chair, and leave the same system — what exactly have we changed?
A surname on the door?
Olesya Shcherban, deputy executive director of the Centre for Countering Corruption, said on our air a very correct thing: the main thing now is not to appoint a new prosecutor, a new hand. We need legislative changes and a systemic approach.
And, finally, a competition for the position of Prosecutor General is needed — similar to how anti-corruption bodies are formed today. NABU and SAP still remain a threat to the system.
There is another detail of this story that worries me a lot. According to sources of Ukrainska Pravda, during searches of the first deputy prosecutor general they found materials that could indicate surveillance of heads of anti-corruption bodies, their families, and subordinates. And already on the morning of 7 September, the prosecutors allegedly received an order to systematize materials concerning NABU and SAP.
That is, even when a huge scandal was unfolding around the Office of the Prosecutor General itself, a counterattack against those investigating this scandal could have been prepared. And this after what we already lived through in the summer 2025 with the attempt to take away the independence of NABU and SAP.
Therefore I would not rush to say that after Kravchenko’s resignation this story is over. On the contrary, the most important part of it is just beginning.
A question now to the president.
According to Ukrainska Pravda’s sources, Davyd Arahamiya opposed Kravchenko’s resignation. But responsibility for who ultimately heads one of the country’s most influential law enforcement institutions remains political.
And so the question now is not only why Kravchenko left. The question is whom they will propose to replace him. Because we have already seen stories with "our own people."
We have already seen an attempt to weaken NABU and SAP. Now we see a case of multi-million bribes for shielding fraudulent call centers within the prosecutor’s system. And if after all this the state’s answer is simply a new surname for the Prosecutor General — we have not fixed anything.
We have simply started the next circle. Therefore now what is needed is not a new "own" Prosecutor General. What is needed are rules under which the Prosecutor General would not have to be anyone’s "own."
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Кравченко пішов, але якщо на його місце прийде нова ручна людина, нічого не зміниться". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.
