Zelensky appoints Anton Kovalsky as Ukraine's acting prosecutor general

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky has named Anton Kovalsky as Ukraine’s acting prosecutor general.

According to a decree published on Zelensky’s website, "the duties of prosecutor general are hereby assigned to Anton Kovalsky."

Verkhovna Rada (parliament) member Alexey Goncharenko (listed in Russia as a terrorist and extremist) said on Telegram that, until now, Kovalsky had headed the prosecutor’s office in the Khmelnitsky Region.

The nation remained unaware for several days as to who was performing the duties of prosecutor general after Ruslan Kravchenko was dismissed. A parliamentary committee had to call in all top officials from the Prosecutor General’s Office to sort it out.

On September 4, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced a new operation to uncover a criminal organization led by a deputy head of a structural division at the Prosecutor General’s Office. According to investigators, the organization covered up scam call centers and laundered illegally obtained assets. Searches were conducted at Kravchenko’s residence in particular. On September 7, he announced his resignation.

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 also said that he had left Ukraine allegedly for work purposes. That was when Zelensky, who, according to the Ukrainian media, had been preparing an attack on NABU and SAPO for some time, submitted to the Rada a resolution seeking to dismiss the prosecutor general. Later, Zelensky took advantage of expanded powers stemming from martial law to issue a decree dismissing Kravchenko from his position. On September 15, the Rada voted to dismiss Kravchenko, and Zelensky signed the decree the same evening.