Commission calls for Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions to be protected amid dispute with prosecutor general

Brussels is maintaining the reforms agreed with Kyiv in the accession assessment and refuses to comment on individual cases. On the same day, Zelensky suspended Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko from office.

The European Commission is calling for the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions to be protected and is maintaining the reforms agreed with Kyiv in the accession assessment, amid the conflict between the prosecutor general and the leadership of the anti-corruption investigators. On the same day, President Volodymyr Zelensky suspended Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko from office.

In brief

The Commission is calling for independent anti-corruption bodies to be protected and allowed to carry out their work, without commenting on the cases at the center of the dispute.

The reform concerning the prosecutor general remains among the ten priorities agreed with Ukraine. The Commission says that the authorities must continue implementing them consistently and effectively.

Kravchenko announced the signing of a notice concerning suspicions against the head of NABU. The anti-corruption institutions maintained that the document had not been officially communicated to him on the morning of September 14.

Zelensky suspended Kravchenko by decree. The act does not name a successor to head the Prosecutor General’s Office.

At the Commission’s September 14 briefing, spokesperson Guillaume Mercier refused to comment on individual cases, but said that independent anti-corruption bodies must be protected and allowed to do their job. His response came to questions about the allegations made by the prosecutor general against the head of Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau, NABU, and about the rules for appointing a successor to head the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Presidential Decree No. 905/2026, dated September 14, orders Kravchenko’s suspension under the legislation concerning martial law. The act does not name a successor. The suspension came after he had submitted his resignation, according to Ukrainska Pravda’s account of the dispute between the prosecutor general and the anti-corruption institutions.

Kravchenko announced that he had signed a notice concerning criminal suspicions against NABU Director Semen Kryvonos. According to Ukrainska Pravda, he accused the investigators of using searches at the Prosecutor General’s Office to obtain materials from case files concerning representatives of the anti-corruption institutions. These are the prosecutor general’s allegations, not findings by a court.

NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, SAPO, denied the allegation that case files had been taken and described the move as an attack on their independence, according to the joint statement reported by NV. The two institutions stated that, on the morning of September 14, such a notice had not been officially communicated to Kryvonos. The announcement that the document had been signed and its communication to the person concerned thus remain two distinct stages in the parties’ accounts.

The investigation in which the searches took place concerns, according to NABU, an alleged network led by a department head at the Prosecutor General’s Office. In the September 5 statement, the investigators claimed that the group’s members received bribes not to take action against call centers that defrauded Ukrainians and foreigners. The money was allegedly laundered, including through the purchase of property and the transfer of assets into other people’s names. The statement attributes leadership of the network to a department head, not to the prosecutor general; the investigation was ongoing.

In this context, the Commission confirmed that the reform concerning the prosecutor general remains among the ten priorities agreed with Ukraine. Mercier said that the Ukrainian authorities must continue implementing them consistently and effectively. Brussels will assess the reforms both on the basis of the interim benchmarks for the fundamentals thematic cluster in the accession negotiations and through this list of commitments.

The joint statement by Commissioner Marta Kos and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka, dated December 11, 2025, provides for a review of the procedures for selecting and dismissing the prosecutor general, with the involvement of the Venice Commission. Separately, it calls for a law providing for transparent, competitive and merit-based selections for other prosecutorial positions, including management positions. The text does not expressly establish a competition for the next appointment of the prosecutor general.

Asked whether cases involving influential people indicate a corruption problem or the institutions’ ability to combat it, Mercier reiterated the position that investigating high-level cases shows that Ukraine has bodies capable of taking action. He did not validate the allegations in the cases discussed. The Commission’s position remained focused on the capacity to prevent, investigate and prosecute corruption and money laundering, as required of a country seeking EU accession.

https://2eu.brussels/ro/news/comisia-cere-protejarea-institutiilor-anticoruptie-din-ucraina-in-conflictul-cu-procurorul-general