Ex-prosecutor general accuses NABU and SAPO of trying to derail peace talks and weaken Zelensky

Former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko accused the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of attempting to derail peace negotiations on Ukraine, harm the team of US President Donald Trump, weaken the authority of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, and establish control over the government and the Verkhovna Rada.

Kravchenko made these accusations in an interview with the American publication Washington Examiner.

According to Kravchenko, NABU and SAPO are deliberately stepping up investigations against representatives of the Ukrainian authorities immediately before the talks in Abu Dhabi. As a result, according to the former prosecutor general, negotiators have to think not about reaching agreements but about their own safety and possible criminal prosecution.

“We see that only Russia benefits from this. The main goal of NABU and SAPO is for the Ukrainian president and his team to achieve nothing and for Trump’s team to fail as well… Perhaps NABU and SAPO are acting on instructions from some third party and are deliberately preventing Trump from achieving his goal and Ukraine from achieving its own, in order to derail all these peace agreements and benefit another country,” the ex-prosecutor general said.

Kravchenko also claims that NABU and SAPO are trying to effectively establish control over state power in Ukraine, using criminal investigations to pressure the president, ministers, and people’s deputies.

“Now they are trying to monopolize power,” he said.

In his view, the heads of the anti-corruption agencies seek to control personnel appointments in the government and voting in the Verkhovna Rada, while simultaneously blocking investigations against themselves. As an example of pressure on Zelensky, he cited the criminal case against former Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak. According to Kravchenko, Zelensky appears in the materials of this case as “person number one.” The former prosecutor general considers this a signal to the president that investigators could reach him as well.

In addition, Kravchenko described an attempt by NABU and SAPO to simultaneously initiate criminal prosecution of 25 deputies from Servant of the People. According to him, in December 2025 Zelensky asked him to go on a business trip, explaining that the leadership of NABU and SAPO did not want to cooperate with him. While the prosecutor general was away, his deputy received a request to launch proceedings against 25 deputies of the presidential party. The deputy refused to approve it, after which the head of SAPO approached Kravchenko directly.

“I asked about the evidence. There was no evidence,” he said.

Kravchenko subsequently approved proceedings against five deputies, since, according to him, evidence had been presented in their regard. He regarded the initial attempt to hold all 25 parliamentarians accountable at once as an effort to paralyze the work of the Verkhovna Rada in wartime conditions.

Separately, the former prosecutor general described the circumstances of his own resignation. He claims that NABU and SAPO sought his dismissal because of investigations against the leadership of NABU and people from the circle of SAPO head Oleksandr Klymenko. According to Kravchenko, Zelensky agreed to his resignation under pressure from the anti-corruption agencies.

“This was not the president’s personal decision. Without evidence, they pressured both the president and me to destroy me and remove me from office,” he said.

Kravchenko called on the Trump administration to pay attention to the activities of NABU and SAPO and conduct an independent review with the participation of US law enforcement agencies. In his view, it is necessary to examine the validity of the criminal investigations, possible abuses by the leadership of the agencies, and the spending of American taxpayers’ funds.

The Washington Examiner also cites the reaction of NABU and SAPO, which rejected the former prosecutor general’s accusations. In a comment to the publication, the anti-corruption agencies said their investigations have no political undertones.

Earlier, the head of the Servant of the People faction, David Arakhamia, stated that the Carthage case may be aimed at derailing negotiations on Ukraine. We wrote about the consequences of NABU’s new Carthage operation in a separate article.