The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) have launched a large-scale special operation at the office of the Prosecutor General in Kyiv, Ruslan Kravchenko (in the photo), and detained a high-ranking official from the prosecutor's office. According to NABU, an investigation is underway into a criminal organization led by a person from the Prosecutor General's Office that sponsored a network of fraudulent call centers and laundered money and assets obtained through them. The operation comes just days after an armed clash between officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and military intelligence (GUR) in Kyiv, which resulted in casualties. In the Ukrainian information space, there is a version that this conflict may also be related to the struggle for control over profitable fraudulent call centers, but official links between the two cases have not yet been proven.
On the evening of September 4, NABU confirmed that its officers, together with SAPO, were conducting investigative actions at the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine. "NABU and SAPO are conducting a special operation to expose a criminal organization led by an official from the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, which is involved in sponsoring a network of fraudulent call centers and laundering assets," the anti-corruption bureau said in a statement.
"Ukrayinska Pravda," citing its sources in business circles, reports that NABU and SAPO have already detained Sergei Kropiva, who is presented by the media as the head of the cyber department of the prosecutor's office. Kropiva has a long career in law enforcement and cyber police. He later worked at the Odesa Regional Military Administration under Oleg Kiper. These connections led to accusations on Ukrainian Telegram channels and in the media shortly after the operation that the investigative actions could affect a much wider range of high-ranking officials.
Among the names circulating are Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, his first deputy Maria Vdovichenko, and head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration Oleg Kiper. However, NABU and SAPO have not officially confirmed that searches were conducted at Kravchenko's or Kiper's residences. Ukrainian media reported separately that NABU officers blocked Maria Vdovichenko's office, but her procedural status in the case has not yet been publicly announced. Of particular interest is NABU's formulation regarding "supporting a network of fraudulent call centers."
So-called call centers have been a major problem in Ukraine for years. These are offices from which operators use phone calls, social media, fake investment platforms, or banking schemes to defraud victims in Ukraine and other countries. The scale of this business is such that Ukrainian media and anti-corruption activists have repeatedly claimed that some of these structures could not operate for long without the support of people from the police, prosecutor's office, law enforcement agencies, or local authorities. That is why today's operation is attracting even more attention against the backdrop of another extremely unusual incident at the beginning of the week - an armed clash between the Security Service of Ukraine and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense.
On September 1st and 2nd, a shootout occurred in the Bereznyaky district of Kyiv between officers of the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) and military personnel associated with the GUR (Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate). The incident took place during an SBU investigation and caused a major scandal, as two of Ukraine's most powerful intelligence agencies reportedly used weapons against each other. According to Ukrainian authorities, members of the military intelligence were injured in the clash. The State Bureau of Investigation has launched criminal proceedings and has already identified two suspects: an SBU officer and a GUR soldier. The official version from the SBU is that its officers were conducting investigative actions related to a terrorist act planned by Russia's FSB against a representative of the Russian opposition who was located in Ukraine.
According to the SBU, representatives of another unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces put up armed resistance during the search. The GUR and individuals associated with it have challenged this version and presented a different account of what happened. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the incident as unacceptable and ordered a thorough investigation. Personnel changes were also made within the SBU. However, alongside the official versions, claims have emerged in the Ukrainian information space that the conflict between separate groups within the security services may also have an economic dimension. Among the unofficial versions is that it is a struggle for influence over dubious businesses and financial flows, with explicit mention of fraudulent call centers.
Similar claims were spread by former members of Ukrainian security agencies, activists, and Telegram channels. The official investigation has not confirmed these claims, and they should be considered as preliminary versions. This is precisely why the recent action by NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine) is significant. Just a few days after the shootout between the SBU and GUR, the anti-corruption bureau officially announced that it had uncovered an alleged criminal organization within the Prosecutor General's Office, which was suspected of supporting a network of fraudulent call centers. At this stage, there is no evidence to suggest that these are the same call centers or that the two investigations are directly related. However, there is another interesting institutional detail.
The investigation into the shootout between the SBU and GUR is being conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation, and the procedural management was entrusted to the Office of the Prosecutor General. Two days later, NABU and SAP (Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecution) entered the same Prosecutor General's Office for a completely different official investigation – an organized crime group and call centers. This in itself does not prove a connection between the cases, but it makes this situation one of the most serious internal scandals in the Ukrainian security and justice system since the beginning of the war.
Further tension is created by the long-standing conflict between the Prosecutor General, the SBU, and the independent anti-corruption bodies NABU and SAP. In 2025, Ukrainian authorities took a series of steps against NABU officials, followed by legislative changes that limited the independence of NABU and SAP. This led to protests in Ukraine and a sharp reaction from Kyiv's Western partners, after which some decisions were reversed. Now it appears that the situation is reversed – NABU is entering the Prosecutor General's Office itself and investigating an alleged criminal network that, according to the authorities, operated under the patronage of a high-ranking official within this institution.
NABU and SAP are preparing to release further details – including who, according to investigators, is the head of the organization, which individuals are suspected, and what was the mechanism for protecting the call center. This data will also clarify whether today's operation relates only to a criminal-corruption scheme within the prosecutor's office, or whether the investigation could involve a broader conflict between Ukrainian security structures. For now, the direct connection with the SBU and GUR shootout remains a theory, but the fact that the theme of influential power structures and shadowy networks appears in both scandals almost simultaneously inevitably strengthens suspicions of a deeper internal war within the Ukrainian power apparatus.
Sergey Sadovij