Then-Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko holds a briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 23, 2025. (Danylo Antoniuk / Ukrinform / NurPhoto via Getty Images)Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko once helped lead the crackdown on Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). On Sept. 7, a corruption scandal ultimately led to his downfall after the same bureau broke through the gates of his office.Kravchenko, long seen as a staunch loyalist of President Volodymyr Zelensky, resigned on Sept. 7 after NABU detectives exposed an alleged scam call center protection racket run from the Prosecutor General's Office — only the latest in a string of scandals that had forced out top Zelensky allies.During his more than a year in office, Kravchenko has accumulated plenty of baggage: from helping the presidential administration's failed attempt to destroy the independence of anti-corruption bodies to earning the reputation of a "last line of defense" for lawmakers fearing charges.But even some in Zelensky's party had come to see him as more trouble than he was worth.President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sept. 6, 2026. (Yan Dobronosov / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)While Kravchenko himself has not yet been charged in the scam call center case, he appears in incriminating recordings, and one of his top prosecutors has been detained.The NABU operation that brought down the prosecutor general was codenamed Carthage — an apparent reference to a Roman refrain that "Carthage must be destroyed," here referring to the corruption that has taken root in the Prosecutor General's Office.But anti-corruption activists and some lawmakers argue that replacing Kravchenko with another loyalist will not solve the problem.The only remedy, they believe, is a transparent selection process for the next top prosecutor and a thorough reform of the prosecutorial system.Is Kravchenko implicated?The NABU raid that cost Kravchenko his job started late on Sept. 4 with searches at the office of Serhii Kropyva, a deputy head of the Prosecutor General's Office's international cooperation department and an alleged "confidant" of the prosecutor general.Kropyva was later charged with organized crime and laundering Hr 90 million ($2 million).Anti-corruption detectives on Sept. 4 also searched the offices of Kravchenko, his senior deputy Maria Vdovychenko, and Oleh Kiper, governor of Odesa Oblast. None of them has been charged, though Vdovychenko resigned on Sept. 8 nonetheless.It would be impossible for a prosecutor general not to know about such extensive corruption, a former top employee of the Prosecutor General's Office told the Kyiv Independent."There's no way something like this could be going on behind the prosecutor general's back," he said. "No prosecutor general would allow it. He would either put a stop to it — or take charge of (the scheme) himself."While NABU has not named Kravchenko, evidence released as part of its investigation points squarely to him.Serhii Kropyva, deputy head of the Prosecutor General's Office's International Cooperation Department. (Odesa Regional State Administration)The bureau's recordings refer to a "boss" allegedly protecting the group, a figure whose patronymic, Andriiovych, and prior role as head of the State Tax Service correspond to Kravchenko.An earlier Telegram post by the Prosecutor General's Office confirms that the investigators understand the term "boss" as referring to Kravchenko.An anti-corruption prosecutor also described Kropyva as a confidant of Kravchenko during court hearings.