The New Head of the Prosecutor General's Office: Assets in Relatives' Names, His Wife's Millions, and Anton Kovalsky's Toxic Subordinates
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree appointing an acting prosecutor general. Anton Kovalsky, head of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor’s Office, was named to the position.
The personnel change came after the high-profile resignation of Ruslan Kravchenko: on September 14, 2026, the president removed him from office, and the next day, the Verkhovna Rada endorsed this decision. After a brief transitional period, during which Deputy Prosecutor General Maksym Krym temporarily assumed the duties, Kovalskyi officially took over the Office of the Prosecutor General on September 17.
The appointment took place without an open competition, which has already sparked a wave of outrage among civil society organizations and experts.
Biography and Career Path
Anton Kovalsky
Anton Kovalsky is 42 years old and was born in Vinnytsia. He earned his law degree in 2008 from Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University and graduated from the National Academy of Public Prosecutors of Ukraine in 2011 with a degree in “Jurisprudence.”
He began his career in the prosecutor’s office in 2011 and, over the course of 15 years, rose from the position of district investigator to head of regional units:
- Early career: Senior Investigator and Senior Prosecutor at the Vinnytsia City Prosecutor’s Office.
- Regional level: Senior prosecutor in the Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor’s Office, head of the Department for Oversight of Fiscal Authorities, and head of the Department for Oversight in Criminal Proceedings.
- Leadership positions: From September 2020 to October 2021—Deputy Prosecutor of Vinnytsia Oblast. Starting in November 2021, he headed the Chernivtsi Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, where his primary focus was combating smuggling.
- Khmelnytskyi Region: From July 1, 2025, he served as head of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor’s Office, from which he was transferred to the position of acting Prosecutor General.
Assets, Financial Disclosure, and His Wife’s Successful Business
According to his official 2025 financial disclosure statement, Anton Kovalsky declared over 2.5 million UAH in salary (1,227,831 UAH at the Chernivtsi Regional Prosecutor’s Office and 1,273,789 UAH at the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor’s Office).
The official does not own any property—his family has been living for years in rented or government-provided apartments in Chernivtsi and Khmelnytskyi.
However, an analysis of his relatives’ assets previously caught the attention of analysts at the Anti-Corruption Action Center (ACAC):
- Apartment registered to his mother: Since 2018, the Kovalsky family has been living in a 79 m² apartment in Vinnytsia valued at 2.16 million UAH, which is registered to his mother, Maria Kovalska (an employee of a psychoneurological hospital). As noted by the ACC, his mother’s official income from 2019 to 2021 ranged from only 51,000 to 122,500 UAH per year, with no declared savings, so the source of the funds used to purchase the property remains unknown.
- His Brother’s Car: As investigators discovered, from 2011 to 2022, the prosecutor drove a Volkswagen Polo that was officially registered to his brother.
- His wife’s millions from sports nutrition: The official’s wife, Oksana Kovalska (who, incidentally, was born in Russia), registered a sole proprietorship in March 2023 to sell sports nutrition products. For her first incomplete year in business, she reported 5.2 million hryvnias in income (over 500,000 hryvnias per month), and in 2025, she declared another 3.55 million hryvnias. This raises doubts about the reality of such extraordinary profits right at the start of the business. She has also owned a Nissan Qashqai since 2019, the price of which varies across the prosecutor’s various declarations.
- Abroad: According to the Center for Political and Legal Reforms (CPLR), between 2022 and 2025, his wife and two children had temporary protection in Romania, as well as work and study permits in Canada, although no foreign real estate was listed in the declarations.
Scandals Surrounding Kovalksy and His Inner Circle
Following high-profile exposés of prosecutors with questionable disability status, the public in Khmelnytskyi Oblast expected a purge of officials; however, Kovalsky’s inner circle became embroiled in a series of high-profile scandals.
The OnlyFans Case in the Office
In the summer of 2026, Kovalksy’s subordinate, prosecutor Anton Wendel, became embroiled in a scandal. According to investigators and regional media, he posted intimate content online, filming some of the material directly in his office, and sent sexually explicit messages to female court employees. On July 3, 2026, Kovalsky transferred Wendel to the Letychiv District Prosecutor’s Office. Investigators suspect this was an attempt to “sweep the matter under the rug,” but after the story gained publicity, Wendel was ultimately fired on July 9.
Allegations of “Call Center” Protection
In September 2026, former People’s Deputy Ihor Mosiychuk announced that he had filed a complaint with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) requesting an investigation into the possible involvement of Anton Kovalsky and a number of employees of the Khmelnytskyi Prosecutor’s Office in covering up fraudulent calland leaking information about searches.
It was previously reported that the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs currently has no information on the whereabouts of former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhyi stated that Ukrainian diplomatic missions are not involved in his travels or meetings abroad. According to him, Kravchenko has also not contacted any Ukrainian diplomatic missions.
