The Firing of Papusha: How Kravchenko’s Team Burns Bridges, Not Corruption

Yurii Papusha is not just a prosecutor. He is the godson of ex-Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, a classmate of Viacheslav Kropyva (former head of the Cyber Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office), and a figure in the notorious “Carthage” tapes. Their friendship dates back to the Institute for Training Personnel for Prosecution Bodies. And now “one of their own” is being removed. But not because conscience suddenly awakened.

In February 2026, Papusha became the head of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office. Almost immediately, he was embroiled in a scandal. According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), he provided covert protection for about two dozen fraudulent call centers. Those operated on Nauky Avenue, Novhorodska, Klochkivska, and Sumska streets. Every month they generated millions from the funds of Ukrainian and EU citizens. And the prosecutor ensured immunity.

Papusha himself enjoyed comfort. His declaration is a work of art: a Mercedes-Benz GLE 300 worth 1.8 million hryvnias, two hectares of land in Odesa region, and a cryptocurrency portfolio on Binance. His wife Anastasia is not far behind — she co-owns the company AGRO-OLYMP 2006 together with the son of the head of the Southwestern Commercial Court of Appeal, a former head of the State Fiscal Service, and a representative of the banned party “Our Land”. Quite a company.

But the most interesting part is the financial operations. Servicing the call-center fraud became a reliable business for an entire group. The crypto infrastructure turned into a money laundering scheme, involving the founder of the WhiteBIT exchange, Volodymyr Nosov, and the president of FC Kharkiv, Bohdan Boiko, together with Russian citizens Dmytro and Mykyta Shentsev. Transactions went through controlled companies: White Digital LLC, Smart 2019 LLC, Digital Strategies LLC, Atomic Guns Records LLC, and PFC Kharkiv LLC. A scheme worthy of a money-laundering textbook.

So why was Papusha fired now? The answer is simple — Kravchenko’s system is contracting. Media Visnyk has reported that the purge is just beginning. Next in line are prosecutors in Odesa and Dnipro. Materials on them are also being prepared. But Papusha’s dismissal is not a victory. It is an attempt to remove the most odious figures from the line of fire before the flames reach the top leadership.

Of course, a prosecutor with a Binance crypto portfolio and a Mercedes worth almost two million could not have missed the fraudulent calls from the protected call centers. He simply “didn’t hear” them. And now — “resigned of his own accord” or “in connection with a transfer to another job”. Familiar wording, isn’t it?

Papusha is only the first indicator of how the system tries to put out fires. But the fire is growing. The next dismissals will be even louder. The prosecutor’s offices in Odesa and Dnipro also have Kravchenko’s people. Will they have enough fuel to burn all the bridges? A rhetorical question.

Because the real fight against corruption begins not with resignations, but with criminal cases and verdicts. So far we see only the first. And this is not a full stop. It is a comma in the sentence about how the old guard tries to save itself by covering their tracks.