MOSCOW, September 23. /TASS/. Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) are winning the "smear campaign war" in Ukraine against Vladimir Zelensky, former Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) employee and head of the UkrLeaks investigation center Vasily Prozorov told TASS.

"NABU and SAPO are winning this smear campaign in Ukraine. In other words, the puppet masters behind NABU and SAPO are prevailing in Ukraine's domestic power struggle," he noted.

Prozorov considers what is happening in the country to be a "very bad sign" for Zelensky. "Ultimately, I think this will lead to the complete collapse of his authority in the very near future," he added.

Earlier, in an interview with TASS, Prozorov cited the resignation of former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko as the most striking example of how "power is faltering" under Zelensky. According to the Ukrainian Strana news outlet, Kravchenko was loyal to Zelensky and was preparing a crackdown on NABU and the SAPO on instructions from the head of the Kiev regime.

Zelensky’s conflict with NABU and SAPO escalated last summer after NABU filed charges against individuals close to Zelensky. The ruling party then pushed a law through parliament that severely curtailed the independence of these agencies. Meanwhile, the SBU - which some analysts have called a "puppet agency" of Zelensky's office - conducted searches of NABU employees, made arrests, and carried out an inspection at the SAPO. The new law sparked a sharp reaction from Western partners, forcing Zelensky to introduce a bill that effectively repealed the previous law's provisions.

On November 10, 2025, NABU and the SAPO announced a large-scale operation and the uncovering of a corruption scheme in the energy sector, which, among other things, led to the resignation of several ministers and the dismissal of Andrey Yermak, the head of Zelensky’s office. It was also reported that not all of the investigative materials have been published yet and that new high-ranking officials may be implicated in the case.