Ukraine appoints new top anti-corruption investigator

Ukraine appointed a new top anti-corruption investigator on Monday, concluding a months-long process that Western allies have watched closely as they consider sending more aid to help Kyiv fight Russia’s invasion. The European Union has made tackling corruption a priority for Kyiv as it tries to join the bloc, and regards the appointment of a new director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) as an important pillar in that effort. Semen Kryvonos, until now the chief of the State Inspection of Architecture and Urban Planning, will serve a seven-year term as director of NABU, one of several bodies set up in recent years to tackle corruption. “Our team is committed to the principle of zero-tolerance to corruption and supporting anti-corruption institutions,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during an extraordinary cabinet session to confirm Kryvonos. Shmyhal chose Kryvonos from a pool of three finalists and was supported by his cabinet. He said the appointment satisfied the last of the recommendations set out by the European Commission, the EU executive, before negotiations can continue. Ukraine became a candidate to join the EU last June, four months after Russia’s full-scale invasion. The 27-member bloc hailed it as an “historic moment” but Moscow said the decision would have negative consequences.