Lesia Karnaukh becomes interim head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine
25 June 22:37
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has appointed Lesya Karnaukh as acting head of the State Tax Service. The government adopted the relevant decree on June 18, as reported by the press service of the State Tax Service, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Prior to that, the agency was headed by Ruslan Kravchenko, who officially became the Prosecutor General of Ukraine on June 21. He had been in charge of the tax service since December 2024.
Karnaukh is a lawyer by training, a graduate of the Odesa National Law Academy. She has extensive experience in public service, having worked at the State Committee on Environmental Protection, the State Environmental Inspectorate, and in the field of nature conservation. In 2018-2023, she held a senior position at the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, and in 2023 she became Deputy Head of the Kyiv Regional Audit Office when it was headed by Kravchenko.
In January 2025, Karnaukh was appointed deputy head of the State Tax Service, and in May she was appointed first deputy. As of today, official information about her has not yet appeared on the tax authority’s website.
In her address on the official website, Lesia Karnaukh called for changing the perception of the State Tax Service:
“Myths about ‘terrible tax officers’ have been formed over the years. We want to change this philosophy. The tax service is not a punitive body, but a partner and a service. These are not just slogans, but real changes that we are already implementing across the country.”
She emphasized that openness to dialog and constructive criticism is a priority for the new STS team.
