Chief of the Main Investigation Department's special investigation division under Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) Serhiy Horbatiuk has said that Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin is on leave now.

"As far as I know he has taken a paid leave," Horbatiuk said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday, answering a question from journalists.

At the same time, he declined to answer a question whether the prosecutor general had submitted his letter of resignation, saying that the question should be put to Shokin personally.

As was reported, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on February 16 that he had advised Shokin to step down.

"This morning I had a meeting and a thorough discussion with the prosecutor general. I suggested that Viktor Mykolayovych [Shokin] write a letter of resignation," Poroshenko said.

"Viktor Shokin has implemented reforms that had been resisted by the Prosecutor General's Office for decades: deprivation of general supervision from the prosecution, establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the State Bureau of Investigation etc. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, the Prosecutor General's Office has unfortunately failed to gain the trust of society. That is why the resignation of the Prosecutor General is on the agenda," he added.

On the same day, MP from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction Mustafa Nayyem wrote on Facebook that Shokin had submitted his letter of resignation.

Shokin was appointed prosecutor general in February 2015.

In keeping with the Constitution of Ukraine, it is the president who shall appoint or dismiss the prosecutor general upon parliament's consent. At the same time, lawmakers can pass a vote of non-confidence in the prosecutor general, after which he should resign.