London – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy faces demonstrations across the country after having signed a controversial bill on Tuesday which, according to criticism, will neutralize the independence of two prominent anti -corruption organizations.
While the Ukrainian and Russian delegations are preparing to meet in Istanbul, Turkey, for a new series of cease-fire talks, Zelenskyy and his allies are confronted with a wave of opposition to the house.
Tuesday, Zelenskyy signed a controversial law adopted by the Parliament which will bring the anti-corruption office (NABU) and its partner organization, the office of the specialized anti-corruption prosecutor (SAPO), under the direct control of the prosecutor’s office (PGO).
The two bodies were put in place following the Pro-Western Maidan revolution of Ukraine in 2014, with the intention of rotating systemic corruption and to help kyiv to reform its democratic system taking into account the membership of the European Union.
This photograph shows a projection reading “veto The Law” on a building facade during a demonstration in downtown kyiv, Ukraine, July 22, 2025.
Tetiana Dzhafava / AFP via Getty Images
The adoption of the new legislation this week caused demonstrations in kyiv and in other major cities of Ukraine, with demonstrators even violating the nocturnal curfew imposed as a guardian against the nighttime drones and Russian missiles.
A spokesperson for the European Commission warned that this decision could undermine Ukraine’s potential offer to join the EU. European funding from kyiv, they added, a conditional to the progress of transparency, judicial reform and the democratic government “.
The Ukrainian branch of Transparency International, on the other hand, said that this decision represented a “massive backhand of anti-corruption reform” and a “direct threat to Ukraine to the EU”.
The adoption of the bill followed dozens of raids on Nabu employees by Ukraine Security Service (SBU) and PGO on Monday. The agents also began to inspect the treatment of state secrets in Sapo.
Zelenskyy and his supporters have supervised the necessary measures to eliminate Russian infiltration and infiltration within the anti-corruption organs of Ukraine.
“The anti-corruption infrastructure will work,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Tuesday. “Only without Russian influences – everything must be cleaned up. And there should be more justice.”
“Of course, Nabu and Sapo will work. And it is important that the Attorney General is determined to ensure that in Ukraine, the inevitability of punishment for those who go against the law are really assured,” he added. “And this is what is really necessary for Ukraine. Appointment cases must be studied.”
“For years, officials who have fled Ukraine peacefully abroad for any reason – in very kind and legal consequences,” said Zelenskyy.
“This is abnormal. There is no rational explanation why criminal procedures worth billions have been” suspended “for years. And there is no explanation why the Russians can always obtain the information they need.”
“It is important that there is an inevitability of punishment and that society really sees it,” wrote the president.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy said in another article that he had met the heads of all the law enforcement agencies and the fight against corruption as well as the Attorney General. “We all hear what the company says,” said Zelenskyy. “We see what people expect from state institutions to ensure the justice and efficiency of each institution.”
“We have agreed that next week, there will be an in -depth working meeting concerning the general action plan,” said Zelenksyy. “And in two weeks, a joint plan should be ready – describing the stages necessary to strengthen Ukraine, solve existing problems, do more justice and truly protect the interests of Ukrainian society.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Kyiv, Ukraine, July 17, 2025.
Vadym Sarakhan / AP
The bill was adopted by the Ukrainian parliament – the rada – by 263 representatives, having quickly crossed the committee. Thirteen deputies voted against, 13 abstracts and 35 did not vote.
He was supported in Parliament by members of the servant of the people of Zelenskyy, as well as the Batkivshchyna party of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The opposition platform-for life, which is widely considered pro-Russian and had several representatives accused of betrayal during the war, also supported the measure.
Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Zelenskyy party and president of the Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said the legislation to ABC News, but admitted that he had “doubts” about his content.
“I trust the president,” said Merezkho. “In such cases, I normally trust the committee’s decision.”
Melezhko said her concerns concerned “the consequences she could have from the point of view of negotiations with the EU on our members”.
European counterparts, continued in Merezhko, “are worried and ask questions. I think we need better communication with our European partners on this issue”.
“There could be sensitive aspects that require a clear explanation to our president’s partners,” he added. “I am personally in favor of the independence of anti-corruption bodies. But I am also in favor of the real rule of law in Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy’s decision to sign the division bill made fear a concern for anti -democratic power by the president and his inner circle – chief among them Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential office.
A former Ukrainian official, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, told ABC News: “We do not lose war because the West has not given us enough weapons. We lose war because of corruption, the lack of professional management and because many do not see why they should fight for the autocracy of Zelenskyy.”
“Yermak is only a good implementator of Zelenskyy’s will,” added the former official.
The demonstrators sing while holding banners during a demonstration against a law targeting anti-corruption institutions in the center of kyiv, Ukraine, on July 22, 2025.
Alex Babenko / AP
Vitaliy Shabunin, an eminent Ukrainian anti -corruption activist who previously directed the first public supervisory board of the public in Nabu, said that the bill will allow the Attorney General – which is appointed by the President – to “close all the investigations involving the friends of the President”.
The mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko – who repeatedly faced the administration of Zelenskyy during the Russian large -scale war – joined the demonstrators in the capital on Tuesday.
The new measurement, he wrote on Telegram, “certainly does not bring the European Union closer. It certainly does not bring it closer to democracy, the rule of law and legality-of the values for which our soldiers die today in a bloody fight against the aggressor.”
Supporters of the bill “drag more and more Ukraine in authoritarianism,” added the mayor, “hiding behind the war, destroying anti-corruption bodies, local autonomy, militants and journalists of silening”.
“Yes, there are many questions about independence, impartiality and membership of the legal procedures of all law enforcement organizations,” continued Klitschko. “But the system must be modified, not transformed into a bulldog of the authorities.”
“And we must not forget that sooner or later, all actions will have to be taken into account – both politically and legally,” wrote the mayor.
Will Gretsky of ABC News contributed to this report.
