23 July, 2025
Christopher Miller
Six years ago, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a video urging citizens to call the hotline of Ukraine’s anti-corruption authority if they were offered bribes or kickbacks.
Now the agency is at the centre of the biggest political crisis of his wartime presidency after his drive to seize control triggered fresh allegations of an authoritarian power grab, sparking protests in Kyiv and sending shockwaves through Europe.
The unexpected decision on Tuesday to bring Ukraine’s two flagship anti-corruption bodies — the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo) — under the control of the president’s handpicked prosecutor has provoked rare public outcry and criticism of executive over-reach in wartime.
One government adviser accused Ukraine’s leaders of silencing dissent and enabling authoritarian drift, betraying the democratic principles for which Ukrainians have fought and died during years of war against Russian aggression.
“The Russians want to kill us . . . But you get used to that feeling,” Liubov Tsybulska wrote on Facebook. “Much worse is feeling danger from those who govern your country — from your own people, to whom you gave up part of your freedoms during wartime.”
A protest in Lviv on Tuesday against the legislation, which will curb the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions © Roman Baluk/Reuters
Zelenskyy signed the bill into law late on Tuesday, as more than 2,000 protesters outside his fourth-floor office window shouted for him to veto it and chanted “Shame!” Hundreds stayed on the street past the midnight military curfew in a rare act of wartime defiance — including veterans and soldiers with prostheses from battle injuries.
Organisers are calling for further demonstrations in the capital and in the cities of Lviv, Odesa and Dnipro in coming days.
The hasty manoeuvres to bring the anti-corruption bodies under the oversight of prosecutor-general Ruslan Kravchenko, a Zelenskyy appointee, were set in motion over the weekend by the president and his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, according to several lawmakers and western diplomats familiar with the matter.
But Kravchenko himself said he had not been notified by the president of the plan, telling reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday that he had found out the same way much of the public had — on a popular Telegram channel run by a Ukrainian MP.
The rush appears to have been sparked by investigations into members of Zelenskyy’s circle and the president’s desire to further consolidate control over powerful institutions during wartime. Civil society leaders said he had timed the move on the assumption that western allies would be too distracted — including by US President Donald Trump’s turbulent policy moves — to notice internal Ukrainian politics.
Western partners have remained cautious about publicly criticising Kyiv, including on corruption, understanding that Russia would weaponise such criticism, said western diplomats in Kyiv.
Several officials close to Zelenskyy said it seemed at least in part in response to a criminal case opened by Nabu against the president’s close ally and former deputy prime minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, who was charged with abuse of power and illegal enrichment last month. Chernyshov, who denies the allegations, was dismissed in last week’s reshuffle.
The new law came just over a week after Zelenskyy and senior aides launched raids on prominent critics and activists, leading to accusations that wartime powers were being used to marginalise opponents, silence civil society and tighten control over state institutions. That followed sanctions earlier this year targeting high-profile figures, including former president Petro Poroshenko.
The president’s office ordered MPs back to the capital for an urgent session on Tuesday, with MPs from Zelenskyy’s ruling faction told that “the boss” was watching closely and noting any opposition, according to a lawmaker from the president’s party.
Most complied. The legislation was passed with the help of votes from former pro-Russian MPs and the party of former prime minister and political firebrand Yulia Tymoshenko.
In an interview with the Ukrainian news site Livyy Bereh on Wednesday, Nabu director Semen Kryvonos said that among the MPs who voted in favour of the law were several “who have the status of suspects” in cases being investigated by the agency.
Early that morning, the parliament’s law enforcement committee approved the bill in a session called at such short notice that members had to join remotely, according to an MP who participated in the call.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, centre, with the heads of Ukraine’s law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies, including Nabu and Sapo, after their meeting on Wednesday © X/Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The bill was able to reach the president’s desk so quickly because a largely unrelated wartime measure that had already passed a first reading was amended to include the provisions about Nabu and Sapo.
Ukraine’s western backers rushed to try to persuade Zelenskyy to change course. French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council president António Costa phoned him on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to dissuade him, according to people familiar with the matter.
G7 ambassadors in Kyiv also urged a rethink during a meeting that afternoon with Kravchenko and Ukraine’s spy chief Vasyl Malyuk, who tried to smooth western concerns.
The envoys found themselves confined to a room without their phones for more than two hours, which one diplomat described as an effort to “silence” them and keep them from informing their governments of the fast-moving events in Kyiv.
While Zelenskyy insisted the shake-up was needed to root out Russian influence inside his country’s anti-corruption bodies, his critics warn it undermines democratic checks, weakens the country’s institutional integrity and risks alienating Ukraine’s western backers at a pivotal moment in the war against Russia.
“We discussed various challenges, all of them,” Zelenskyy said in a midnight video address early on Wednesday, referencing meetings with the prosecutor-general and the heads of Nabu, Sapo and Ukraine’s security services. “The anti-corruption infrastructure will work, only without Russian influence — it needs to be cleared of that.”
But Transparency International’s Ukraine office accused Zelenskyy and his MPs of ‘‘destroying a decade of hard-won progress in anti-corruption reforms’’.
The developments threaten to undermine the huge strides made over the past decade to tackle entrenched corruption and which helped Ukraine win EU candidate status in 2022.
Two MPs who asked not to be named, including one from the president’s own party, likened the legislation to the so-called dictatorship law pushed through parliament by a show of hands in January 2014. That gave the then pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych extraordinary powers to crack down on Euromaidan protesters, sparking weeks of bloodshed.
Nabu said in a statement on Wednesday after the meeting with Zelenskyy that its director had emphasised to the president that the legislative changes adopted on Tuesday “significantly restricted the independence” of the agencies.
Signalling a possible concession, on Wednesday evening Zelenskyy said he had heard concerns about his move to strip Nabu and Sapo of their independence, and would soon submit a new bill to parliament in response.
This new draft law “will empower the law enforcement system” while achieving his stated goal of rooting out “Russian influence or interference in the activities of law enforcement agencies”, he said. “All the necessary provisions for the independence of anti-corruption institutions will be ensured.”
While Zelenskyy has methodically consolidated power since he was elected in 2019 through several government reshuffles, the move against Nabu was seen as a departure from the president’s early position on the law enforcement agencies’ independence.
The criticism has even reached the trenches of eastern Ukraine, where Yehor Firsov, an MP and drone unit commander in Ukraine’s 109th Brigade, said that it appeared that Zelenskyy was daring society to challenge him by pushing through the law so brazenly.
Essentially, he said, Zelenskyy was asking, “What are you going to do about it? The people who could stop us — they’re at the front. The ones who’d come out to protest — they’ll be sent there soon too.”
Firsov said the move could have an impact on troops’ morale. “I’m afraid that with news like this, the military . . . they’ll just decide — screw this, why fight for it any more?”
At about 1am Kyiv time, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, weighed in with a message on his Telegram channel that put events in a broader perspective. True to his enigmatic style, it was not clear who it was aimed at.
“Ukrainian history has taught us that a nation loses when it is torn apart by internal conflicts. I am certain that Ukraine will be saved by a strong military and strong institutions,” he said. “We must show wisdom and responsibility.”
www.ft.com
Christopher Miller
Six years ago, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a video urging citizens to call the hotline of Ukraine’s anti-corruption authority if they were offered bribes or kickbacks.
Now the agency is at the centre of the biggest political crisis of his wartime presidency after his drive to seize control triggered fresh allegations of an authoritarian power grab, sparking protests in Kyiv and sending shockwaves through Europe.
The unexpected decision on Tuesday to bring Ukraine’s two flagship anti-corruption bodies — the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo) — under the control of the president’s handpicked prosecutor has provoked rare public outcry and criticism of executive over-reach in wartime.
One government adviser accused Ukraine’s leaders of silencing dissent and enabling authoritarian drift, betraying the democratic principles for which Ukrainians have fought and died during years of war against Russian aggression.
“The Russians want to kill us . . . But you get used to that feeling,” Liubov Tsybulska wrote on Facebook. “Much worse is feeling danger from those who govern your country — from your own people, to whom you gave up part of your freedoms during wartime.”
Zelenskyy signed the bill into law late on Tuesday, as more than 2,000 protesters outside his fourth-floor office window shouted for him to veto it and chanted “Shame!” Hundreds stayed on the street past the midnight military curfew in a rare act of wartime defiance — including veterans and soldiers with prostheses from battle injuries.
Organisers are calling for further demonstrations in the capital and in the cities of Lviv, Odesa and Dnipro in coming days.
The hasty manoeuvres to bring the anti-corruption bodies under the oversight of prosecutor-general Ruslan Kravchenko, a Zelenskyy appointee, were set in motion over the weekend by the president and his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, according to several lawmakers and western diplomats familiar with the matter.
But Kravchenko himself said he had not been notified by the president of the plan, telling reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday that he had found out the same way much of the public had — on a popular Telegram channel run by a Ukrainian MP.
The rush appears to have been sparked by investigations into members of Zelenskyy’s circle and the president’s desire to further consolidate control over powerful institutions during wartime. Civil society leaders said he had timed the move on the assumption that western allies would be too distracted — including by US President Donald Trump’s turbulent policy moves — to notice internal Ukrainian politics.
Western partners have remained cautious about publicly criticising Kyiv, including on corruption, understanding that Russia would weaponise such criticism, said western diplomats in Kyiv.
Several officials close to Zelenskyy said it seemed at least in part in response to a criminal case opened by Nabu against the president’s close ally and former deputy prime minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, who was charged with abuse of power and illegal enrichment last month. Chernyshov, who denies the allegations, was dismissed in last week’s reshuffle.
The new law came just over a week after Zelenskyy and senior aides launched raids on prominent critics and activists, leading to accusations that wartime powers were being used to marginalise opponents, silence civil society and tighten control over state institutions. That followed sanctions earlier this year targeting high-profile figures, including former president Petro Poroshenko.
The president’s office ordered MPs back to the capital for an urgent session on Tuesday, with MPs from Zelenskyy’s ruling faction told that “the boss” was watching closely and noting any opposition, according to a lawmaker from the president’s party.
Most complied. The legislation was passed with the help of votes from former pro-Russian MPs and the party of former prime minister and political firebrand Yulia Tymoshenko.
In an interview with the Ukrainian news site Livyy Bereh on Wednesday, Nabu director Semen Kryvonos said that among the MPs who voted in favour of the law were several “who have the status of suspects” in cases being investigated by the agency.
Early that morning, the parliament’s law enforcement committee approved the bill in a session called at such short notice that members had to join remotely, according to an MP who participated in the call.
The bill was able to reach the president’s desk so quickly because a largely unrelated wartime measure that had already passed a first reading was amended to include the provisions about Nabu and Sapo.
Ukraine’s western backers rushed to try to persuade Zelenskyy to change course. French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council president António Costa phoned him on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to dissuade him, according to people familiar with the matter.
G7 ambassadors in Kyiv also urged a rethink during a meeting that afternoon with Kravchenko and Ukraine’s spy chief Vasyl Malyuk, who tried to smooth western concerns.
The envoys found themselves confined to a room without their phones for more than two hours, which one diplomat described as an effort to “silence” them and keep them from informing their governments of the fast-moving events in Kyiv.
While Zelenskyy insisted the shake-up was needed to root out Russian influence inside his country’s anti-corruption bodies, his critics warn it undermines democratic checks, weakens the country’s institutional integrity and risks alienating Ukraine’s western backers at a pivotal moment in the war against Russia.
“We discussed various challenges, all of them,” Zelenskyy said in a midnight video address early on Wednesday, referencing meetings with the prosecutor-general and the heads of Nabu, Sapo and Ukraine’s security services. “The anti-corruption infrastructure will work, only without Russian influence — it needs to be cleared of that.”
But Transparency International’s Ukraine office accused Zelenskyy and his MPs of ‘‘destroying a decade of hard-won progress in anti-corruption reforms’’.
The developments threaten to undermine the huge strides made over the past decade to tackle entrenched corruption and which helped Ukraine win EU candidate status in 2022.
Two MPs who asked not to be named, including one from the president’s own party, likened the legislation to the so-called dictatorship law pushed through parliament by a show of hands in January 2014. That gave the then pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych extraordinary powers to crack down on Euromaidan protesters, sparking weeks of bloodshed.
Nabu said in a statement on Wednesday after the meeting with Zelenskyy that its director had emphasised to the president that the legislative changes adopted on Tuesday “significantly restricted the independence” of the agencies.
Signalling a possible concession, on Wednesday evening Zelenskyy said he had heard concerns about his move to strip Nabu and Sapo of their independence, and would soon submit a new bill to parliament in response.
This new draft law “will empower the law enforcement system” while achieving his stated goal of rooting out “Russian influence or interference in the activities of law enforcement agencies”, he said. “All the necessary provisions for the independence of anti-corruption institutions will be ensured.”
While Zelenskyy has methodically consolidated power since he was elected in 2019 through several government reshuffles, the move against Nabu was seen as a departure from the president’s early position on the law enforcement agencies’ independence.
The criticism has even reached the trenches of eastern Ukraine, where Yehor Firsov, an MP and drone unit commander in Ukraine’s 109th Brigade, said that it appeared that Zelenskyy was daring society to challenge him by pushing through the law so brazenly.
Essentially, he said, Zelenskyy was asking, “What are you going to do about it? The people who could stop us — they’re at the front. The ones who’d come out to protest — they’ll be sent there soon too.”
Firsov said the move could have an impact on troops’ morale. “I’m afraid that with news like this, the military . . . they’ll just decide — screw this, why fight for it any more?”
At about 1am Kyiv time, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, weighed in with a message on his Telegram channel that put events in a broader perspective. True to his enigmatic style, it was not clear who it was aimed at.
“Ukrainian history has taught us that a nation loses when it is torn apart by internal conflicts. I am certain that Ukraine will be saved by a strong military and strong institutions,” he said. “We must show wisdom and responsibility.”
How Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s power grab sparked his biggest political crisis
Protests erupt in Kyiv as western allies urge Ukraine’s president to rethink move against anti-corruption bodies
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