Anti-Corruption Protests Erupt in Ukraine

Mass protests erupted in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities late Tuesday after the country’s parliament passed legislation many fear will neutralize the country’s main anti-corruption bodies and roll back reforms introduced after a pro-Western revolution more than 10 years ago.

The government move against the anti-corruption bodies has alarmed former officials, concerned Ukraine’s European allies and thrown back into the spotlight an issue long used by the country’s detractors to criticize it. It could also affect Ukraine’s application to join the European Union.

More than 2,000 people gathered on a central Kyiv square close to the seat of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration, shouting “Shame!” in what is turning into the largest political controversy since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago. Smaller protests broke out in Lviv, Dnipro and Odesa, and more protests are planned for Wednesday.

The law, which was passed by parliament deputies and signed quickly by Zelensky on Tuesday, places Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) under the control of the general prosecutor’s office. Critics say that this will effectively abolish the two bodies’ independence.

The two institutions, which have previously functioned free of outside control, are the main anti-corruption bodies created since Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan Revolution, when hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in part because they were fed up with rampant corruption under Ukraine’s president at the time, Viktor Yanukovych.

In his regular evening address posted on social media, Zelensky framed the law as an effort to strengthen the work of the two bodies.

Criminal cases against officials — who have been “casually living abroad … in very nice countries and without legal consequences” — have been “hanging for years” without any results, Zelensky said. “There should be more justice.”

“Of course, NABU and SAPO will work,” Zelensky said. “And it is important that the prosecutor general is determined to ensure that in Ukraine the inevitability of punishment for those who go against the law is actually ensured. This is what Ukraine really needs.”

Zelensky also said that the legislation would guarantee that the two organizations would function without “Russian influence.”

On Monday, agents from Ukraine’s security service, or SBU, general prosecutor’s office and State Bureau of Investigation raided NABU offices, claiming the existence of a “Russian ‘mole’ in one of the bureau’s elite units,” SBU head Vasyl Maliuk said.

“In the conditions of the full-scale war, the presence of Russian agents in any state agency is completely unacceptable,” Maliuk said in a meeting with representatives of the Group of Seven countries in Kyiv on Tuesday, according to the SBU website.

“There are no exceptions for us, and we will continue to eradicate hostile influence wherever we can,” he said. “NABU needs to be cleansed of the influence of enemy intelligence services.”

Many Ukrainians flatly rejected the government’s explanations for the legislation, however. The move against the agencies also comes just a month after NABU opened a criminal case against then-Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, on charges of “abuse of office and receiving undue benefits in substantial amounts for himself and third parties,” it said in a statement at the time.

It was one of the highest-level corruption cases since Zelensky became president six years ago, targeting one of the closest allies of his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak. Chernyshov denied the charges, but he lost his position in last week’s government reshuffle.

On Tuesday, protesters on Kyiv’s Ivan Franko square — an overwhelming number of whom appeared to be in their 20s and 30s — carried hastily made signs accusing the government of returning to Ukraine’s corrupt, authoritarian past that existed before the 2014 revolution.

The square was chosen for the demonstration because it was the closest location to the presidential administration building, which lies behind a series of checkpoints, protesters said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on social media that those responsible for the new law were “dragging Ukraine faster into authoritarianism.”

“It seems the authors and executors … have come to believe in the impunity of their arbitrariness,” wrote Klitschko, who appeared at the protest with his brother Volodymyr. “Hiding behind the war, [they are] destroying anti-corruption bodies, local self-government, silencing activists and journalists.”

Former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, who served under Zelensky for four years, wrote on Facebook that Tuesday was “a bad day for Ukraine.”

“This is not about NABU and SAPO,” Kuleba wrote. “This is about the desire of people to live in a just country.” He said that “for many in power,” Ukraine’s 2014 revolution was “just an annual post on social networks.” But “for millions of people, it was a sacrifice for the sake of justice. And it cannot be nullified by voting and quick signatures.”

Russia, which has long amplified the narrative of corruption in Ukraine said the development was only to be expected. “There is a lot of corruption in the country. The money of American taxpayers and European taxpayers has been plundered to a large extent. This can be said with a high degree of certainty,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

In an interview on Tuesday with Bloomberg, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko — who assumed her position only last week after the sudden government shake-up by Zelensky — said that “within Ukrainian society and certain social groups, the issue [of corruption] is being amplified and overemphasized.”

European officials, however, immediately expressed their concern. Ukraine is involved in a years-long, arduous process of joining the E.U., in which anti-corruption efforts play a major role.

“The dismantling of key safeguards protecting NABU’s independence is a serious step back,” Marta Kos, E.U. commissioner for enlargement in charge of the process of countries applying to join the bloc, wrote on X.

“Independent bodies like NABU & SAPO, are essential for [Ukraine’s] EU path” and “Rule of Law remains in the very center of EU accession negotiations,” she wrote, adding that she had a “frank discussion” with Svyrydenko.

In a letter Tuesday, Julia Fromholz, head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Anti-Corruption Department, expressed “deep concern about recent developments” regarding the two agencies and said the law significantly undermines the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption effort.

In private conversations, European diplomats were even more alarmed. “Very worried” were the only words one said, on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

“Actions like these certainly undermine trust between Kyiv and Western allies,” another diplomat said, saying it could threaten Ukraine’s chances of joining the E.U. and “might even lessen the appetite to increase the military assistance to Ukraine.”

“We hope that it will not be the case but actions like these certainly do not help to win this war,” the diplomat added. “These steps for sure will further weaken Ukraine and we don’t need that.”