Ukrainians are set to take to the streets again on July 30 as they look to keep pressure on the government a day before lawmakers consider a bill meant to restore the independence of two agencies that fight graft after they approved restrictions last week, sparking an outcry.
The original law, which was passed with unusual rapidity on July 22, was criticized for robbing the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Office (SAPO) of their autonomy by handing the Prosecutor-Generals’ Office control over the agencies.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who signed the legislation, said the move was needed to rid the agencies of Russian influence that had long made them susceptible to corruption.
But the limits on their independence enraged many Ukrainians — especially younger people — who immediately turned out for public protests even though Russian missiles and drones had rained down on Kyiv and other cities just hours earlier.
“People didn’t expect that it would be the youth who would come out in such numbers” said Anastasia Bezpalko, one of the protest coordinators in Kyiv.
“The youth simply realized that someone was trying to deceive them, and this very sharp sense of injustice emerged…” the 23-year-old told RFE/RL.
“That turbo-mode of passing the bill and quickly signing it — it just became the last straw, the moment when the youth understood that it had to be stopped and that they had to show the authorities that they do not agree with it.”
A day later, Zelenskyy did an about-face and proposed the new legislation to be introduced on July 31, saying he had heard the voice of the people and that the new bill will still address Russian-influence concerns, but not jeopardize the independence of anti-corruption bodies.
“Ukrainians have shown that they do not want reforms to be weakened and a return to autocratic methods,” Oleksiy Haran, a political science professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, told RFE/RL adding that it won’t be easy for politicians to restore trust after the turmoil sparked by the law.
The protests come as Ukraine looks to the United States and other Western allies to pressure Russia into peace talks to end more than three years of war that followed Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Deep-seated corruption in Ukraine has held back support for Kyiv in some quarters, and it remains to be seen how US President Donald Trump will react to the turmoil.
Trump on July 30 warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that he had 10 days to make progress on cease-fires talks or he will impose tariffs and other measures on Moscow.
Trump has shown signs of growing frustration with Putin’s refusal to agree to a cease-fire while at the same time pummeling Ukraine on an almost nightly basis with drone and missile strikes.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s outgunned and outmanned army is also facing pressure on the ground as Russian forces are making new efforts to drive back Ukrainian defenders along a 1,000-kilometer front line in the east of the embattled country.
Ukrainian political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko said parliament has to approve the new anti-corruption bill or face even worse consequences.
“I think the president’s office and the vast majority of parliament members understand that if the president’s bill, which restores the procedural independence of NABU and SAPO, fails, the consequences will be much harsher than those after the original bill, which caused this crisis,” he told Current Time.
Moreover, with Ukraine needing US military aid in its war to fend off Russia, Kyiv cannot afford a crisis over corruption.
“The key point is weapon supplies. I expect that, with new military packages for Ukraine, weapon supplies can be increased in 10 days,” he said, referring to Trump’s new 10-day deadline for Russia.
