Last week, Volodymyr Zelensky and his Servant of the People party passed a law stripping independence from Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP), placing them under the control of the Prosecutor General — a position to which Zelensky had appointed a new official just days earlier. Leading Ukrainian outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda, reported that the move was driven by an attempt to shield the president’s inner circle: according to journalists, NABU and SAP had been preparing investigations into top Zelensky allies suspected of corruption.
These actions sparked protests in Ukraine’s major cities, a sharp backlash from the European Union and leading European media, and a freeze in financial assistance from the European Commission. In response, Zelensky quickly declared that he “hears the people” and pledged to submit a bill to the Verkhovna Rada that would fully restore the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
“Aren't you tired of eating feces and feeding them to others?”—with these words, Dmytro Razumkov began his speech from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada ahead of the vote. MP Dmytro Kostiuk, a member of the presidential Servant of the People faction, announced his departure, citing pressure exerted on lawmakers to force them to support the bill cutting NABU's powers—including threats of criminal prosecution.
The Verkhovna Rada then passed the bill restoring NABU's powers, with 331 lawmakers voting in favor. In addition, parliament approved a resolution urging Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk and President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign the law without delay and bring it into force immediately.
Protesters react outside the Verkhovna Rada building to the adoption of the presidential bill restoring the powers of NABU and SAP.
On the eve of the vote to restore the powers of NABU and SAP, Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office Oleksandr Klymenko gave several interviews to Western media, including The Times and the Financial Times. According to him, the assault on the independence of anti-corruption bodies was “large-scale, deliberate, and coordinated,” aimed at taking control of investigations and “shielding individuals from criminal liability.”
“Our work has effectively come to a halt. Nearly all of our informants have stopped cooperating with us,” he said, adding that one NABU detective refused to take on a “sensitive case” due to the threat of retaliation.
Klymenko stressed that even if the powers are restored, the pressure will persist: “No one has abandoned their plans to obstruct our work.” He blamed senior officials for the situation and warned of new waves of “political pressure and smear campaigns.”
The Times described the events as “Zelensky’s decision” and called it a “departure from democracy.” The president, however, sought to shift the blame onto parliament. According to Klymenko, Washington’s interest in Ukraine’s anti-corruption system has “dropped significantly”—and that, in his view, is what made the current assault possible.