The war for Ukraine’s future is being fought not just on the battlefield, but also within its democratic institutions. Today, one of those battles was lost. The parliament passed a bill that destroys the independence of Ukraine’s key anti-corruption bodies. If signed into law, it would effectively dismantle their ability to investigate all senior officials in the country without interference.
The new legislation will allow Ukraine’s prosecutor general to take control over National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo). Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Ruslan Kravchenko to this post just a month ago, and now he will be able to access case files of any criminal proceedings on high-level corruption, reassign them to other investigation bodies or even shut them down. Both Nabu and Sapo were established as part of Ukraine’s anti-graft reforms after the Maidan Revolution ten years ago.
Today’s bill passed with 263 votes. Among the lawmakers backing it were MPs from former pro-Russian parties still in parliament. They have a rare alliance with Zelensky’s party, which no longer has the votes to pass laws alone after six years in power. Just 13 MPs voted against and 13 abstained. Opposition MPs from ‘European Solidarity’ and ‘Holos’ parties tried to block the vote, shouting ‘Shame!’ and accusing Zelensky’s office of jeopardising Ukraine’s efforts to join the EU. Anastasia Radina, head of the parliament’s anti-corruption committee, was the only MP from Zelensky’s party to oppose the bill, warning it turns the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office into a ‘fiction for budget funds’.
The vote came just weeks after Nabu launched an investigation into Oleksiy Chernyshov, a Zelensky ally and former unity minister, accusing him of abuse of power and bribery. Chernyshov denied the charges but was sacked last week during a reshuffle. According to Daria Kaleniuk, head of the anti-corruption action centre, Nabu and Sapo have also ‘gotten close’ to Timur Mindich, a co-owner of Kvartal 95, Zelensky’s former TV production company. Mindich hasn’t been formally charged.
The attack on Nabu escalated yesterday when Ukraine’s security service raided the homes of 19 Nabu employees, accusing them of treason, corruption, illegal trade with Russia and even old traffic offences. Around 80 searches were carried out without court warrants, at the time when Nabu’s head was on a business trip in London. The bill arrived the next day. Semen Kryvonos, Nabu’s head, called on Zelensky not to sign it, adding that some lawmakers who backed the bill were acting in a conflict of interest as they are themselves under investigation by Nabu and Sapo.
Ukraine’s civil society has urged the country’s western allies to pressure Zelensky to veto the bill. European Commission spokesman Guillaume Mercier has already voiced concern, stressing that EU accession requires Ukraine to show ‘a strong capacity to fight corruption and ensure institutional resilience’. But words alone won’t be enough. If the bill that moves Ukrainians closer into the orbit of the very country they are fighting to escape isn’t scrapped, Zelensky risks driving people back onto Independence Square for yet another Maidan. That moment may be closer than he thinks – one war veteran has already called for a protest outside the president’s office later today, which could become the first anti-government rally in 40 months of full-scale war.
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