President Volodymyr Zelensky has now signed into law the controversial bill stripping Ukraine’s top anti-corruption bodies of their independence — a move widely condemned as self-sabotage. The legislation, which places the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) under effective presidential control, has triggered alarm in Brussels and beyond.
It’s the clearest sign yet of a government increasingly bent on consolidating power — even if it means undermining transparency, reform, and public trust. In a single stroke, Ukraine risks jeopardizing billions in military and economic aid, and imperiling its hard-won path to European Union membership.
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And now, the people have spoken. Yesterday, thousands — mostly young Ukrainians — took to the streets in cities across the country. It was the largest public outcry since Russia’s full-scale invasion began.
If anything, the protests underscored the gravity of what just occurred: the unilateral tearing up by Bankova, the presidential office, of an unwritten social contract. That deal was simple — post-Maidan activists and civil society would refrain from open opposition, so long as President Zelensky defended Ukraine and kept it on a clear path toward the EU.
This moment will also be seen in Moscow as a welcome PR gift — reinforcing the Kremlin’s narrative that Ukraine is irreparably corrupt and unworthy of Western support. And it will play directly into the hands of the Trump-aligned MAGA base in Washington — figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who are already lobbying to cut aid to Kyiv. Why fund democracy, they will argue, if Ukraine appears to be abandoning it?
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For those who continue to dismiss Ukraine’s corruption problem as “overblown,” I’d urge them to speak with the countless entrepreneurs suffocated by bribes and bureaucracy — or the millions of Ukrainians abroad who say they won’t return unless peace is matched by real reform.
Zelensky was elected on a promise of change, not centralization. The West is watching. Ukrainians are watching. And they will not accept a return to the old ways. As thousands chanted last night outside the presidential complex: Ганьба! — Shame!
Adapted as an op-ed for Kyiv Post by the author from his blog World Briefing, which can be seen here.
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