The mood has shifted fast as European leaders lined up to criticise, albeit in mild tones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s decision to sign into law a controversial bill rammed through the Rada on July 23 that will gut Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts and could threaten its EU membership bid. 

Zelenskiy immediately signed the bill into law after it was passed by Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People Party, which has an absolute majority in the Rada.

The removing the EU-mandated independence of Ukraine’s main anti-corruption bodies, the triumvirate of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) and the Anti-Corruption Court (ACC) that are the backbone of the fight against corruption. Both bodies will be subordinated to the presidentially appointed Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, a Zelenskiy loyalist.

The new law instantly sparked the first anti-government protests the country has since it was invaded by Russia over three years ago. “We chose Europe, not autocracy,” read one protestor’s banner. Another protester held a sign that said, “My father did not die for this.” The well-respected ANTAC anticorruption NGO published a statement condemning the law and an AI generated picture of half Zelenskiy face mirrored by the face of the notoriously corrupt former president Viktor Yanukovych who was ousted in the 2014 Euromaidan revolution.

The scandal comes at a time when the otherwise heroic wartime president has begun to lose support and has been accused of growing increasingly authoritarian. The crisis adds fuel to the speculation that this is the beginning of the end for Zelenskiy’s government and its war against Russia. Things have changed with the Trump administration, as following US President Donald Trump)’s “big announcement” on July 14, Zelenskiy has to convince his western allies to not only continue weapons supplies, but now to pay for them too.

In a televised address on July 23, Zelenskiy tried to deflect criticism by framing the law as necessary to purge the agencies of “Russian influence”.

“There is no rational explanation for why criminal proceedings worth billions have been ‘hanging’ for years.” The agencies, he added, “would still work” but needed to be made more effective.

This line was undermined by the fact that a string of raids and arrests of NABU officers by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), which is also directly under the president’s control was to investigate things like tariff abuses and not their work, which includes investigating the government and presidential executive for corruption, NABU said in a statement. Both the new law and the SBU raids on NABU and SAPO offices in the last weeks are widely seen as politically motivated.

New rallies against the law are planned for the coming days in Kyiv, Dnepropetrovsk and Lviv, the publication Zerkalo Nedeli reports. Sporting one of the strongest civil societies in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) that has already ousted two presidents, Ukrainian people are not known for backing down when they feel their rights are threatened.

EU backlash

People in Ukraine are back on the streets but Ukraine’s European partners were caught unawares by the new bill. However, as the implications started to sink in, the rebukes began to flow, albeit using muted language. Some analysts have already speculated that the controversy could endanger Ukraine’s EU accession bid, which as bne IntelliNews reported stalled last week after member states refused to open negotiations on the first cluster.

A joint statement from G7 ambassadors in Kyiv said they were “closely following” the situation and had raised concerns with Ukrainian government officials.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, Ukraine’s strongest supporter in Europe, was more outspoken and specifically noted that this “complicates” Ukraine’s European integration.

"Limiting the independence of Ukrainian anti-corruption bodies complicates Ukraine's path to the EU. I expect Ukraine to consistently continue the fight against corruption. That is why I also met in Kyiv with the heads of NABU and SAPO," Wadephul said in a statement published by the German foreign ministry on X on July 23.

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos also came out strongly against the law, calling it a "serious step backwards." She also linked the law to Ukraine’s EU accession bid, stressing that the rule of law remains at the very heart of Ukraine's EU accession negotiations as part of the Fundamental Cluster, that Kyiv was already having trouble with in the EU screening process that just ended.

Later, after talking with Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Taras Kachka, Kos stated that the EU would continue to work "with Ukraine on the necessary reforms in the area of the rule of law and progress on the path to the EU," Interfax reports.

The Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, another normally ardent Ukraine supporter, lambasted the bill in public comments the day after it was signed.

"Fighting corruption is a vital part of the EU accession path. Ukraine belongs in Europe and our support goes to its people. But our support has never been and will never be a blank cheque for any actions of the government. I reminded [Ukrainian Foreign] Minister Andrii Sybiha of that today," he said on X.

EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, also on X, noted: "In war, trust between the fighting nation and its leadership is more important than modern weapons - difficult to build and to keep, but easy to lose with one significant mistake by the leadership."

The Ukrainian branch of Transparency International stated the parliament´s voting through the bill undermines “one of the most significant reforms since 2014,” and will “damage trust with international partners” by "dismantling" the country’s anti-corruption architecture.

Andy Hunder, the chairman of The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine that represents a large number of foreign companies already working in Ukraine, urged Zelenskiy in a statement not to sign the proposed legislation.

“We were disappointed to see today's vote in @ua_parliament dismantle key safeguards protecting the independence of @nab_ukr and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO). The adopted Draft Law 12414 threatens the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption infrastructure and undermines trust in the country's anti-corruption efforts. We call on President @ZelenskiyUa to continue supporting the independence of anti-corruption institutions in Ukraine and not sign the proposed legislation,” he said in a post on social media.

The Kremlin was gleefully making hay from the controversy, and claimed a large amount of money from US and European taxpayers has been embezzled in Ukraine, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"It is obvious that a significant share of the financial assistance provided to Ukraine was stolen. Corruption is widespread in the country, meaning that the money of US and European taxpayers was misappropriated in Ukraine. This can be said with a high degree of confidence," the Kremlin spokesman said.