MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/. Six more Ukrainian cities, including Kharkov and Nikolayev, have joined in on protests against the Vladimir Zelensky law that essentially strips the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) of their independence, the Hromadske - News media outlet reports.

"We believe that it’s wrong because it is destroying the reforms that the country has worked towards for years. The European Union doesn’t support that. It will have a negative impact on our future," the news outlet quoted a participant in the Nikolayev rally as saying. In Kharkov, protesters are chanting slogans like "People aren’t fools," and "Hands off NABU." Earlier, the media outlet reported similar demonstrations in the cities of Krivoy Rog, Ternopol, Chernigov and Chernovtsy.

The Zerkalo Nedeli news outlet, in turn, reports that protests are also expected in Kiev, Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk) and Lvov.

Zelensky has long been trying to take NABU and SAPO under control but they had previously managed to stay independent. On June 23, NABU brought corruption charges against Alexey Chernyshov, who at the time served as Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and minister of national unity. Chernyshov is seen as a very influential member of Zelensky’s inner circle, a fact that only escalated tensions. Opposition lawmakers point out that anti-corruption agencies were pushing to bring changes against other close Zelensky allies.

On July 21, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) carried out 70 searches of NABU employees, and also raided SAPO. Late on Tuesday, about 2,000 Kiev residents took to the streets to protest and demand, among other things, the resignation of Andrey Yermak, head of Zelensky’s office. Rallies were also held in Dnepr, Lvov, Odessa, Poltava, Rovno and Ternopol. However, Zelensky still signed the controversial law, which took effect today.