MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has passed a law reinstating the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). The bill was supported by 330 legislators, with the majority of votes coming from the pro-government Servant of the People faction. Earlier, on July 22, the same faction adopted a bill stripping the bodies of their independence, triggering mass protest rallies across Ukraine, the first acts of defiance against the current authorities since they first came to power.
Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies
Over the past few years, Ukraine has been noted as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The West has told the Kiev regime that to keep receiving financial and military support, it must bring corruption levels down and be more transparent about spending.
During the Euromaidan events in 2014, ending corruption and Eurointegration were the opposition's main battle cries. Ukraine’s European partners and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were the main proponents of establishing anti-corruption agencies, naming this as a key condition for the country’s European integration. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) were established in 2015.
On July 30, 2025, SAPO wrote on its Telegram channel that from 2016 to 2025, "suspicions of corruption" were filed against 71 former and current Verkhovna Rada deputies, including 31 current legislators. According to NABU, just in the first half of 2025, its staffers submitted 69 criminal cases with total losses amounting to 18.5 billion hryvnias ($440 million). Charges were brought against 27 officials with seven of them already sentenced.
Government pressure on NABU, SAPO
On July 21, 2025, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) conducted 70 searches at NABU and also inspected SAPO. NABU pointed out that the searches were carried out without a court order. Within the framework of these actions, a number of staffers of the anti-corruption bureau were detained and arrested.
On July 22, 2025, the Verkhovna Rada, where the majority of legislators belong to Vladimir Zelensky’s Servant of the People Party, adopted a law effectively curtailing the independence of NABU and SAPO, with 263 delegates voting for and 13 against. Zelensky signed the document on the same day. The law came into effect on July 23.
According to the bill, Ukraine’s prosecutor general has jurisdiction over prosecutors from the two anti-corruption agencies. Additionally, the law lifts the ban on transferring cases from NABU to other agencies, meaning the prosecutor general can now reassign cases to other prosecutors.
Ukrainian protests
The adoption of the bill triggered a wave of protest rallies in Kiev and across Ukraine. On the evening of July 22, about 2,000 residents in the Ukrainian capital took to the streets, with rallies also taking place in six other Ukrainian cities.
On July 23, over 9,000 protesters gathered in downtown Kiev, asserting that the rallies will take place on a daily basis if their demands are not heard.
From July 24-30, protest rallies spread to other cities across Ukraine.
West's reaction
Ukraine’s European partners on whose support the Kiev regime relies (the EU’s support since 2022 is assessed at 164.8 billion euros) have sharply criticized the Ukrainian authorities’ decision with regard to NABU and SAPO.
On July 23, 2025, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen demanded explanations from Zelensky, while European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos urged him to revoke the law. On the same day, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski asserted that Ukraine does not stand a chance of joining the European Union if it doesn’t do something about corruption.
On July 29, 2025, the Ekonomicheskaya Pravda newspaper, citing sources in Ukraine’s government, parliament and diplomatic circles, said that on July 24, EU representatives informed the authorities in Kiev that all provided aid had been "paused" until the situation with the independence of anti-corruption agencies is settled. Above all, this involves aid within the framework of the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration for Ukraine program in the amount of 17.2 billion euros until the end of 2025 and 12.5 billion euros as part of the Ukraine Facility program.
New draft bill on NABU, SAPO
On July 24, 2025, amid large-scale protest rallies, Zelensky introduced a draft bill to the Verkhovna Rada on the so-called boosting of anti-corruption agencies’ powers. On his Telegram channel, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said that on the whole, "the draft bill cancels the elimination of NABU and SAPO’s independence and returns to them all the powers revoked by the July 22 law."
At a press conference in Kiev on July 25, Zelensky asserted that he "respects the opinion of Ukrainian society" and admitted that he should have discussed the status of NABU and SAPO before making any decisions.
On July 30, 2025, the Verkhovna Rada committee on law enforcement unanimously backed the draft bill on bolstering the authority of NABU and SAPO.
On July 31, 2025, Zelensky signed the bill into law.