FACTBOX. Since July 22, 2025, Ukraine has been gripped by protests following the adoption of a new law that effectively abolishes the independence of anti-corruption institutions, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). The 2025 protests mark the first large-scale acts of civil disobedience targeting the current government.
Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies
In recent years, Ukraine has ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world. Western partners of Kiev have consistently emphasized that combating corruption and ensuring transparency in public spending are prerequisites for their continued support.
During the 2014 Euromaidan uprising, anti-corruption rhetoric was central to the opposition’s demands, alongside calls for Eurointegration. The establishment of specialized anti-corruption bodies was strongly advocated by Ukraine’s European allies and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who called these reforms conditional to the country’s Eurointegration.
In October 2014, President Petr Poroshenko (2014-2019) signed a package of anti-corruption laws, including the creation of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). Launched in April 2015, the bureau became operational by October 2015. It was meant for "preventing, detecting, and prosecuting high-level corruption crimes that threaten Ukraine’s national security." NABU was designed as an independent agency, overseen by a parliamentary committee on organized crime and corruption. In December 2015, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) was established as an autonomous unit within the Prosecutor General’s Office, tasked with supervising NABU’s pre-trial investigations in terms of adherence to the law. Both institutions were shielded from interference.
According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine’s latest data, NABU employees sent to court 69 indictments in cases with a total loss of 18.5 bln hryvnia ($440 mln) in January-June 2025 alone. Charges were brought against 27 officials, including deputies, government members and their deputies, heads of state agencies, state enterprises, and top officials, in the reporting period. Seven persons belonging to this category were convicted.
Among the most high-profile cases handled by the NABU and SAPO were those of Pavel Vovk, head of Kiev’s District Administrative Court and the son of former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, as well as the embezzlement schemes involving state-owned energy company Ukrnafta. The agencies also went after the ex-head of the State Property Fund, Dmitriy Sennichenko, looked into the Defense Ministry army food supplies procurement fraud case, and investigated corruption within the National Guard. In 2025, the case that garnered the most attention was the investigation against Ukraine’s former deputy prime minister Alexey Chernyshov, who used to be deputy prime minister and minister of national unity for Ukraine. Chernyshov is considered a very influential figure in Zelensky’s (elected as the president of Ukraine in 2019, with executive powers officially expiring in 2024) inner circle. The charges against the deputy minister, who vacated his post in July 2025, were filed on June 23, 2025. On July 16, NABU reported that, on June 11, SAPO opened a criminal case against former Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and former Justice Minister Olga Stefanishyna (who was appointed Ukraine’s US Ambassador earlier in July).
Government crackdown on NABU and SAPO, protests begin
On July 21, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) conducted 70 searches of NABU employees and also raided SAPO. NABU officials stated that the searches were carried out without court warrants. During the operation, several anti-corruption officers were detained, including Ruslan Magomedrasulov, head of NABU’s interregional detective unit.
On July 22, Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, dominated by President Zelensky’s "Servant of the People" party, voted to adopt amendments to a law that effectively eliminate the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. A total of 263 lawmakers supported the amendments, while 13 voted against them. Zelensky signed the law on that same day. It came into force on July 23.
Under the law, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office was to be placed under the authority of the prosecutor general, who would be able to influence the activities of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Apart from that, the law lifted the ban on transferring cases from the Bureau to other agencies, meaning the prosecutor general could now reassign cases to other prosecutors.
Protests gain momentum
The anti-corruption crackdown sparked protests across Ukraine. On the evening of July 22, nearly 2,000 people gathered in central Kiev, demanding, among other things, the resignation of Andrey Yermak, head of Zelensky’s office. Protests also took place in Dnepr, Lvov, Odessa, Poltava, Rovno, and Ternopol.
On July 23, over 9,000 people protested in Kiev alone. The demonstrators promised to continue protests every day if their demands remained ignored.
On July 24, rallies were under way in 12 Ukrainian cities, according to Ukrainian media. The protests were being held in Chernigov, Kiev, Vinnitsa, Dnepr, Zhitomir, Lvov, Nikolayev, Poltava, Rovno, Ternopol, Kharkov and Khmelnitsky. According to the Strana publication, the protesters in Kiev held posters with the image of Zelensky and Yermak accompanied by slogans like "Murderers of democracy are traitors of Ukraine" and "Dictators."
Western backlash
Ukraine’s European allies, on whom Kiev has relied to provide €164.8 billion in aid since 2022, harshly condemned the decision. On July 23, 2025, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen demanded an explanation from Zelensky, while European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos called for the law’s repeal. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski warned that without an independent anti-corruption system, Ukraine’s EU hopes are slim.
On July 24, 2025 the spokesperson for the International Monetary Fund Julie Kozack stated that Zelensky’s actions threaten Ukraine’s macroeconomic stability and growth.
The same day, The Economist labeled the NABU-SAPO crackdown a strategic error by Zelensky that risks halting international aid to Ukraine.
New bill on NABU and SAPO
On July 24, amid mass protests, Zelensky submitted to the legislature a bill on the so-called strengthening of the powers of the anti-corruption agencies. The bill would require, among other things, that officers of the Security Service of Ukraine subject the staff of the two bodies, along with employees of the State Bureau of Investigation, the Economic Security Bureau and the police who have access to state secrets, to lie detector tests. The new law stipulates that investigations will be conducted by NABU itself, rather than by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). At the same time, NABU's internal control unit must coordinate the methodology for lie detector testing of its employees with the SBU. Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, stated on his Telegram channel that otherwise, the law "reverses the undermining of NABU and SAPO’s independence and reinstates all provisions repealed by the July 22 law."
At a morning press conference in Kiev on July 25, Zelensky said that he respects "the views of [Ukrainian] society" and also admitted he should have communicated with the public before acting on NABU and SAPO’s status.
Verkhovna Rada deputies are expected to convene for an extraordinary session to review the new draft law on July 31, 2025.