Following street protests, Zelensky signs law restoring independence of anti-graft bodies
Editor's Note: This story is being updated.
President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law passed by the parliament on July 31 that restores the independence of two principal anti-corruption bodies after a closely-watched vote.
In the first livestreamed vote since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, 331 lawmakers approved the bill in two back-to-back readings, with none voting against it.
The newly signed law was published in the official parliamentary newspaper Holos Ukrainy, which means it will enter into force the next day, on Aug. 1.
The law reverses legislation passed last week that effectively destroyed the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), two agencies founded as part of the post-EuroMaidan anti-graft reforms.
"I want to thank all the lawmakers for passing my bill, now a law. I have just signed the document, and the text will be published immediately," Zelensky said on his Telegram channel.
"There are guarantees for the proper, independent operation of anti-corruption bodies and all law enforcement agencies of our state."
The initial controversial bill, quickly pushed through by Zelensky's lawmakers and signed by the president on July 22, sparked mass demonstrations across the country and backlash from Ukraine's international partners.
Following the negative response abroad and at home, Zelensky proposed a new bill only two days later to restore the independence of the anti-corruption bodies.
Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC), a watchdog, supported Zelensky's initiative, saying it would "restore the principles previously dismantled by the Verkhovna Rada."
European Commission spokesperson for enlargement Guillaume Mercier said that with the vote, the Rada had restored key safeguards ensuring the independence of the anti-corruption bodies.
"In our view, the law addresses the key challenges to NABU and SAPO’s independence. We will however need to check the final text," Mercier said.
Mercier added that the EU expects Ukraine to "deliver on those commitments swiftly and take decisive steps on rule of law."
Why was last week's law controversial?
Last week's law expanded the prosecutor general's authority over cases handled by the SAPO and NABU. It also allowed the prosecutor general to issue binding instructions to NABU, reassign cases outside the agency, and delegate SAPO's authority to other prosecutors.
Anti-corruption activists and opposition lawmakers said the changes dismantled safeguards that protect both bodies from political interference, while the bill's proponents claimed it aimed to combat alleged Russian influence within the agencies.
After the law was passed, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other European leaders appealed to Zelensky to stress the importance of anti-corruption infrastructure, a key condition for Ukraine's EU accession efforts.
The Rada corrected last week’s damaging vote undermining NABU’s & SAPO’s independence. Today’s law restores key safeguards, but challenges remain.
— Marta Kos (@MartaKosEU) July 31, 2025
The EU supports 🇺🇦 citizens' demands for reform.
Upholding fundamental values & fighting corruption must remain the priority.
The European bloc also issued a private warning to Kyiv, saying that failure to reverse the controversial legislation could result in the suspension of certain funding programs, the Ukrainian media reported.
Ukraine is heavily dependent on foreign aid amid Russia's full-scale war. The EU and its member states have made available $180 billion in economic, military, and humanitarian assistance to the war-torn country since 2022.
The EU has already welcomed the latest bill reversing the reform.
"The (Verkhovna) Rada corrected last week’s damaging vote undermining NABU’s & SAPO’s independence," said Marta Kos, the EU's enlargement commissioner.
"Today’s law restores key safeguards, but challenges remain."
Response from lawmakers
Addressing the parliament ahead of the vote on July 31, Dmytro Kostiuk, a lawmaker from Zelensky's Servant of the People parliamentary group, claimed that he and his colleagues were pressured to support last week's bill.
Kostiuk, who voted for the July 22 law, announced that he is leaving Zelensky's parliamentary group in protest.
"There are many questions about the work of NABU and SAPO, but it was the creation of an anti-corruption infrastructure that was the main result of the EuroMaidan Revolution," he said.
Earlier, a lawmaker from the Servant of the People party told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity that most party members — without fully understanding the details — thought the July 22 bill came from the president and had been coordinated with U.S. and European partners.
Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, opposition lawmaker for the Holos party, said that today's vote is "only the first step toward restoring the public's trust in the government."
Talking to the Kyiv Independent after the vote, Yurchyshyn noted that elections are the usual way to "restore trust" in democracies, but under martial law imposed due to Russia’s war, they cannot be held.
"Public trust in the government would be strengthened by bringing top corruption cases to court and ending pressure on the media and civil society activists, such as in the case of Vitaliy Shabunin," Yurchyshyn said.
Shabunin is Ukraine's leading anti-corruption activist and co-founder of AntAC, who faces charges for fraud and military evasion, an accusation his team dismissed as a political vendetta.
"We need unity to defeat Russia. But there can be no true unity between society and the government if the government focuses on closed-door deals instead of defending the public interest," Yurchyshyn added.
Protesters welcome the vote
Protests against the initial bill have lasted several days in Kyiv and other cities. Demonstrators have gathered outside the Mariinskyi Palace, the presidential residence, and the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, for another rally ahead of the crucial vote on July 31.
After the vote's result was announced, protesters welcomed the move but stressed that more work remains.
"After the vote, I felt that our people are a powerful force, that the future is in our hands, and that we have the power to change the course of history. It all depends on us and our determination," Larysa Shotenko, a 59-year-old pensioner, told the Kyiv Independent at the rally near the Mariinskyi Palace.
Shotenko said she joined the protests with her granddaughter Mariia "to defend Ukraine’s European path," adding: "I want us to be part of the EU, not a part of Russia. My son gave his life for our independence."
"We are making progress, but we know how many more steps we need to take to build an independent country," said Oleksii Pashchenko, a 23-year-old project manager.
"This bill is crucial — it gives Ukrainians the chance to feel secure about their future. Without institutions like NABU, SAPO, and other anti-corruption agencies, Ukraine cannot be independent, nor can it have a future."
Pavlo Hots, a 25-year-old musician serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said that further protests may yet be "inevitable."
"Maybe the government has gotten a bit complacent. But there are young people who are ready to show up at these rallies," he said.
Some protesters suggested that a change is needed within the parliament. The current composition of the legislature has been in place since 2019, before the outbreak of the full-scale war prevented another parliamentary election.
"It is frightening that the only real opposition to the government right now is civil society. This is a step toward authoritarianism," Bohdan Prykhodko, a 23-year-old documentary filmmaker, told the Kyiv Independent.
Anti-corruption efforts in the crosshairs
The backlash against the July 22 bill was compounded by other controversies, including charges against Shabunin and other setbacks in anti-corruption reforms.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko's new cabinet again did not appoint Oleksandr Tsyvinsky as the new head of the economic crimes bureau, despite his backing among a selection committee and a looming deadline by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Reforming the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) — which was created in 2021 to investigate economic crimes — is a critical component of Ukraine's broader commitments to both the IMF and the European Union.
"Ukraine must proceed with the appointment of the head of the Economic Security Bureau as soon as possible," Mercier said, according to European Pravda.
The EU Commission spokesperson also emphasized that progress across all rule-of-law areas is "a vital step" for the EU.
The IMF originally set a February 2025 deadline for the appointment, but extended it to the end of July after Kyiv missed the initial benchmark.
The government originally rejected Tsyvinsky's candidacy, citing security concerns after the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) noted his estranged father has Russian citizenship, despite the information having long been known.
