Kyiv (Ukraine): What began as murmurs has now become a wave. In Kyiv and several other cities of Ukraine, ordinary citizens and war veterans have taken to the streets, not to rally against Russia, but to question their own government. Their anger is directed at a new law passed by parliament that they believe undermines the very democracy they have fought to defend.
At the center of the uproar is a controversial move that grants the prosecutor general, a president’s appointee, direct control over two key anti-corruption agencies such as the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). Protesters say the law guts the independence of these watchdog bodies and tightens Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s grip on power.
For many Ukrainians, especially soldiers home from the front, the sense of betrayal runs deep.
“You send us to die for democracy. And then you secretly kill it,” said a veteran wrapped in gauze, standing defiantly outside the Verkhovna Rada.
Discontent is no longer limited to the streets. Officials across Europe and in Washington are alarmed. Billions in financial aid from G7 countries and the European Union (EU) are now at risk. Many in Belgium have begun to question whether Ukraine still meets the standards for EU membership. Some fear that what was once a war to defend democracy could now be paving the road to its dismantling.
One mother in Kyiv, whose son is still fighting in the east, said, “Russia could not break our spirit. But maybe our own government can.”
President Zelensky tried to calm the storm. In a national address, he defended the new legislation as a necessary correction. He claimed corruption cases had long been stalled, and that the anti-corruption agencies had become vulnerable to Russian infiltration. The law, he said, would allow better coordination and accountability.
But critics were not convinced.
Opposition lawmakers denounced the law as a power grab. They accused Zelensky of using war as an excuse to extend his stay in office without holding elections, something that has not happened since the war broke out three years ago.
U.S. President Donald Trump too echoed the allegation, accusing Zelensky of hiding behind martial law to avoid facing voters.
For the first time, the NABU and the SAPO issued a joint warning. They said that if the law is implemented, their independence will be destroyed. The SAPO chief, they warned, will become little more than a ceremonial figure. Once Ukraine’s fiercest investigative arm, the NABU would report directly to the prosecutor general, effectively ending its autonomy.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos added her voice to the chorus of concern. She wrote in a public post that any attack on Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies would jeopardise its path to the EU. “Independent institutions are the heart of democracy. Undermining them is not just a step back, it is a turn off the road,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, the war with Russia grinds on. But another conflict has opened up inside Ukraine’s own institutions, a battle over the kind of nation that will be left standing when the war is over.
The posters in the capital now speak louder than any speech: “Not in our name.”