Ukraine’s Push to Dismantle Anti-Corruption Efforts Jeopardizes War Efforts
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Ukraine’s Push to Dismantle Anti-Corruption Efforts Jeopardizes War Efforts
UKRAINE
On July 22, thousands of Ukrainians hit the streets, furious over the government’s crackdown on two anti-corruption agencies and a new bill that would strip them of their independence.
“Veto the law,” and “No corruption in government,” chanted protesters in the capital of Kyiv. “Shame!” yelled others in Lviv.
The protests were the largest anti-government demonstrations since the Russian invasion of the country in 2022, and held in defiance of a ban on protests under the country’s martial law provisions.
The anger was ignited over a new bill, quickly rammed through the legislature the same day, that would essentially eliminate the independence of two anti-corruption law enforcement bodies in conducting investigations – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).
Now, this rash act is threatening Ukraine’s war effort and its future, say analysts.
“Corruption remains this country’s kryptonite,” wrote Bloomberg in an opinion piece, calling the passage of the bill “a self-inflicted handicap in its war for survival.”
The newswire said it threatens European aid, noting that the bloc’s taxpayers are now being asked to pay, not just for US weapons on top of their own aid for Ukraine, but also for as much as $19 billion a year to activate unused production capacity in Kyiv’s defense industry.
“(President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy needs to make sure he does nothing to undermine confidence among his bill-paying Western partners that the money they give for Ukraine’s defense is well used,” it added. “Otherwise, he’ll quickly move from being an asset to his nation’s war effort to a liability.”
Corruption has long been an issue for Ukraine’s Western allies, which directly helped set up the two agencies after its 2014 Maidan revolution as a condition of US and European aid that set a course toward joining the European Union.
For the past decade, both agencies have operated independently, which has allowed them to investigate members of parliament and other government officials free of interference.
But under the new measure, investigations will be put under the control of the Office of the Prosecutor General, which comes under the jurisdiction of the executive branch. The prosecutor general is appointed by the president.
The measure would also grant the prosecutor general the power to reassign cases and also to close NABU’s investigations at the request of the defense.
The bill, which passed with 263-26 votes, moved through the legislative process in a day. Zelenskyy, who was elected in 2019 on an anti-corruption platform, signed it into law immediately afterward.
“We all hear what society says,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, adding that the new law was necessary to crack down on corruption and Russian influence. “Criminal cases should not drag on for years without verdicts, and those working against Ukraine must not feel comfortable or immune from punishment.”
Even so, two days after the bill’s passage, Zelensky said Thursday on Telegram that he submitted a revised bill to parliament, amending the law, but offering few details: “We need to maintain unity,” he explained.
Regardless, critics say the passage of the law was only the climax of months of efforts to crack down on the two agencies and other anticorruption efforts that included warrantless searches on at least 15 NABU employees earlier in the week, and the detention of Ruslan Maghamedrasulov, who led a NABU investigative unit. All are accused of corruption, treason or working with Russia.
Also, earlier this month, the government blocked the appointment of Oleksandr Tsyvinsky, a well-regarded investigator, as director of the Bureau of Economic Security, which investigates economic crimes. Police also arrested Vitaliy Shabunin, co-founder of the Anticorruption Action Center, for fraud and evading military service in what critics say was a politically motivated move intended to deter investigations of government insiders.
Semen Kryvonos, NABU’s director, said the law had been pushed by those individuals actively being investigated by the agency. Some believe it was likely a reaction to the agency’s investigation of Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, who is close to Zelenskyy: Last month, the agency filed a motion to suspend Chernyshov from office after he was accused of taking a $345,000 bribe in a property deal, a charge he denies.
Still, analysts say the squeeze on anti-corruption efforts is part of an overall shakeup of the government that has promoted loyalists, including a new prime minister, and cracked down on dissent and press freedoms.
“The ‘full-frontal assault’ on the Maidan-era reforms implies that something sinister is at work,” wrote the Economist.
Others say the reasons for the crackdown are more basic and banal.
“Today 263 joyous deputies legalized corruption,” said Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a deputy who was present in parliament during the vote, in an interview with the magazine. “The message was simple: you can take whatever you want so long as you stay loyal.”
Now, EU officials warn that Ukraine’s moves jeopardize its efforts to join the bloc.
“Limiting the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency hampers Ukraine’s way towards the EU,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul warned in a post on X.
Also, ambassadors from G-7 countries in Kyiv said after meeting with officials from the anticorruption office on Tuesday that they “have serious concerns.”
These concerns come as Ukraine is struggling to fend off escalating attacks by Russia and obtain weapons as the US wavers in its support. Some Ukrainians worried that the recent moves would jeopardize that effort, saying that money flows into Ukraine for the war need to actually go toward fighting the war.
“Ukraine has far fewer resources than Russia in this war,” Ihor Lachenkov, a blogger and civil society activist, told the Associated Press. “If we misuse them, or worse, allow them to end up in the pockets of thieves, our chances of victory diminish. All our resources must go toward the fight.”
At the protests, some demonstrators, meanwhile, Ukrainians said they were determined not to let Ukraine regress: “We won’t go back to Yanukovych times,” referring to pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was forced to flee to Russia after the eruption of the Maidan protests in 2014.
But some say the country already has.
“(The new law) definitely does not bring (Ukraine) closer to democracy, the rule of law and legality – to those values for which our soldiers are dying today,” Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, told the Wall Street Journal. “(It is) dragging Ukraine into authoritarianism.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Thailand Strikes Cambodia as Border Conflict Escalates
THAILAND
Strikes across the Thailand-Cambodia border continued to be traded Friday, leaving at least 17 people dead and over 135,000 displaced, while Thailand’s acting prime minister said the situation could deteriorate into full-scale conflict, the Guardian reported.
Cited by Agence France-Press, acting PM Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters, “If the situation escalates it could develop into war, though for now, it remains limited to clashes.”
Thailand launched airstrikes on Cambodia Thursday, a sharp escalation in the border dispute between the two neighbors, which has led to dozens of deaths and injuries over the past decade, the Washington Post reported.
Cambodia launched rockets and artillery at its neighbor, while Thailand flew an F-16 fighter jet over Cambodia, bombing what it claimed were two military targets, France 24 wrote.
Thai officials said Friday that the exchange of cross-border fire had killed at least 16 civilians, with more injured, and more than 138,000 civilians evacuated from the three regions, the Guardian reported. Cambodia reported one dead and five civilians wounded.
Both militaries blamed each other for opening fire first on Thursday.
The two countries have been clashing intermittently for years over contested territory on their 508-mile shared border, but the conflict started to escalate at the end of May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a skirmish.
Thursday’s clashes follow one a day earlier in which a landmine injured a Thai soldier patrolling a disputed part of the border. Three other Thai soldiers had been injured by landmines in the region Sunday, Channel News Asia noted.
The Thai foreign ministry has filed an official complaint with Cambodia, arguing that the landmines found in the area were recently placed.
Cambodia’s foreign ministry denied that charge, arguing instead that the Thai soldiers strayed from agreed patrol routes into Cambodian territory and reached areas that had unexploded landmines.
Thailand announced that all border checkpoints with Cambodia under its control are shut down. Both countries asked citizens to evacuate the border area.
Israel’s Parliament Approves Resolution to Annex West Bank
ISRAEL
The Israeli Parliament Wednesday passed a non-binding resolution in favor of annexing the West Bank, a symbolic move that elicited a furious response from Palestinians and other countries in the region, the Times of Israel reported.
The resolution, which passed 71-13, called the West Bank an integral part of the “Land of Israel” and claimed that the country holds the “natural, historical and legal right” to the territory.
It also appealed to the government to extend “Israeli sovereignty, law, judgment and administration” over all Jewish settlements in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley, the government’s terms for the West Bank.
The motion was brought by lawmakers from the Religious Zionism, Likud, and Yisrael Beytenu parties, and while it has no direct legal implications, it might put the annexation of the West Bank on the parliamentary agenda, Al Jazeera noted.
Israel seized the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War. The area is now estimated to be home to more than 500,000 Israeli settlers alongside millions of Palestinians.
For years, the Israeli far right has aspired to formally annex the West Bank.
The international community largely views Israel as illegally occupying the West Bank and that the settlements constitute a violation of international law.
In a groundbreaking ruling last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and urged the removal of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Wednesday’s resolution came amid political instability: The governing coalition was weakened after two ultra-Orthodox parties exited over a law that would compel members of their community to enlist.
Palestinian officials strongly condemned the vote, saying that it constitutes a violation of international law and an attack on Palestinian rights, hinders peace efforts, and the possibility of a two-state solution, Anadolu Agency wrote.
Hamas urged Palestinians in the West Bank to intensify resistance against Israel and called on the international community to intervene.
Jordan and Saudi Arabia also criticized Israel’s vote as “a blatant violation of international law” and a threat to reaching peace through the two-state solution, Arab News added.
UN Court Says Nations Can Be Held Liable for Harming the Environment
WORLD
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled this week that countries have a legal obligation to prevent environmental harm and may be held accountable for failing to do so, a landmark decision that paves the way for vulnerable nations to seek compensation for losses linked to climate change, CBS News reported.
On Wednesday, the court’s 15 judges unanimously issued the non-binding advisory opinion, affirming that countries must use all available means to prevent activities within their jurisdiction or control from causing major harm to the climate system.
The United Nations tribunal said countries failing in this duty must provide full reparations to those affected. It also maintained that existing environmental treaties, such as the 2015 Paris Agreement, do not shield polluters from accountability, adding that even countries not party to such agreements must still meet equivalent obligations under customary international law.
The case was brought to the court by the UN General Assembly at the urging of Pacific Island nations led by Vanuatu and traces its origins to a 2019 campaign initiated by law students from the region.
Although Vanuatu contributes less than 0.0004 percent of global emissions, it has endured devastating climate impacts, including three cyclones that were Category 4 or higher in 2023, and which cost the nation more than $400 million in economic damages.
Analysts explained that the decision, although non-binding, carries legal weight and can serve as a touchstone for a new wave of climate litigation.
While the ICJ cannot enforce compensation unless both parties accept its jurisdiction, the advisory opinion provides a legal precedent for other tribunals.
Legal scholars suggested it could be cited in domestic courts around the world to support claims for compensation and climate justice, especially in countries where large emitters are headquartered.
The decision will likely feature prominently in upcoming global negotiations, including the COP30 climate summit in Brazil this November.
Plaintiffs and climate advocates also hailed the ruling as “a lifeline for Pacific communities on the frontline.”
Vanuatu’s Minister of Climate Change, Ralph Regenvanu, welcomed the verdict, calling it “just the beginning,” and urged coordinated diplomatic and legal follow-ups to enforce the court’s findings.
Environmental lawyer Joie Chowdhury told the BBC that the opinion was “a watershed legal moment,” adding that it “delivers a historic affirmation: those suffering climate devastation have a right to remedy, or climate harm, including through compensation.”
Even so, observers remain cautious about how the compensation will be measured and if countries – particularly developed ones – will respect the ICJ’s opinion.
DISCOVERIES
Night Birds
To prolong their days long after sunset, humans developed artificial lighting systems to keep the night illuminated.
Animals, however, rely on external cues, such as sunlight and temperature, to synchronize their activities with day and night.
As a result, the light pollution, or artificial light at night (ALAN), is known to disrupt animals’ behavioral and biological rhythms by altering their sleep-wake cycles, namely their circadian rhythms.
A new study researched how ALAN is affecting the social interactions and behavior of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), a small bird native to Australia and some Indonesian islands.
“Social interactions play a significant role in shaping individual and group biological rhythms,” wrote the researchers. “But they are often overlooked in the context of environmental stressors, such as ALAN.”
Researchers put 104 birds in cages, with about half housed individually and half grouped in sets of six, comprising three females and three males, according to Cosmos Magazine.
All the birds experienced 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness for three weeks.
After the three weeks had passed, researchers randomly assigned new conditions to the birds.
Each group was split into two. One social and one isolated group served as controls, while the remaining social and isolated groups were subjected to ALAN for 10 days, experiencing 12 hours of bright light (675 lux), then 12 hours of low-level illumination (around 5 lux), explained Phys.org.
Lux is the unit of measurement for illuminance, measuring the intensity of light illuminating a surface.
“We used a light intensity of 5 lux, which is at the higher end of ecologically relevant light exposures,” the researchers wrote. “Using dimmer light intensities will likely result in differences in behavior, gene expression, and physiology.”
The team monitored the birds’ activity overnight through video cameras and a mechanized perch to record every movement.
While both the social and isolated groups exposed to night light showed increased activity compared with the groups who spent nights in the dark, the birds that were caged together and exposed to ALAN were more active during the night and became active earlier in the morning.
The ALAN-exposed birds showed changes in gene expression associated with the circadian rhythm in the hypothalamus (in the brain) and the liver. These changes corresponded with the change in the birds’ activity patterns and were more noticeable in the social group exposed to ALAN.
“Our investigation into the effects of ALAN on zebra finches reveals that social interactions significantly amplify circadian disruptions,” wrote the authors.