Ukraine’s Push to Dismantle Anti-Corruption Efforts Jeopardizes War Efforts

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.”