Overview

• The Verkhovna Rada voted 263-13 on July 22 to bring NABU and SAPO under the Prosecutor General’s office, and Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk promptly signed the measure before presidential approval.
• The law grants the Prosecutor General full access to all NABU case files, power to issue binding directives to detectives, authority to reassign or close investigations, and sole discretion over the SAPO head’s role.
• On July 21, the Security Service of Ukraine carried out more than 70 unannounced searches of NABU offices and detained senior detective Ruslan Magamedrasulov on charges of espionage and illegal hemp trade with Russia.
• Thousands of Ukrainians, including war veterans, staged rare protests in Kyiv, Lviv and Dnipro, demanding President Zelenskiy veto the law to preserve the agencies’ independence.
• G7 ambassadors and European Commission officials publicly expressed serious concerns, warning that weakening Ukraine’s anti-graft institutions could jeopardize its EU integration and Western aid.