Overview
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved a draft law on July 29 to restore the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP).
- Nationwide demonstrations, led by war veterans and active-duty soldiers, marked the first mass street protests in Ukraine since the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion.
- The original July 28 legislation would have placed NABU and SAP under the prosecutor general’s office with authority to access case files and close investigations.
- European Union officials publicly and privately warned that weakening these watchdogs could jeopardize Ukraine’s EU membership ambitions.
- The draft bill now heads to parliament for a vote; its passage will signal Kyiv’s stance on rule-of-law reforms under wartime governance.