Ukrainian Parliament Reinstates Anti-Corruption Agencies Following

Updated by Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1424 EAT on Thursday 31 July 2025

Ukraine’s Parliament Votes Unanimously to Restore Independence of Anti-Corruption Agencies

Ukraine’s parliament has voted to restore the independence of two key anti-corruption agencies, taking a major step to defuse the country’s most serious political crisis since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

In a rare show of unity, lawmakers voted 331 to 0 on Thursday in favor of the bill, which was submitted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week amid mounting pressure from mass protests and senior European officials.

Ukraine’s Parliament Votes Unanimously to Restore Independence of Anti-Corruption Agencies

Public outrage erupted after Zelenskyy’s ruling party pushed through controversial amendments on July 22, granting the president’s hand-picked prosecutor general the authority to transfer cases away from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), and to reassign prosecutors at will.

The move was widely seen as a blow to judicial independence and sparked the largest protests in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in 2022. Thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets of Kyiv, demanding the reversal of the changes.

Demonstrators continued to gather even after Zelenskyy pledged to reverse the amendments, and many were outside parliament on Thursday, breaking into applause as the bill passed.

Ukraine’s parliament has voted to restore the independence of two key anti-corruption agencies, taking a significant step toward defusing the country’s most serious political crisis since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

In a rare show of unity, lawmakers voted 331 to 0 on Thursday in favor of the bill, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted last week following intense domestic and international pressure. The measure now goes to Zelenskyy for his signature.

The vote follows widespread public outrage over amendments passed on July 22 by Zelenskyy’s ruling party, which gave the president’s hand-picked prosecutor general sweeping powers to reassign cases away from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). Critics said the changes undermined judicial independence and risked rolling back years of hard-won anti-corruption reforms.https://youtu.

Mass protests erupted in Kyiv, drawing thousands of demonstrators in what became the largest public mobilization since the war began. Protesters continued to gather even after Zelenskyy pledged to reverse the changes, and many were present outside parliament as lawmakers cast their votes—bursting into applause when the bill passed.

“Everyone is a winner, but first and foremost, democratic Ukraine is the winner,” wrote Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, on social media following the vote.

Speaking in parliament before the vote, opposition MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn said Ukrainians had stopped the government “one step from the abyss” of autocracy.

Reporting from outside the parliament building in Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford noted the palpable sense of relief among protesters after what he described as the “largest political crisis” Zelenskyy has faced since Russia’s invasion.

The last couple of weeks have been a huge embarrassment to President Zelenskyy and his cabinet,” Stratford said. “Lots of questions are being asked about… why he changed the law in the first place.”

Stratford noted that it was not only public anger that forced President Zelenskyy to reverse the decision, but also “a huge amount of pressure from Ukraine’s backers,” who were shocked and alarmed by the move. He said there were also signals from the European Union that some financial support to Ukraine could be withdrawn, and that the country’s bid for EU membership was at risk.

Zelenskyy initially justified the amendments by claiming the anti-corruption bodies may have been compromised by Russian infiltration.

“But if you speak to MPs… they will tell you there was concern that these investigative bodies were closing in on certain individuals within the [government’s] inner circle,” Stratford said, adding that raids had targeted members of the anti-corruption agencies the night before the amendments stripping their powers were passed.

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