Von der Leyen demands answers from Zelenskyy as new law threatens Ukraine’s EU bid

9 comments

1. EU should squeeze his balls for this one very hard. Guy now stands on same level as Yanukovich. And Ukraine already ousted former.

2. Even Von der Leyen is turning on him. Nobody is buying his narrative that the agency was infiltrated by Russian spies.

3. Tldr?

4. The National Anticorruption Bureau and the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor have always been somewhat under the control and supervision of the national Prosecutor General and the Verkhovna Rada. Mostly independent, but requiring a certain amount of oversight and control, as all public agencies surely must.

   The new law is not “anti-NABU,” in some sweeping sense. It simply places the NABU and the SAP office more firmly under the direct control of the Prosecutor General. The existing heads of these agencies are unhappy with that, which is not unreasonable… but they also have a really big problem right now.

   The problem is that the national security service just busted several prominent members of the NABU and the SAPO for being Russian agents. The bureau head and the Special Prosecutor have not, as far as I know, contested those allegations at all. In fact the SSU claims that the agency heads knew about the allegations already but did not protest them nor act on them at the time.

   This creates the impression that the agency heads knew about it, accepted it as true, and chose to do nothing until the SSU acted.

   Needless to say this has raised some eyebrows. The Rada as one of the main existing oversight bodies for the anticorruption agencies is bound to be unhappy with this revelation.

   And it’s very bad for an argument that you must remain unsupervised and nearly completely autonomous in order to remain pure and uncompromised, if it turns out that you yourself were actually thoroughly compromised all along.

   So… what is going on? Did the SSU make up the allegations? NABU and SAPO do not claim so. Is this some distraction to protect an anti-corruption investigation target? Such a high-profile move does not seem likely to lead to less scrutiny.

   Or… is it what it seems? A serious problem with GRU infiltration, under cover of agency autonomy and independence from oversight, that requires rethinking how the agencies should work?

   Source amitim on r/Ukraine

   I found this insight by amitim rather enlightening.

5. Ukraine won’t be joining the EU while they are at war or if they lose the war, so taking control to root out dangerous Russian influences is probably best in the short term. Long term they will need to re-affirm the independence of these organisations and demonstrate effective reduction of corruption to join the EU. There’s no point having an independent corruption agency that has been corrupted by Russian spies. I guess time will tell what the truth of this situation is but I doubt they would upset the EU with this move if it was not necessary and they are honest about their intentions to join the EU.

6. More on this subject from other reputable sources:

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   – France 24 (A-): [EU says Ukraine’s blocks on anti-graft bodies ‘a serious step back’](https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20250722-eu-says-ukraine-s-blocks-on-anti-graft-bodies-a-serious-step-back)
   – BBC Online (A): [Ukraine backlash grows after Zelensky strips anti-corruption bodies of independence](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9w19vxjr44o)
   – New York Times (B+): [Zelensky’s Government Takes Aim at Corruption Fighters](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/world/europe/zelensky-ukraine-corruption.html)
   – Economist (A-): [Outrage in Ukraine as the government attacks anti-corruption watchdogs](https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/07/22/outrage-in-ukraine-as-the-government-attacks-anti-corruption-watchdogs)

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7. People who work against corruption in a country where the highest level might be compromised… They certainly have lots of enemies. Even if some of their individuals ended up being Russian spies, the positions of these anti-corruption departments need to be protected…

8. We don’t know the full picture here, but one thing is certain, its largely thanks to Russian corruption that they didn’t take Kiev in 3 days and still can’t win the war.

   Ukraine needs to ensure it roots out corruption at every level to ensure maximum efficiency in the war. If they can’t, they might as well surrender and become part of Russia, because they will be no different to it.

   The new law looks sus, so I hope Zelensky has a good reason for it and can provide der Lyen with adequate proof that its required.

   They EU doesn’t need another Hungary in its midst in another 5 or 10 years time.

9. God I wish they dont use this as an excuse to stop help.

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