Ukraine’s top anti-corruption prosecutor has warned that his agency will face more political pressure and smear campaigns, despite President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s U-turn on the office’s independence after rare wartime protests and backlash from western allies.
Oleksandr Klymenko, head of Ukraine’s Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo), in an interview with the Financial Times, described recent moves against his agency as part of a “co-ordinated” effort by senior government officials. The pressure culminated in Zelenskyy signing a law last week that placed Sapo and its law enforcement counterpart, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu), under executive control.
Klymenko said the campaign was aimed at undermining the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies, gaining access to case files and exerting influence over investigations.
Even if parliament overturns the controversial law that MPs rammed through last week — a vote on a new bill restoring both Sapo and Nabu’s independence and endorsed by Zelenskyy is set for Thursday — Klymenko made clear that serious damage had already been done. He warned that the “lasting” consequences of the assault could severely limit his office’s ability to function.
“Our work has been effectively stopped,” he said. “Almost all of our whistleblowers stopped co-operating with us” over fears that they could be exposed, he added.
Sapo chief Oleksandr Klymenko says whistleblowers have stopped co-operating over fears they could be exposed © Olga Ivashchenko/Bloomberg
While Klymenko declined to name those he believes are directly responsible, he said the country’s highest echelons of power are not only complicit but deeply involved in the undermining of Ukraine’s anti-corruption drive.
The agencies are at the centre of the most serious political crisis of Zelenskyy’s wartime presidency — one largely of his own making — after his move to bring them under executive control ignited allegations of an authoritarian power grab, triggered mass protests in Kyiv and caused alarm among Ukraine’s western allies.
Zelenskyy has conceded that “probably, there should have been a dialogue” with Ukrainian society and partner countries ahead of his move against Nabu and Sapo. He pledged to remedy their concerns about executive over-reach in the new bill.
The outcome of Thursday’s vote is uncertain, with upwards of 70 lawmakers from Zelenskyy’s ruling party unsure of whether they will join others in approving it over fears of retribution.
If the new bill passes, Klymenko said, it should be signed into law with the same urgency as the one that removed his office’s independence, “so that it comes into legal force already on Friday”.
According to four people close to Zelenskyy and familiar with internal party discussions, some MPs are scared that they will be pursued by Sapo and Nabu after they voted in favour of moving the agencies under the control of the prosecutor-general, who is handpicked by the president.
Klymenko previously defended the investigations launched by both Sapo and Nabu, saying that his agency had “never engaged in political persecution”.
“All investigations by Nabu and Sapo are based totally on facts and evidence, not on political positions or the votes of members of parliament,” he told the FT last week. “The independence of anti-corruption institutions is not a threat, but one of the key guarantees of justice, the rule of law and the continued democratic development of Ukraine.”
On Wednesday, Klymenko said that Nabu and Sapo are currently investigating corruption allegations into 31 sitting MPs and 40 former lawmakers, including several from Zelenskyy’s ruling party.
The agencies have also brought corruption charges against two former deputy prime ministers, one deputy head of the presidential office and the head of the supreme court, he added. Among them are several officials close to Zelenskyy, including deputy prime minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, who was charged with abuse of power and illegal enrichment last month. Chernyshov, who denies the allegations, was dismissed in this month’s cabinet reshuffle.
Klymenko said the Chernyshov case and other “high-profile” ones were probably key reasons for the attacks on Nabu and Sapo in the first place. Zelenskyy has not commented on the charges against Chernyshov and his office did not respond to a request for comment.
Nabu and Sapo were formed with the help of Ukraine’s western partners in the aftermath of the 2014 Euromaidan revolution that ousted the corrupt, pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Designed to function independently of the prosecutor-general, who is appointed by the president, Nabu’s task is to investigate graft while Sapo’s is to prosecute offenders.
Nabu employs 270 detectives who work closely with Sapo’s 40 prosecutors on the highest-profile anti-corruption cases, Klymenko said.
Zelenskyy had claimed his move to bring Nabu and Sapo under his control was necessary to “clear” them of Russian infiltration. Klymenko acknowledged that Moscow may have attempted to subvert the agencies, but insisted there was “insufficient evidence” to back up this claim.
Nabu and Sapo said last week that the SBU security service, whose head is a presidential appointee, had raided the homes of their investigators without court warrants and detained two detectives.
Klymenko said the raids had a chilling effect. “The Nabu team is currently confused and frightened because they understand they can be detained without sufficient evidence,” he said. “This fear prevents them from doing their job effectively.” Nabu’s director, Semen Kryvonos, has also said that the pressure on his agency posed a serious challenge.
At times, the agencies have been criticised — including by Zelenskyy — for being slow and badly managed.
“Saying Nabu is ineffective in 2025 is absurd,” Klymenko argued. “It’s just a narrative being pushed to discredit us.”
To ensure the two bodies could continue their work and to do so efficiently, Klymenko said Ukraine’s international partners needed to “exert real pressure on the authorities to ensure the independence and effectiveness of anti-corruption agencies.”
“For 10 to 11 years, we held our ground largely thanks to international partners — especially the Americans,” he said. “Now that interest and pressure has waned, that’s part of why this attack was possible.”
The European Union and UK have warned Kyiv that rolling back anti-corruption reforms would pose a serious risk to the funding it needs to keep the country running in wartime and its path to EU accession.
“Europeans must now take the lead,” Klymenko added. “They are the main donors to Ukraine and can enforce anti-corruption commitments.”