Volodymyr Zelenskyy has approved a contentious bill weakening Ukraine\u2019s anti-corruption bodies, according to reports, hours after the first serious protests against his government took place in Kyiv.<\/p>\n
The move on Tuesday puts the president on a collision course with civil society activists and some of its veterans and is likely to dismay Ukraine\u2019s European partners.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Tuesday Ukraine\u2019s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed a controversial bill that effectively removes the independence of the national anti-corruption bureau, known as Nabu, and the specialised anti-corruption prosecutors office.<\/p>\n
It gives sweeping new powers to Ukraine\u2019s prosecutor general, and makes it easier for the government to control which cases are pursued. Critics say the legislation allows political interference and is a major step backwards in the fight against corruption.<\/p>\n
Late on Tuesday Zelenskyy signed the bill into law, rejecting calls for him to use his presidential veto, according to reports. The decision has yet to be posted on the government\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
A woman chants while holding a banner that reads \u2018Corruption Applauds\u2019 during a protest against a law targeting anti-corruption institutions in central Kyiv on Tuesday. Photograph: Alex Babenko\/AP<\/p>\n
Hours earlier, about 1,500 protesters gathered next to Zelenskyy\u2019s presidential administration complex. They shouted slogans outside his window including \u201cShame\u201d and \u201cVeto the law\u201d and waved homemade banners denouncing the bill.<\/p>\n
They were protests in other large cities including Dnipro, Lviv and Odesa. \u201cIf the bill goes ahead it will make it harder for Ukraine to join the European Union. We will go back to dictatorship,\u201d Sasha Kazintseva said, speaking before Zelenskyy reportedly gave his approval.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be like Russia. Zelenskyy is still our president. But when he does the wrong things we will say so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her friend Tetiana Kukuruza held up a cardboard sign with the blunt slogan: \u201cAre you fucking crazy?\u201d<\/p>\n
She explained: \u201cThis is the first time since 2022 that we\u2019ve taken to the streets. We know the names of the deputies who voted for this bill. I\u2019m not saying they are corrupt. But they have interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
The protesters gathered in a park immediately below a rococo 19th-century government building, the House of Chimeras. The crowd was made up of students, young activists and army veterans, some of them draped in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags. Kyiv\u2019s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, also took part, together with his brother
Wladimir.<\/p>\n
Veronika Mol, an artist, said she worried Ukraine was sliding back to the era of Viktor Yanukovych, the corrupt pro-Russian president who fled to Moscow in 2014, following months of street protests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m surprised this has happened. It looks like some madness. I don\u2019t know what their motives are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are the power in Ukraine. Not the president or government. It\u2019s terrible we still have to remind them,\u201d Mol added.<\/p>\n
There has been vocal condemnation of the bill from prominent soldiers, a celebrity chef and Ukraine\u2019s media. The writer Illia Ponomarenko said civil society was fighting \u201cthe dark side of its own state\u201d in parallel with the war against Russia.<\/p>\n
He criticised \u201ccorruption, abuse of power, lies, lack of transparency, nepotism, impunity, and attacks on democracy and freedom of speech \u2013 everything that keeps dragging us back toward the abyss, back into Russia\u2019s colonial criminal stable\u201d.<\/p>\n
Several of Ukraine\u2019s high-profile international supporters expressed concern. They included the former US ambassador to Moscow, Mike McFaul, and Estonian ex-president Toomas Hendrik Ilves. There was also recognition that protesters could freely voice anti-government opinions \u2013 unlike in Russia.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s application to join the EU is dependent on the progress it makes in fighting corruption. Since 2022, EU countries have provided Kyiv with significant military and economic support running into billions of euros.<\/p>\n
The European commissioner for enlargement, Marta Kos, criticised the bill\u2019s adoption.<\/p>\n