Ukraine sees first major anti-government protests since start of war

[Ajay0]

 Zelensky has signed a bill that critics say weakens the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies, sparking protests in several cities and drawing international criticism.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9w19pl84r8o

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/23/europe/ukraine-corruption-agencies-protests-intl

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Ukraine has seen the first major anti-government protests since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion over three years ago, as a move by President Volodymyr Zelensky to curb anti-corruption agencies sparked fury across the nation.

Defiant crowds gathered in the capital Kyiv on Tuesday, as well as Lviv in the west, with smaller groups gathering in Dnipro in the east and Odesa in the south, after Ukraine’s Parliament — the Verkhovna Rada — approved a bill that grants oversight of two key anti-corruption agencies to the prosecutor general, a politically appointed figure.

Ukraine has long been seen as one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. Allegations of corruption have been wielded against some of the country’s top officials, including several close allies of Zelensky – such as former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov.

 

 

[Basman]

Big blunder. It weakens trust in the Ukrainian government. Soldiers are going to question why they put their life at risk and it is a cringeworthy look  to Europe, who's support Ukraine depends on. 

Russia's goal is the destabilization of Ukrainian democracy, but when Ukraine themselves are removing checks and balances it is like they are doing their work for them. It's a big bruh moment.

[Ajay0]

The first signs of trouble came when  armed police raided the home of Vitaliy Shabunin, a major leader and activist of anti-corruption institutions in Ukraine in July 11.

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/ukraine/ukrainian-government-raids-anti-corruption-campaigner-raising-alarm-rcna219280

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Ukraine risks backsliding on its endemic corruption problem — and even creeping toward authoritarianism — activists warn, following police raids against a high-profile anti-corruption campaigner and opposition figures.

On July 11, armed police raided the home of Vitaliy Shabunin, the co-founder of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center. He has accused President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of “taking the first, but confident steps toward corrupt authoritarianism,” including backing laws offering amnesty to those accused of corruption in the defense industry, and passing over an independently selected candidate for a key anti-graft role.

“This is the red line which President Zelensky has crossed — and the red line is in a very wrong direction in terms of the development of Ukraine,” said Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, the Kyiv-based watchdog that Shabunin co-founded. She said the State Bureau of Investigations did not have the necessary court documents for the search.

 

 

[Ajay0]

An insightful article on Ukrainian corruption scandals for perspective and context

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5060257-zelensky-ukraine-corruption-waste/

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The shame of American military assistance in Iraq and Afghanistan is that while our troops and their local allies were fighting bravely, the leaders of our so-called allies were getting rich. We have seen something even worse in Ukraine: While Ukrainian military personnel and civilians fight valiantly in a fierce contest for independence, Ukrainian leaders have gotten fabulously wealthy.   

The American shame is that the U.S. heedlessly expanded NATO to the borders of Russia, and then, after Russia pushed back, enabled and funded the cynical maladministration by the Zelensky government, which will go down in history as one of the greatest examples of waste and theft of Western aid. 

The sheer scale of waste and fraud will only be revealed by independent investigations after the war’s end. The Zelensky government uses the war to quash media stories that dare to question Ukrainian spending of our taxpayer dollars. Still, many brave Ukrainian journalists and officers have exposed scandals of overpricing, shoddy equipment and embezzlement at the highest levels of Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration. They have risked being labeled as Russian saboteurs or sent to certain death at the front lines for reporting the truth.