For the first time since the Russian invasion began in 2022, Ukraine is facing a wave of mass domestic unrest. Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across major cities, including Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, and Odesa, following a sudden and controversial parliamentary vote to dismantle the country’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), a key institution in Ukraine’s post-Maidan anti-corruption reforms.
Earlier today, the Verkhovna Rada passed legislation to abolish NABU entirely, transferring its investigative powers and staff to the Office of the Prosecutor General. The government framed the move as a necessary measure to protect national security after several NABU officials were accused of “collaborating with Russian intelligence services, serving oligarchic interests, and committing treason,” according to a joint statement issued by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The vote followed coordinated pre-dawn raids conducted by the SBU and prosecutors on NABU’s Kyiv headquarters and regional offices. At least seven senior NABU employees were reportedly detained during the operation. While officials have yet to release full details of the charges, an SBU spokesperson claimed the suspects “compromised Ukraine’s internal stability and undermined the legitimacy of the anti-corruption fight by serving foreign intelligence objectives”.
The move has drawn immediate backlash from civil society, international observers, and much of the Ukrainian public. Within hours of the announcement, large-scale protests broke out in central Kyiv and quickly spread to other cities. Demonstrators are demanding the immediate restoration of NABU and condemning what they see as a dangerous rollback of democratic safeguards.
“This is not a reform, this is a hostile takeover of anti-corruption infrastructure,” said Olena Halushko, a board member at the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC), a Ukrainian watchdog organization. “Dismantling NABU under the guise of national security is a textbook authoritarian maneuver. We’ve seen this before, in Russia, in Belarus. We must not let it happen here”.
Independent observers warn that the dismantling of NABU could jeopardize Ukraine’s standing with Western allies and international financial institutions. The Bureau was originally established in 2015 as part of a broader package of reforms tied to Ukraine’s cooperation with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Both institutions have repeatedly emphasized the importance of maintaining NABU’s independence as a precondition for aid.
“This is a red line,” said a European diplomatic source speaking on condition of anonymity. “Any backsliding on anti-corruption could affect Ukraine’s EU accession trajectory and erode Western support.”
The Ukrainian government has so far stood by its decision. In a televised address, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin claimed that “NABU has become structurally compromised and operationally unsalvageable.” He added that the restructured anti-corruption effort under his office would be “more accountable and more secure.”
Despite those assurances, the optics of the move, swift raids, secretive charges, and the abolition of an institution once seen as a flagship of reform, have fueled widespread skepticism. Protesters, many of them veterans of the 2014 Euromaidan uprising, view the move as a betrayal of the values they fought for.
“I went to the front to defend Ukraine from Russian aggression,” said Mykola, a former soldier now protesting in Independence Square. “And now they accuse anti-corruption fighters of being traitors? The real traitors are the ones dismantling our institutions.”
With protests growing and civil society demanding accountability, Ukraine’s leadership is entering a volatile new phase. As of this writing, no government officials have indicated plans to reverse the decision, and security forces have begun increasing their presence around key government buildings.
International reactions are expected in the coming days, but the message from the streets of Ukraine is already clear: for many citizens, the dissolution of NABU is not just a legal maneuver, it is a test of Ukraine’s democratic soul.
- Security Service of Ukraine. Official Statement on NABU Arrests. SBU.gov.ua, July 22, 2025.
- Verkhovna Rada. Parliamentary Transcript on the Vote to Abolish NABU. rada.gov.ua, July 22, 2025.
- “Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Agencies Under Threat.” BBC News, July 22, 2025.
- Halushka, Olena. Interview on Hromadske Radio, July 22, 2025.
- European Commission. Press Briefing on Ukraine Reform Benchmarks. ec.europa.eu, Nov. 2023.
- Transparency International Ukraine. Statement on the Dissolution of NABU. transparency.org.ua, July 22, 2025.
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Diplomatic Correspondence, July 22, 2025.