12/07/2026
https://www.huri.harvard.edu/zelenskys-anti-corruption-missteps-experts-respond
On July 22, 2025, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky signed Law 12414 following its passage in the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament). This legislation targeted Ukraine’s two most important anti-corruption bodies—the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO)—by giving the prosecutor general power over the investigations led by these bodies. In other words, the previously independent NABU and SAPO were brought under the control of the prosecutor general, a position filled by the president.
The swift introduction, reading, and signing of this law set off alarm bells among Ukrainians. For the first time since the full-scale war, people gathered to protest the law and its rapid adoption. In a movement some have called a Cardboard Revolution, participants criticized Zelensky’s consolidation of power, the move away from European standards that these institutions were helping Ukraine achieve, and the growing feeling of distance between elected representatives and average people—those regular citizens who are being mobilized to fight on the front lines.
While Zelensky signed a bill restoring these institutions’ independence on July 31, prosecutors may still be removed by the prosecutor general’s office, a potential curbing of prosecutors’ independence and a challenge to anti-corruption reforms.
