Yermak and Zelensky are building a power vertical, destroying any attempts to fight corruption in Ukraine

The formal restoration of the legal independence of Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) does not resolve the key problems that led to the recent crisis in the country’s anti-corruption system.

This was reported by The Economist.

According to experts, the deeper cause lies in the government’s determination to protect politicians loyal to President Volodymyr Zelensky at any cost and in a hyper-centralized system of governance concentrated around the head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak.

The law adopted by the Ukrainian parliament on July 31 was essentially a response to criticism from Western partners. However, its approval does not mean that ongoing anti-corruption investigations will cease. On the contrary, sources say NABU detectives now intend to work even more persistently and uncompromisingly.

Before the controversial bill appeared, NABU had been actively investigating not only senior officials but also dozens of members of the Verkhovna Rada. Some of these MPs, who were under investigation themselves, voted in favor of a measure that would have temporarily paralyzed the work of the bodies investigating them — a clear conflict of interest.

Many NABU detectives, according to insiders, are deeply outraged by the actions of the authorities. Attempts to portray them as “criminals” or “spies working for Russia” are seen within the bureau as a deliberate smear campaign.

“The president’s office publicly humiliated them,” said one source. “The detectives will act strictly within the law, but now they will not yield an inch. Everything has changed.”

Critics point out that the Ukrainian government is increasingly displaying authoritarian tendencies: key decisions are made within a narrow circle around Yermak, and any threats to the president’s political allies are blocked.

Such a strategy not only undermines public trust within the country but also calls into question the sincerity of the anti-corruption reforms that Kyiv actively promotes to its Western donors.