Editor’s note: The sign the young Ukrainian is holding says “I can see it all, now try to shut me up”
by Sergii Kostezh and Katie Livingstone at Kyiv Post
Watch video of thousands rallying in central Kyiv to protest a new law critics say would roll back years of corruption reform. “We won’t go back to Yanukovych times,” protesters are saying.
Thousands of people gathered outside the presidential office in Kyiv to protest the new law approved on Tuesday that strips Ukraine’s top anti-corruption organizations of their institutional independence in what many fear is a major blow to the country’s push to eliminate graft in government.
Protesters gather during a demonstration outside the presidential complex in Kyiv on July 22, 2025, after the parliament passed a bill stripping Ukraine’s top anti-corruption agency (NABU) of its independence earlier on Tuesday. (Photo by Sergii Kostezh / Kyiv Post)On Tuesday night, Kyiv Post reporters on the ground observed around 2,000 to 3,000 people – mostly young – rallying near the Ivan Franko Theater in central Kyiv, close to the presidential complex.
The protest took place despite martial law, in effect since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, which officially bans public demonstrations.
The peaceful protesters are appealing to Kyiv to slash Bill No. 12414,…