Wartime Protests in Ukraine Target Zelensky for the First Time

New York Times

2 days ago

Thousands of people gathered in the streets of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday night to protest moves by President Volodymyr Zelensky's government to weaken anticorruption institutions, in the country's first major antigovernment demonstration in 3½ years of war.
The protest outside the president's office in central Kyiv, including civilians and soldiers, was the most significant fracture so far in the national unity that has helped Ukraine survive a grueling and bloody fight against a Russian invasion. The government did not immediately make a statement on the gathering.
'My husband is in the trenches and this is not what they are fighting for,' said Kateryna Amelina, 31. 'This could be the destruction of 10 years of work by civil society.'
The demonstration, promoted widely on social media, came hours after Ukraine's Parliament, controlled by Mr. Zelensky's party, passed a measure that would strip away the independence of two agencies responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption. Protesters called on Mr. Zelensky to veto the legislation, which would give Ukraine's prosecutor general, appointed by the president, new powers over anticorruption agencies.
On Monday, the security services raided the offices of the two agencies, which have been looking into people in Mr. Zelensky's circle, claiming that they had been infiltrated by Russian intelligence.
The crowd grew on Tuesday evening as the sun set on a hill just above Maidan Square, where more than a decade ago crowds gathered to protest the corruption of the Kremlin-aligned president at the time, Viktor F. Yanukovych, leading to his ouster.
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