Protests against weakening anti-corruption agencies continue in Ukraine
Date: 2025-07-24T07:54:01.000Z
Title: Morning opening: Protests against weakening anti-graft agencies continue in Ukraine
Content: After another nights of protests in Kyiv and across Ukraine, the country's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised a new bill to strengthen the rule of law in Ukraine in what my colleague Luke Harding described as an apparent attempt to assuage popular anger at his decision to weaken the powers of two independent anti-corruption agencies.
The move comes amid growing criticism also coming from Ukraine's main international partners, including the EU, Germany and France.
In a nightly video address, Zelenskyy sought to deflect criticism by promising a new presidential bill.
It would guarantee the independence of anti-corruption institutions and at the same time ensure there was 'no Russian influence', he said. 'Of course, everyone has heard what people are saying these days – on social media, to each other, on the streets. It's not falling on deaf ears,' he added.
But the apparent concession left protesters unimpressed, Luke noted.
The controversy comes at a politically particularly tricky moment for Ukraine and could derail the progress it has been making with international partners on getting more aid.
Elsewhere, I will be looking at the EU-China summit with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen openly talking about the relations being at 'an inflection point' and at a meeting of German and French defence ministers at Europe's largest ammunition maker, Rheinmetall, in the town of Unterlüß in northern Germany.
I will bring you all key updates from across Europe today.
It's Thursday, 24 July 2025, it's Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
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