The European Union is freezing $1.7 billion in aid to Ukraine because President Volodymyr Zelensky approved a bill curbing the war-torn nation’s top anti-corruption agencies.

The National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine has long been a battleground in Ukrainian politics, where graft is rife.

U.S. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal co-authored a bipartisan bill that would impose 500% tariffs on countries buying Russian oil, gas, or uranium.

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 three and a half years of war.

Ukraine’s president pledged a new course after protesters criticized his signing of a bill to strip anticorruption agencies of power.

EADaily, July 25th, 2025. Started on In Ukraine, protests against the restriction of the powers of anti-corruption structures may be the start of a three-stage plan to overthrow the head of the Kiev regime,

President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill limiting two Ukrainian anticorruption agencies. After street protests and other criticism, he said he would propose a new law restoring their independence.

Volodymyr Zelensky faced public protests on Tuesday night after parliament backed a controversial bill limiting the power of anti-corruption agencies.