How a Youth-Led Backlash Pushed Zelensky to His Biggest U-Turn Yet
Key Points
-- Ukrainians protested President Volodymyr Zelensky’s move to strip power from anti-corruption institutions, the largest demonstrations since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
-- Zelensky reversed course, reinstating the institutions’ independence after public outcry, underscoring the power of street politics.
-- The controversy dented Zelensky’s popularity amid the war, with critics concerned about the consolidation of power in his office.
KYIV, Ukraine—Anton Tymoshenko, a popular Ukrainian comedian, pressed into the protest crowd here last week holding a speaker above his head playing the voice of another humorist—the one who is now Ukraine’s president.
If you encounter corruption, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in the 2019 message playing on Tymoshenko’s speaker, call the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine.
Zelensky’s stripping of power from NABU [National Anticorruption Bureau] last week set off the biggest protests in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, sending thousands to the streets and lifting the lid on discontent that had been simmering for months despite broad support for his role as a wartime leader.
Two days after signing a bill bringing anticorruption institutions including NABU under the control of a prosecutor appointed by the president, Zelensky reversed course, proposing a new bill restoring their independence.
Zelensky signed it into law Thursday after Parliament overwhelmingly voted to pass it. The session reflected the commotion of the moment, with two lawmakers scuffling and one holding up his middle finger during a speech.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Kyiv to support the reinstatement of anticorruption powers watched the livestream on their phones, booing some and letting out a cheer when the law passed.
“It is very important that the state listens to public opinion,” said Zelensky in a video address after signing the law. “Ukraine is a democracy—absolutely no doubt about it.”
The swift reversal shows the enduring power of street politics in Ukraine, this time led by a chorus of youthful figures holding up cardboard signs with their acerbic demands.
The main source of power in this country is people with cardboard signs,” said the 31-year-old Tymoshenko, whose popular live shows often poke fun at Ukrainian politics and society while raising funds for the army.
The unrest comes at a difficult moment for Ukraine, which is slowly losing ground to Russia’s grinding tactics at the front, while civilians experience drone-and-missile attacks nearly every night.
In Kyiv early Thursday, Russian air raids killed at least 14, including a 6-year-old boy, and injured more than 100, Zelensky said.
Despite the bombardments, Kyivans have continued to gather with their cardboard signs. The protests of people like Tymoshenko and other Ukrainians—including veterans, service members and seasoned protesters—have turned the tables on Zelensky, whose election campaign presented him as an outsider crusading against corruption and authoritarianism.
At issue is what anticorruption activists, opposition lawmakers and protesters see as the consolidation of power in the president’s office. Besides the stripping of independence from anticorruption bodies by parliament, the Ukrainian government has declined to appoint a leader of the Economic Security Bureau, a law-enforcement agency investigating financial crimes. Anticorruption investigators have also faced mass searches.
Guillaume Mercier, a spokesman for the European Union commission for enlargement, welcomed the bill’s passage but said Ukraine still has many reforms to enact to make progress toward its aim of joining the EU. Those include appointing internationally-vetted judges to its constitutional court and appointing the head of the Economic Security Bureau.
The controversies have dented Zelensky’s popularity. His trust rating stood at 37% before the war, soaring to 90% immediately after and dipping to 65% in June, according to polling by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
The crisis has animated Zelensky’s opponents, including former top general Valeriy Zaluzhniy, former President Petro Poroshenko and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, all of whom opposed the law. Zaluzhniy, widely considered to be Zelensky’s most viable challenger should an election take place, was recently featured in a Ukrainian Vogue photo shoot and article, in which he nodded to a need for unity in the country.
Still, there is no immediate threat to Zelensky even as he walks a tightrope between the actions of his government and the demands of his electorate.
Zelensky and Andriy Yermak, the head of the president’s office and a lightning rod for criticism, have said it was important for Ukrainians to feel as if they had been heard. Speaking to reporters last week, Zelensky said there should have been a dialogue before the law was enshrined.
“We all must listen to the people,” he said. “I believe this is the most important thing. Because the main challenge is the war. And the most important thing in this war is the unity of our state. It is critical not to lose the unity.”
Skepticism remains. Zelensky’s image as a wartime leader who bravely remained in his country in the face of Russia’s might has been marred by the issue, both at home and abroad. European partners have expressed concern and Ukrainians, too, are watching the president’s moves closely, ready to return to the streets.
Speaking at a protest last week, Dmytro Koziatynsky, a former battlefield medic who was among the first to call for Ukrainians to gather, said he asked for politicians to steer clear so that the protests remain apolitical. Those who came were shouted down and asked to leave.
The protesters who gathered took care to not tread on flower beds in Ivana Franka square, downhill from government quarters, even as the roughly 5,000 attendees spilled out onto adjoining streets.
Protesters spoke of their pride in Ukraine as a country of peaceful dissent despite the war, noting the two street revolutions that led to changes in power in the country since it declared independence in 1991.
“The real opposition in Ukraine has always been the people,” said Koziatynsky. “And it is precisely the people who control the authorities and don’t let them slide into either authoritarianism or something similarly inadequate.”
Comments
Post a Comment