ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Thousands of Ukrainians have been taking to the streets to protest a new law curbing the powers of the country's main anti-corruption watchdogs. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the watchdogs are too slow and might be under Russian influence. But after protests, he appears to be reconsidering the law. NPR's Joanna Kakissis has our story, reported with producers Polina Lytvynova and Hanna Palamarenko in Kyiv.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in Ukrainian).
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: The anger was evident on Tuesday after Parliament passed a law stripping Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies of their independence. Hundreds of Ukrainians gathered at the square not far from Zelenskyy's office chanting, shame...
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: ...And Ukraine is not Russia.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Polina Tymchenko, a 29-year-old doctor, was furious about the law.
POLINA TYMCHENKO: I feel that it's totally - it's a betrayal of everyone who is on the front line, for everyone who is fighting for our liberty, for everyone who is fighting for Ukraine not being Russia. Yeah, it's definitely not the honest move.
KAKISSIS: The law gives Ukraine's prosecutor general, a Zelenskyy loyalist, new powers over the two agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. Critics called the law a step toward autocracy and centralization of power.
YAROSLAV YURCHYSHYN: We couldn't let it happen.
KAKISSIS: Lawmaker Yaroslav Yurchyshyn voted against the bill. And he suggested that Zelenskyy seems out of touch with Ukrainians, especially young people.
YURCHYSHYN: President in country, in war, must feel a connection with society. So we see a lot of young people who are pro-European, who do believe in our democracy.
KAKISSIS: The European Union's enlargement commissioner called the law a step back for Ukraine's EU aspirations. And according to surveys by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Ukrainians themselves are losing faith that they will join the EU and become a prosperous state after the war. Anton Grushetsky, the institute's director, said the percentage has dropped from 91% in 2022 to just 43% last month.
ANTON GRUSHETSKY: And right now, we even have more people who are pessimistic about Ukraine's future than optimistic, that, like, we don't have a future.
KAKISSIS: He also said that surveys consistently show that fighting corruption is a top priority for Ukrainians, especially its soldiers. They joined in singing Ukraine's national anthem at Tuesday's protest.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Singing in Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Mykola Oleksiyenko (ph) is a 35-year-old soldier on leave. He held up a poster addressed to Zelenskyy that read, this is too much.
MYKOLA OLEKSIYENKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: He said the government taking over anti-graft agencies reminded him of the corrupt practices of former president and Kremlin ally Viktor Yanukovych, whom the Ukrainians ran out of the country in 2014.
OLEKSIYENKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: "I do not want Zelenskyy to move in this direction," Oleksiyenko said. And today, Zelenskyy changed course.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: In a video address, Zelenskyy said the protests were not in vain and that he has heard the people. He said he will submit a new bill to Parliament very soon that will ensure the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption watchdogs.
Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, with reporting by Polina Lytvynova and Hanna Palamarenko in Kyiv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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