Protests in Ukraine Fed by Russian Disinformation

Ukrainians took to the street to protest corruption.

Will Ukraine lose its war with Russia on the streets of Kyiv? That question came to light when Ukrainian citizens expressed their displeasure with President Volodymyr Zelensky’s move to exercise control over government anti-corruption agencies, diminishing their independence. Ukrainians were having none of that and took to the streets. Russia, never one to pass up an opportunity to sow dissatisfaction, used the situation to push its persistent narrative that the Zelensky government is illegitimate.

Ukraine Struggles With Corruption

Corruption among Kyiv’s government officials has been a problem and a stumbling block for American advocates of more military and financial aid to Ukraine. As a recent article in RealClear Politics explained:

“Corruption remains entrenched in Ukrainian politics and governance, starting at the very highest levels of the administration in Kyiv. Just this week [July 21-25], the office charged with fighting and prosecuting corruption was raided in an extra-judicial attack on decency and due process. This raid reeks—and it smells like gangsterism, not democracy.”

What brought Ukraine’s citizenry out in force was a new controversial bill signed into law on July 22, 2025, that limited the independence of Ukraine’s critical anti-corruption agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). The bill, subsequently passed by the Zelensky-friendly legislature, Verkhovna Rada, gave the government’s prosecutor general, chosen by the president, wide-ranging authority to oversee and control NABU and SAPO. Basically, the new law gutted the independence of the two organizations, placing the anti-corruption agencies behind an opaque wall of unconstrained presidential autocracy.

“Critics of the measure, however, believe the real purpose of the law is to give the president the power to quash ongoing investigations into alleged corruption by members of his inner circle,” The Conversation observed. Zelensky cannot afford to have his anti-corruption apparatus questioned since much of its credibility, or lack thereof, directly determines the appetite Americans have for continuing to support Ukraine. In many cases, detractors in the US look for any excuse to pull assistance, claiming there’s no reason to throw good money after bad.

The Ukrainian president must have gotten the message. As the ink was still drying on the new law, “Eventually, with public uproar mounting, Ukraine’s president bowed to the pressure and agreed to restore the independence of the agencies — a new law turning back the clock is meant to be voted on Thursday [Jul. 28],” according to Politico. For the beleaguered Ukrainian leader, it was a tone-deaf move that demonstrated, if nothing else, he is not in touch with the populace. Zelensky tried to explain his motivation by saying, “the new bill was intended to safeguard the independence of Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, and to protect them from Russian influence,” the BBC reported. No one was buying that. In fact, the result was precisely what Zelensky maintained the bill was designed to protect against.

Russia Exploits Any Opportunity to Push Disinformation

As a prominent Washington, DC, newspaper reported, “Ukrainian officials warned that Russia would seek to capitalize on the political divisions inside Ukraine and to push its narrative that the country was irredeemably corrupt.” Furthermore, with negotiations expected for a ceasefire to the devastating fighting, the bill was clearly counterproductive. “Russian negotiators raised the issue of the protests and the controversy over the law during peace negotiations last week in Ankara, Turkey, Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, said,” the DC news source explained.

Russia will use any sign of a rift between the West, particularly the US, and the Kyiv government to exploit its disinformation program. The Kremlin’s campaign against Ukraine seized on the protests to amplify its narrative of Zelensky as an illegitimate, corrupt leader. According to the Russian news service RT: “It is obvious that a sizeable portion of that money…was stolen,” Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “There is a lot of corruption in the country. So, the money of American taxpayers, European taxpayers, was, to a large extent, stolen in Ukraine. This can be said with a high degree of certainty.” These are all talking points pushing Russia’s continuous and broader disinformation efforts. Moscow’s campaign to portray the protests as evidence of Ukraine’s instability comports with a pattern of hybrid warfare. However, the recent protestors’ focus on democratic accountability undermined Kremlin claims of widespread pro-Russian sentiment. Nonetheless, Zelensky cannot afford to waste that sentiment.

President Trump has, in recent weeks, taken a softer tone concerning supporting Ukraine with more weaponry and better sustainment of the military capability Ukraine has. Now is no time for President Zelensky to bleed credibility from self-inflicted wounds.

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The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.