Martyna Bohuslavets, the head of the anti-corruption center Mezha, said this on Espreso TV."Currently, the President's Office believes that their failure to easily destroy NABU and SAPO so easily indicates that they missed something — perhaps they didn't assess the electoral mood correctly. Today's youth, aged 20-25, are very active and interested in what's happening in the state. They have been shaped by the last three years of war and are very patriotically minded. The political technologists at the President's Office didn't take this into account," said Bohuslavets.The head of the anti-corruption center Mezha is confident that pressure on the independence of NABU and SAPO will continue."I'm sure this will happen very soon. And I think they will now do it very skillfully. That is, not as brazenly as before — voting in parliament for obviously commissioned political decisions. Perhaps now they will use a different instrument — special checks of NABU employees by the SBU, especially those who have access to state secrets. Perhaps some insinuations will begin there. We definitely know and have confirmation from our own sources and have screenshots where MPs from Servant of the People, when asked in chats why they voted for this law, replied: 'This is Mr. Zelenskyy's personal decision,'" added Bohuslavets.BackgroundOn July 22, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed into law a bill previously passed by Parliament that curtails the powers of NABU and SAPO, effectively placing them under the authority of the Prosecutor General. The legislative process was marked by confusion: the presidential signature appeared, disappeared, and then reappeared on the official record of the bill, No. 12414.Following the vote, thousands of Ukrainians staged peaceful demonstrations in major cities, demanding that Zelenskyy veto the law, which they say seriously undermines Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure.The European Union also raised alarm. EU spokesperson Guillaume Mercier called the law a setback, stressing that NABU and SAPO are vital to anti-corruption reforms and must operate independently to maintain public trust and move Ukraine closer to EU membership.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen personally urged Zelenskyy to provide explanations, stating that compromising on the rule of law is unacceptable, especially given Ukraine’s EU candidacy. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos called the move a “serious step backward” and warned it could harm Ukraine’s accession prospects. French and German officials also voiced concern, urging Kyiv to revise the law and preserve institutional independence.On July 24, Ukrainian lawmakers registered a new bill aimed at restoring the autonomy of NABU and SAPO. That same day, President Zelenskyy approved the text of a separate draft law, which he submitted to Parliament, pledging to reinforce law enforcement and guarantee the agencies’ independence. Both NABU and SAPO confirmed they had participated in crafting the bill, which restores their procedural powers and legal protections.On Thursday, July 31, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada passed bill No. 13533, submitted by the President, to expand the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). Soon after, Zelenskyy signed it. The law was later published in the official government newspaper Holos Ukrainy (Voice of Ukraine).