Zelenskiy is facing wartime protests for the first time. Why?
Volodymyr Zelenskiy
's administration.
The theatre sits on a leafy square at the foot of steps leading up to Bankova, which is the name of the guarded street where the presidency is situated and also a synonym in Ukraine for presidential power and related political machinations.
Even
in wartime
– and in startling contrast to their neighbours in Russia – Ukrainians reject any notion that their leaders should exist in some sequestered space where decisions cannot be questioned and authority must not be challenged.
It is infuriating to many Ukrainians that Zelenskiy and key aides seem to have forgotten or ignored lessons from the nation's recent history when ramming through a law that effectively makes the country's main anti-graft institutions subordinate to a prosecutor general who is a presidential appointee.
READ MORE
Both the Orange Revolution in 2004-5 and the Maidan Revolution, or Revolution of Dignity, in 2013-14 were at heart mass protests against corruption and the impunity of a political-economic elite in Ukraine that did not feel bound by the rules that applied to less privileged citizens. The same urge for change prompted Ukrainians to elect Zelenskiy – a comedian and businessman with no political experience – in 2019.
A demonstration in Kyiv on Tuesday calls for a veto of a law that reduces the powers of anti-corruption agencies. Photograph: Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP
With its pivot to the West in 2014, Ukraine aimed for European Union membership and committed to rooting out graft at all levels. With EU backing it created a national anti-corruption bureau (Nabu) and specialised anti-corruption prosecutor's office (Sapo).
These agencies have had some success despite facing obstruction from vested interests and a sometimes hostile attitude from Bankova. Zelenskiy said on Tuesday night that they would now be more efficient and 'cleansed' of 'Russian influence'.
Civil society has long criticised the power held by Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and his deputies, who oversee the running of state structures ranging from law enforcement to arms production.
The influence of unelected officials around Zelenskiy has only grown during Russia's devastating full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has brought a surge of western funding and weapons and also a suspension of elections and many of the checks and balances on presidential power that function in peacetime.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy: anti-corruption agencies would now be more efficient and 'cleansed' of 'Russian influence'. Photograph: Vadym Sarakhan/AP
Elections would be impossible under daily Russian missile and drone strikes, but Ukraine's civil society and free media continue to hold Zelenskiy and his allies to account.
As shown by Tuesday's protests in Kyiv and other cities – the biggest in nearly three-and-a-half years of all-out war – Ukrainians who detest the dictator in the Kremlin will not tolerate any whiff of autocracy from Bankova.
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Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, July 30th: On tariffs, jobs and houses, protest voices, and bargain cycle lanes
Sir, – Early days to assess the EU/US proposed trade deal but one thing is clear. The EU side has made major concessions. They have accepted a 15 per cent tariff on most exports from the EU to the US, but no similar tariffs must apply to US exports to the EU. Under the deal, the EU has also agreed to invest $600 billion in the US economy and to buy $750 billion of energy from the US over the next three years. No similar commitments apply it seems on the US side. This outcome partly reflects the difficulty of getting sufficient agreement among member states on a tougher stance to be taken by the EU, Ireland being one of the main countries opposed to adopting a stronger EU position and thereby weakening the overall EU negotiating stance. READ MORE A much bigger issue though is the unstated (in public) threat of the US withdrawing its security guarantees for Europe, something almost unthinkable before the present administration came to power. The consequences of this for Ukraine and Europe (including Ireland) would be incalculable and worth avoiding, if necessary, by making major concessions on the trade front. From a US viewpoint, a reasonable expectation perhaps given its commitment of equipment and personnel to European defence. Until Europe is less dependent on the US to guarantee its security, it will have a weak bargaining hand when it comes to trade. – Yours, etc, JOHN O'HAGAN, Department of Economics, Trinity College, Dublin. Sir, – Faced with the threat of 30 per cent US tariffs, the EU blinked. To shield its economy – notably the German and French car industries in my opinion – it settled for 15 per cent across-the-board tariffs and to boot, tossed in a few more sweeteners to American firms. Whatever became of the much-touted Anti-Coercion Instrument, the EU's so-called 'big bazooka'? The Irish Government, meanwhile, has put a sunny gloss on the deal – especially regarding pharmaceuticals. Yet Trump has made it plain, pharmaceuticals is next in his sights, and the agreement itself is vague. When the day comes, I'd be surprised if our EU partners show much solidarity with Ireland's pharma sector, given past criticism of the tax incentives to lure it here in the first instance. Yes, EU leaders faced a dilemma. But the leverage wasn't all entirely with America. US trade with the EU exceeds $600 billion annually, dwarfing the projected $90 billion in tariff revenue. The EU may have deemed it impolitic to press that point – but I've no qualms about confronting economic aggression. I'll be steering clear of overpriced coffee, fizzy drinks, forgettable burgers, and smartphones still awaiting meaningful AI – not to mention FSD cars that still need drivers. If dollars speak louder than diplomacy, let mine do the talking. – Yours, etc, JOHN McCRORY, Lucan, Dublin. Sir, – I read with interest the response of different European leaders to the proposed EU-US trade agreement. Let's call a spade a spade. US president Donald Trump's bullying tactics have worked to such an extent that some leaders now consider 15 per cent tariffs on EU goods to the US a successful outcome. The tariffs on many US goods to EU will be zero. Reciprocal rates how are you? – Yours, etc, BRIAN MANGAN, Ferns, Co Wexford. Sir, – I see that as part of the tariff agreement, Europe will purchase $600billion of US armaments. Presumably this will largely eliminate the large US deficit (in goods). If/when this happens will the one-sided tariffs fall away? Clearly, that von der Leyen one is a fearsome negotiator. – Yours, etc, BRIAN MURPHY Carrickmines Wood, Dublin 18. Sir, – Relief at the conclusion of an EU-US trade deal is understandable but to me it seems premature. Europe has made a huge concession to the United States and got nothing in return. Giving way to a bully is never a wise move as the likelihood is they will only come back for more. –Yours, etc, RONAN MURPHY, Greystones, Co Wicklow. Investment, housing and jobs Sir, – I too agree with Michael Gilmartin (July 26th) and Enda Scanlon (July 28th). Ireland has focused on attracting ever more inward investment over many years without weighing up the cost. It has become clear that these large multinationals are now the ones calling the shots and the current impetus to improve infrastructure appears to reflect their demands to a greater extent than those of our own citizens. How did we end up giving 50 per cent of our power supplies to data centres in Dublin? Ireland is a small country. We seem to think that our limited natural resources are inexhaustible. They are not. Our focus on financial wealth has resulted in rapid population growth. This has put overwhelming stress on our land, our water, our nature and our biodiversity. It is making daily life more challenging and putting decent housing out of reach of so many. – Yours, etc, CAROL SCOTT, Shankill, Dublin 18. Dancing feet Sir, – There is an old Irish phrase: 'Up here for thinking, down there for dancing'. Michael Flatley should stick to the dancing. – Yours, etc, TONY CORCORAN, Rathfarnham Dublin 14 Voices of protest on Gaza Sir, – Chris Fitzpatrick has correctly pointed out (Letters, July 28th) that Israel's campaign in Gaza in response to the appalling Hamas attack of October 7th has become, in its ferocity and forced starvation, a travesty of the Judaism that the ruling coalition government pretends to represent. But his impression that there are no Jewish voices of protest is not correct. Among the Jewish lobbies that have long opposed Israel's stance and advocated the two-state solution are Britain's Jews for Justice for Palestinians, who march in the current London demonstrations, and the Europe-wide network, JCall. The American equivalent, JStreet, is increasingly influential. Earlier this week, the American Jewish Committee, along with the Reform Movement, the largest Jewish denomination in America, issued statements declaring Israel 'culpable' in its Gaza campaign. In Israel this week, the prominent Jewish human rights organisation, B'Tselem, and the Physicians for Human Rights Israel both specifically labelled Israel's actions as 'genocide'. Former Israeli prime ministers, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, in print and in television interviews, have characterised Israel's Gaza campaign as war crimes. And Israel's liberal daily newspaper Ha'aretz continues to report with total honesty on events in Gaza and the West Bank, and carries every day several op-ed pieces which nothing in these islands can rival for vituperation. Why is all this so little known? Perhaps partly because in newsworthiness it cannot compete with stories of bombing and starvation; and partly because it can make no impression whatever on a regime that is blind to all but its fanatical fantasies. Only determined action by the international powers might have an effect. But, rhetoric aside, I suspect they may be too distracted by presidents Trump and Putin to get around to that. – Yours, etc, LOUIS MARCUS, Dublin 16. Sir, –I was troubled by two letters published on July 28th that, while expressing concern about Gaza, shifted focus on to Jews around the world, urging them to speak out or risk complicity. This places moral coercion on Jews solely because of their identity – something we should not accept, and indeed don't accept, when applied to other groups. Criticism of Israeli policy is not only legitimate, it is regularly voiced by Israelis and Jews globally, including many who strongly support the country. But when Jews are called upon to denounce Israel solely because they are Jewish, it echoes a troubling pattern. One letter also quotes Jewish scripture to suggest Jews have failed their own values: a rhetorical move with a long and damaging history in Christian Europe, even if unfamiliar to many Irish readers. Definitions of anti-Semitism used by the Irish Government and leading academics distinguish clearly between criticism of Israel and collective blame of Jews. I hope future letters will reflect that distinction. – Yours, etc, YOTAM GARDI, Inchicore, Dublin 8. Sir, – Sally Hayden's article 'From a viewing platform in Israel, ' war tourists' pay to see Gaza's ruins,' (July 28th) is an example of investigative journalism at its best. The Israeli mindset is now so far down the rabbit hole of ethnic cleansing it beggars belief. Even the last line where one of the complaints, from people coming to view the carnage, consisted of the potholes on the road leading to the viewing platform! – Yours, etc, JUDY BURKE, Rosscarbery, Co Cork. Sir, – In 1847, at the height of the Irish famine, Charles Villiers, the Earl of Clarendon, was appointed the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He arrived during the second year of the Great Hunger. His reports on the scale of the crisis were regularly discounted by a government that deferred to the permanent head of the Treasury, Sir Charles Trevelyan. Despairing of effective famine relief, Clarendon suggested to the prime minister, Lord Russell, that 'there is not another legislature in Europe that would disregard such suffering as now exists in the west of Ireland or coldly persist in a policy of extermination'. Unfortunately, had Villiers been writing today about Gaza, the word 'genocide' would replace 'extermination' and every legislature in Europe would, in fact, be guilty of disregarding such suffering! – Yours, etc, COLIN P DOHERTY, Head of School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin 2. Bargain cycle lanes Sir, – Olga Barry asks if the €45 million allocation for the 6km cycle lane between Dundrum and Dún Laoghaire will make it the most expensive cycle lane ever built in Ireland (Letters, July 28th). In fact that dubious record surely goes to the 6km cycle lane between Clontarf and Connolly Station which cost an astonishing €70 million to complete before it opened last year, after two years of endless disruption to local residents. The Dundrum to Dún Laoghaire project would appear to be a bargain by comparison. – Yours, etc, BARRY WALSH Clontarf, Dublin 3. The BBC and radio silence Sir, – Well, the BBC have done it! They have taken away BBC's Radio Three and Four, unless one is living in the UK. As an Irish person who has listened to these stations all my life I am feeling bereft. How that leaves the millions of British citizens around the world I can only imagine, and I wonder why on earth this decision has been made. From a purely selfish viewpoint I shall miss these stations terribly during the day. For the summer one looks forward to the Proms on Radio Three, and now I shall have to do without them. With failing eyesight I watch very little television and anyway my love of radio has always superseded any other form of entertainment. Oh BBC, what were you thinking of? – Yours, etc, ITA McCORMACK, Maynooth, Co Kildare. Diamond cutters Sir – Sunday's All Ireland football final was a wonderful occasion but who came up with the idea that the diamond patterned cutting of the grass was a good idea? For those of us watching on TV, and doubtless for those on the upper tiers of the stand, the pattern was confusing and headache-inducing. – Yours, etc, JOHN MacKENNA, Royal Oak, Co Carlow. Busy busy, must fly Sir, – As the manager of a unit in a large organisation, one of the ways in which I judged the enthusiasm of the members of my team was the speed with which they walked down a corridor. ( 'The greatest part of any job is learning to look busy, ' July 26th). Those who walked slowly were rarely upgraded to positions of responsibility. –Yours, etc, FINBAR KEARNS, Piercestown, Co Wexford. Lucia Joyce and Carl Jung Sir, – It was nice to see modern dancer Lucia Joyce, who was celebrated as 'l'Irlandaise' in 1920s Paris, make an appearance in Frank McNally's Diary (July 25th) celebrating Carl Jung's 150th birthday on July 26th. Lucia, who described Jung as 'that big fat Swiss Man trying to get hold of my soul', would have turned 118 on the same day. The cult psychotherapist must have got a shock when this cosmic coincidence of birth dawned on him. He too suffered from psychosis, like his mother. He also wrote of his own fear of 'doing a schizophrenia', and boasted two personalities (his own contemporary self, and Zarathustra). Could his dismissal of Lucia's lost poetry as 'psychotic', therefore be considered a case of kettle calling the pot black? James Joyce considered the same writing to be 'anticipations of a new literature'. As for Lucia's 'diagnosis', she had as many as she had doctors. One concluded: 'Whatever it is she will soon get over it.' Whatever the correct diagnosis, Lucia certainly was an artist ahead of her time, in the wrong gender, and ultimately had to pay the price of definitive incarceration and erasure. We can't turn the clock back, but on her 118th birthday, why not reclaim her legacy as a groundbreaking artist, who struggled perhaps with at least as many mental health challenges as the widely celebrated big old fat Swiss man who failed to get hold of her soul. – Yours, etc, DEIRDRE MULROONEY, Lower Grand Canal Street, Dublin 2.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Russian strikes on penal colony in Zaporizhzhia kill 16, says Ukraine
Russian strikes on a penal colony in the frontline region of Zaporizhzhia in southwestern Ukraine overnight killed 16 people and injured at least 35, regional Ukrainian military and the local governor said. Zaporizhzhia governor Ivan Fedorov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said that the correctional facility's buildings were destroyed, and nearby private homes were also damaged. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, condemned the strikes as 'another war crime' committed by Russia. '(Russian president Vladimir) Putin's regime, which also issues threats against the United States through some of its mouthpieces, must face economic and military blows that strip it of the capacity to wage war,' Mr Yermak said on X. READ MORE Russian forces have regularly attacked Zaporizhzhia, using drones, missiles and aerial bombs, since the start of the war that Moscow started with its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia unilaterally declared early in the war its annexation of parts of Zaporizhzhia and areas in and around three other Ukrainian regions. Kyiv and its Western allies called the move an illegal land grab. Mr Fedorov said that Russian forces launched eight strikes on the Zaporizhzhia district, reportedly using high-explosive aerial bombs. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes, but thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. - Reuters (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on Ukraine and democracy: public force Zelenskiy to retreat
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy beat a hasty retreat on his proposed bill to curb the independence of two anti-corruption organisations last week after an intense round of street demonstrations, political and international protests against the measure. The episode tells an important story about Ukraine's commitment to democracy and the rule of law in the middle of its war with Russia. Ukraine was chronically prone to corruption in the two decades after achieving independence from Russia in 1991, as state assets were privatised and an oligarchy of economic magnates emerged and consolidated their power. Popular dissatisfaction with this was a powerful force behind the 2014 revolt which turned Ukraine decisively westwards towards Europe and away from any close alignment with Russia. Two anti-corruption bodies were set up in response to political pressure from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. They symbolise that new orientation internationally and their work within Ukraine is popularly seen as a guarantee that the rule of law continues to operate even in wartime. The immediate street protests and international political reaction against the rapid passage of the bill through parliament last week shows how strongly these democratic instincts survive in Ukraine. Zelenskiy frankly acknowledged their concerns in justifying his retreat, saying the people's voices must be heard. Any further moves to centralise authority around his office will be difficult amid widespread worries that he tried to protect powerful figures in his own entourage from corruption probes. The potential opportunities arising from huge aid flows to Ukraine are now more plainly visible. Most Ukrainians are war weary yet remain determined to defend their independence even if that requires strategic compromises and concessions to Russian aggression. Pressures to agree a ceasefire and negotiate an end to the war will mount in coming months and may well be reciprocated from the Russian side as they too count the costs of the conflict.
