Zelensky is scared by the Maidan?

In Kyiv, Odessa, Lviv and the Dnieper, protest promotions were held - for the first time during a large war. Report of Olga Musafirova

When I transmit this text, it is already known that President Vladimir Zelensky signed the Law number 12414 adopted by Rada on the cutting of NABU and CAP rights (National Anti -Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and a specialized anti -corruption prosecutor's office). Before that, something strange was going on with the official site. First there was a failure in the work of the resource. Then the status of the document changed several times: from the mark “sent to the president’s signature” to “returned with the signature of the President of Ukraine” and again “sent”.

Shortly before midnight, that is, before the start of commandant, a hundred participants in the action in Kyiv, who continued to stay in the square, learned that the law was published on the official Internet page of the Voice of Ukraine parliamentary newspaper and, therefore, had already entered into force. They met the news with the chanting of the word "Ganba!" -In Ukrainian shame.

"We demand to vest this game"

Approximately 19:30. The exit from the Khreshchatik metro station to the street leading up to the Ivan Franco drama theater is filled with youth to capacity. Some raise cardboard with the inscriptions by hand right on the escalator. The ideas of Dmitra Kuzyatinsky, veteran of the Armed Forces, soldier of the medical service “ULF” (Dmitra can be considered the initiator and herald of performances in the capital) supported. And in the sense of the gathering place - theatrical square, which is visible from the windows of the president’s office, and in terms of improvised material for “banners”. With a large margin, the dispersed parcel boxes of the New Mail are leading.

I note: back in the spring of 2025, lawyers of the non -governmental organization “Civil Network of the Support” investigated the legislation - how the freedom of peaceful assemblies in different regions of Ukraine is regulated in the conditions of martial law. And they came to the conclusion: not a single act or decision has been made that would contain the rules for holding peaceful meetings, and not their ban on certain days or in a particular place, in Vinnitsa, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Transcarpathian, Lugansk, Nikolaev, Poltava regions and in the city of Kyiv.

Therefore, Kozyatinsky wrote the rules on Facebook: “It is important for me as a veteran that my initiative is supported primarily by simple caring citizens. I ask political parties and figures to refrain from supporting this action. Let's agree that the action will pass without symbols and speakers who want to express their thoughts ... Now they have already launched petitions to the president demanding that this game be vested. But there is no time. We must go out today and demand from Zelensky to prevent returning during the time of Yanukovych. ”

"I do not want the return of the times of Yanukovych"

No sooner said than done. And those who did not have time to make their posters at home prepare them right on the street. I meet a small company of young people, a girl and two guys, whom I found just at this work. They were located at a concrete block, like a table, they write-to-cut. At the beginning of the Great War, blocks and hedgehogs were components of the barricades: Kyiv was preparing to reflect the onslaught of Russian units eager for the capital.

“If we say this now, it is not known by what rules our country will continue to live further,” he strictly answers my question “Why are you here?” Poltava Katerina, who studies and works in Kyiv. - Deputies allow us to lead Ukraine to one person. What is this democracy? There is only one requirement for Zelensky: do not even think to sign such a law.

The young man with the cardboard “The end of NABU and the SAP - the beginning of the era of corruption” appears to be “Dmitme, activist”. His credo is on the print of a black T -shirt: "Yakshcho is not me, then hto?" (“If not me, then who?”).

- And so far we have no corruption as a phenomenon? - I am interested in him.

- Why? It was, and big, - shrugs.

"Zelensky, do not snake єvropeiska to Ukrainian!" ( “Do not snake”-do not miss, do not lose )-depicts the stars of the flag of the EU Vladislav, a student of the Mogilyanka, a native of Ivano-Frankivsk on his piece of cardboard. He says that he spends vacation here with friends.

- In the Rada, they voted so quickly ... Suspicious! I do not want the return of the times of Yanukovych.

- I can ask how old are you?

“Twenty will soon be,” Vladislav responds slightly passionately. - I studied this period.

And draws an analogy. The 2013 Maidan began with student protests in Kyiv and the requirements for Yanukovych to sign an agreement on the Association with the European Union at the Eastern Partnership summit in the Vilnius summit. The signing did not happen, the students “Golden Eagle” beat and tried to disperse, and the whole country rose in response.

According to my feelings, the children know little about the current conflict associated with the effectiveness of NABU and SAP. More general discussions about democracy and dictatorship. And yes, the image of the Maidan for them is a story without halftones.

"You will hear us"

There is no performance in the Franco Theater, the season will begin in August. On the square and in the square near the fountain of youth, no less than two thousand. The audience is absolutely Ukrainian -language, inspired persons. Places are interesting to read: this is where the creative approach is! A guy with a cardboard "ass likvіdu!" (I see without translation, right?). Two girls are tandem. One holds squares with the words "vo sho", the other "callsim zeivo?" With many signs of the question (closest, in terms of meaning to “Are you completely tyu?”). There is also in the rhyme: "Radi, roll your lip I do not see hut for nabu!" (“I am glad, roll your lip and do not dare to touch Nabu”), and in fact: “Nabu Bachiti is all, and not Tilki, the General Prosecutor General” (“NABU should see everything, and not just what the Prosecutor General will allow”), and the categorical promise “You will hear us”.

There are neither close nor far from police outfits. Several representatives of the Dialog police, which are usually present at mass events and help to settle skirmishes, do not count. But there are enough guys in yellow vests of civilian observers. Nobody will not intercede into the territory immediately behind the theater, fenced by a symbolic fence (from there it was possible to climb the banking).

They line up in a half -ring, so that from the building of the president’s office, which is located above, on Bankova Street, they can hear and see what is happening. There are a lot of streamers, but I do not fix the accumulations of national television channels. A large “direct” microphone is striking (the channel is associated with the leader of the opposition, the head of the European Solidarity party Peter Poroshenko) and the operator with the Deuteche Well reporter.

There are no party slogans and symbols - everything, as Kzyatinsky asked. Separate protesters threw state flags on their shoulders - this tradition lasts from the Maidan.

Dmitra Kozyatinsky himself interviews Deuteche Wella. “This bill with a violation of all possible norms was adopted, the text was changed at the last moment,” he says. - I thought that this could only be during the time of Yanukovych. And what is happening now ( about notes to the status of a document that either appear, then disappear on the site. - Approx. Aut. ), Is generally inadequate. ” He repeats that the action does not go beyond the goal: to get a veto from the president.

I see several veterans on prostheses next to Kozyatinsky, with wives. A few more military in balaclavas, they do not comment on what is happening. They come up to them, thank them, applying a hand to the heart.

"The bill supports pro -Russian forces"

The young man draws attention with intelligent appearance, with glasses, with the slogan "Rusnya in the grave, Koruppzіonyl for Grati." ("Rusnya in graves, corrupt officials for jail.") I come up, get acquainted. A graduate of the National University, 24-year-old Kyivian Alexei explains his personal motives for participation in the protest:

- outrageously adopted the bill in the Rada. I followed from the very beginning. For a state that wants to become a member of the EU, an unacceptable story. Moreover, we already see comments from the Western powers ... This is much more serious than posts from different party bloggers, ”my interlocutor notes. - Europeans can now, in turn, for example, revise military assistance plans to Ukraine if we ignore the key requirements of the European Union. I always try to adhere to a neutral position. But when the bill is so zealously supported by the pro -Russian forces, the former OPZH and Yulia Tymoshenko, this testifies to a lot.

- How do you see the development of events? If Zelensky still sign the law? - I ask.

- It's hard to say. Perhaps the president did not understand himself, listens to the environment. He has a large multitasking - war, another round of negotiations with Russia. But I would like to think that our mass protest will become an impetus for radical changes in the presidential team. In the end, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, the only source of power is the people. And the fight against corruption will be considered as important as the defense of the country.

Participants in the action chant "non -labeled for NABU!", "Veto for the law!" And "Ukraine is not Russia!" From time to time, someone begins, the rest pick up the anthem of Ukraine, followed by speech with the obligatory "Putin-Huylo!" News of news confirm: similar performances take place in Odessa, Dnieper and Lviv.

Characterization of the moment: "Fuck!"

After about an hour, sharp, witty, but not obscene inscriptions on posters are diluted with obscene vocabulary. No one has a hypocrite, but I do not remember such messages on the Maidan of 2014. The first swallow in the form of a short “fucking” in the hands of a tall young man causes a cheerful splash in the media people. He is vied with the name of explaining the meaning of the exclamation. Then it pours, as from a bucket, without a clearing. Moreover, the abbreviation "NABU" successfully rhymes with the famous verb.

A certain stage of the moment is an entry into an advance, that is, in front of the rows of participants in the action, two strong guys with two Cardboard shields “OFIS ZAIBAV”. They cost ten minutes, and in the first line there is a casting of slogans. Arise - for testing? —The pricking of a different order: "Vidsuteni Viboriv - permissiveness." ("Lack of elections - permissiveness"), "Yanukovych's regime - Zelensky regime."

Personally, my attention is attracted by a stylish girl who holds a piece of Watman's “Tse Pizda” with one hand, and the other, with an iPhone, writes a selfie against the backdrop of rows of protesters. I try to clarify what exactly concerns the statement, but the girl only shakes her hair and floats further.

Klitschko and other officials

Twilight came down. Immediately, the thousandth crowd together turned on the phone flashlights. How nostalgically not draw a parallel with the Maidan! It begins to rain.

In the meantime, a burgundy tent was spread out on the square in the square: fashionable, quilted, it seems, inflatable. I bend the canopy, similar to the curtain: inside no one, only a microphone on the rack. “Well, now for the full deja vu, the beginning of the student Maidan needs to wait for Klitschko!” -I share with a colleague-journalist. Laugh. And the mayor of Klitschko really appears in a shoe-hack t-shirt and baseball cap, the growth is such that it is difficult not to notice, and then his brother Vladimir.

Later I find a photo on Facebook: many deputies of the “Eurosolidarity” visited here. But the microphone never earned: the request of Dmitra Kuzyatinsky remained in force.

There is less and less time before midnight. The ranks are thinning: soon the commandant hour, the metro is already closed, the cardboard lies on benches in the theater square near the fountain and on concrete blocks. Hundreds of one and a half of the most persistent remain. They shout "Ganba!" Several luminous windows in the building of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

At about one in the morning, Vladimir Zelensky recorded a traditional evening video message . He said that he spoke with the head of NABU Semyon Krivonos, Prosecutor SAP Alexander Klimenko, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, head of the SBU Vasily Malyuk: “Different challenges. We discussed all this. Anti -corruption infrastructure will work. Only without Russian influence - this must be cleaned. And there should be more justice. ” Zelensky emphasized: of course, NABU and SAP retain their functions. And the Prosecutor General is configured for the fact that the things that were lying for a long time be investigated and in Ukraine to be ensured by the inevitability of punishment for those who go against the law.

“For years, tall officials who escaped from the country for some reason live calmly abroad-without legal consequences. This is not normal, ”the president said. - There is not a single explanation why criminal proceedings for billions “hang” for years. And there is no explanation why Russians can still receive the information necessary for them. ”

On the Facebook page Dmitra Kuzyatinsky, about the same, a laconic message appeared at the same time: “Kiev, come tomorrow again, 20:00 near the Franco Theater”.

Kyiv