Two days before 4 August 2025: submarines and an anti-corruption law
A look back at two developments in the days before 4 August 2025, one on the anti-corruption agencies in Kyiv and one on US-Russia tensions over the war.
What had shaped Ukraine's political backdrop by 4 August 2025? Two developments in the preceding days stood out, one domestic and one international.
On 31 July 2025, President Zelensky signed a law restoring the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP). The signing came amid warnings that the European Union and the G7 could suspend financial support if the agencies were suppressed.
On 1 August 2025, U.S. president Donald Trump ordered two United States Navy nuclear submarines to be deployed near Russia for potential military action against Russian forces. The order was a response to statements by Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and then deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, about Trump's previously stated deadline for ending the war in Ukraine.
Together, the two events showed pressure on Kyiv over institutional reform and rising friction between Washington and Moscow over the war, in the days leading into 4 August 2025.
