The National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine has long been a battleground in Ukrainian politics, where graft is rife.

Ukrainian analysts have told Newsweek the move undoes a decade of democratic progress, although its president Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he backed a new draft law aimed at strengthening the independence the anti-corruption institutions. Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian president's office and the Kremlin for comment.

Thousands of people gathered in the streets of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday night to protest moves by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government to weaken anticorruption institutions, in the country’s first major antigovernment demonstration in three and a half years of war.

The announcement appears to preclude any kind of top-level meeting or breakthrough ahead of the 50-day deadline for an agreement given by President Donald Trump.

The Kremlin said on Friday that a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy could only happen as a final step to seal a peace deal. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that it was unlikely that such a meeting could occur by the end of August,

The Kremlin ruled out a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before achieving major progress on a peace deal, raising doubt on ending the war before President Trump’s proposed 50-day deadline.