Zelensky Targeted in Wartime Protests in Ukraine for the First Time

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 3½ years of war.

The protest outside the president’s office in central Kyiv, including civilians and soldiers, was the most significant fracture so far in the national unity that has helped Ukraine survive a grueling and bloody fight against a Russian invasion. The government did not immediately make a statement on the gathering.

“My husband is in the trenches and this is not what they are fighting for,” said Kateryna Amelina, 31. “This could be the destruction of 10 years of work by civil society.”

The demonstration, promoted widely on social media, came hours after Ukraine’s Parliament, controlled by Mr. Zelensky’s party, passed a measure stripping away the independence of two agencies responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption. It gives Ukraine’s prosecutor general, appointed by the president, new powers over anticorruption agencies.

Late on Tuesday night, the Parliament’s website updated the bill’s status to show that Mr. Zelensky had signed it into law. There was no immediate confirmation from the president’s office.

On Monday, the security services raided the offices of the two agencies, which have been looking into people in Mr. Zelensky’s circle, claiming that they had been infiltrated by Russian intelligence.