"Dark times ahead." "Peak of corruption." "Point of no return." Ukrainian society sounded a code red for the country's democracy on July 22, as the final votes were tallied on a bill in Ukraine's parliament that strips independence from anti-corruption bodies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill on Tuesday revoking the autonomy of two anti-corruption agencies, a proposal that has sparked rare street protests in Kyiv and alarm among the country's international backers.

Ukraine faced a watershed moment on July 22 as parliament passed, and the president signed, a bill that effectively eliminates the independence of the country's anti-corruption institutions. The bill will subordinate the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) to the prosecutor general.