Ukraine’s president pledged a new course after protesters criticized his signing of a bill to strip anticorruption agencies of power.

KYIV - Ukrainian officials scrambled to respond Wednesday to the eruption of mass protests as well as alarm among its European allies after President Volodymyr Zelensky signed legislation that many fear will neutralize the country’s main anti-corruption bodies and roll back reforms introduced after a pro-Western revolution more than 10 years ago.

Ukraine has seen the first anti-government protests since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion over three years ago, as a move by President Volodymyr Zelensky to curb anti-corruption agencies sparked fury across the nation.