Ukraine claims to have uncovered a massive corruption scheme in the acquisition of drones.

Ukraine's anti-corruption watchdog said Saturday it had uncovered a massive corruption scheme that procured military drones and signal jamming systems at inflated prices, two days after the agencies' independence was restored following massive protests.

The independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption investigators and prosecutors, Nabu and Sapo, was restored by Parliament on Thursday, after a move to remove them resulted in the country's biggest demonstrations since Russia's 2022 invasion.

In a statement published by both agencies on social media, Nabu and Sapo said they caught a sitting parliamentarian, two local officials, and an unspecified number of National Guard officials receiving bribes. None of them were identified.

"The essence of the scheme was to secure state contracts with supplier companies at deliberately inflated prices," the statement said, adding that the perpetrators had received bribes of up to 30 percent of the cost of a contract. Four people were arrested.

"There can only be zero tolerance for corruption, clear teamwork to expose corruption and, as a result, a fair sentence," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.

Zelenskiy, who has broad presidential powers in wartime and still enjoys broad approval among Ukrainians, was forced into a rare political about-face when his attempt to bring Nabu and Sapo under the control of his prosecutor general sparked the first nationwide protests of the war.

Zelenskiy later said he had listened to the people's anger and introduced a bill restoring the agencies' former independence, which was voted on by Parliament on Thursday.

Ukraine's European allies welcomed the move, having expressed concerns over the original withdrawal of the agencies' status.

Senior European officials told Zelenskiy that Ukraine was jeopardizing its bid for European Union membership by restricting the powers of its anti-corruption authorities.

"It is important that anti-corruption institutions operate independently, and the law adopted on Thursday guarantees them every opportunity for a real fight against corruption," Zelenskiy wrote on Saturday after meeting with the heads of the agencies, who briefed him on the latest investigation.