⚖️ Anti-corruption raids against prominent Ukrainian figures and moves to promote loyalists to key positions have led to accusations that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government is drifting toward authoritarianism.
Source: Bukvy
Politicians, activists, and diplomats accuse Zelenskyy and his top aides of using emergency powers granted under martial law to sideline critics, silence civil society leaders, and consolidate control.
Outrage grew after the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) raided the home of prominent anti-corruption activist Vitaliy Shabunin in Kharkiv last week, seizing phones, laptops, and tablets.
Around the same time, SBI investigators and other law enforcement officials raided the home of former Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov in Kyiv, confiscating his phone and other devices. Authorities said the raids were part of corruption investigations.
Shabunin and Kubrakov called the raids politically motivated, adding that the SBI presented no court warrants and gave their lawyers no time to be present during the searches.
“Zelenskyy is using my case to send a message to two groups that may threaten him: if I can publicly go after Shabunin — under media spotlight and despite public support — I can go after any of you,” said Shabunin.
He added that the pressure targeted him as both a journalist exposing corruption and a serviceman, as the charges were based on his military service.
Both political allies and former adversaries of Shabunin and Kubrakov, along with much of Ukraine’s civil society, condemned the raids and warned they appeared to be part of the Zelenskyy administration’s campaign against dissent.
“This is a straightforward playbook for dividing society in a russian style, and it could lead to street protests,” said MP Oleksandra Ustinova, head of the parliamentary commission on arms control and advisor to the Defense Minister.
The raids followed sanctions against several politicians, including former President Petro Poroshenko, who lost re-election to Zelenskyy in 2019 and has since become a fierce critic.
Earlier this month, Zelenskyy’s cabinet refused to appoint Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi, a detective from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), to head the Bureau of Economic Security, despite his independent selection. The cabinet claimed he was “unsuitable.”
MP Anastasiia Radina from Zelenskyy’s “Servant of the People” party and chair of the parliamentary anti-corruption committee stated the government “had no authority” to reject Tsyvinskyi and that the move was “unlawful.”
This month, Zelenskyy also nominated First Deputy Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko to replace long-serving Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Svyrydenko is seen as a close ally of Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.
This political shake-up comes at a fragile moment for Ukraine as it fights back against intensifying russian air and ground offensives, seeks to secure U.S. military aid, and attempts to revamp its government.
Ukrainian activists, independent media, and Western officials in Kyiv warn that what began as a defense of sovereignty now risks becoming a campaign to reshape the state into the image of its ruling circle — undermining reforms achieved since the 2014 democratic revolution.
Zelenskyy’s office declined to comment.
Shabunin and Kubrakov, whose cases are unrelated, have denied the charges.
Shabunin, co-founder and chair of the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Kyiv, is accused of draft evasion and fraud. The SBI charged him with avoiding conscription and misusing military funds — crimes punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
His lawyer, Olena Shcherban, said the case is based on a distortion of his military service record. She called the investigation illegal and aimed at smearing the activist who exposed corruption in government.
Following russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Shabunin volunteered for Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces. From September 2022 to February 2023, he was seconded to the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP). The agency stated the deployment was official and legal.
Shcherban confirmed Shabunin’s role in advising on fair pay for mobilized troops and said he never received combat bonuses. She condemned the seizure of his wife’s and children’s electronics, calling the raid coercive and extrajudicial.
“These weren’t searches. This was intimidation. It wasn’t about justice — it was about pressure,” said Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center.
Shabunin and his supporters believe the move is retaliation for the Center’s high-level corruption investigations and its criticism of Zelenskyy’s cabinet after it blocked Tsyvinskyi’s appointment.
A long-time anti-corruption advocate, Shabunin has challenged multiple administrations. Some in Zelenskyy’s office have accused the Center of “grant-feeding” — a term used to discredit NGOs receiving Western funding.
The case has sparked outrage among Ukraine’s pro-reform community. Leading independent media published scathing editorials.
Zelenskyy’s top political opponents echoed the criticism. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned that “under the guise of war, the government is targeting those it sees as inconvenient: political opponents, local authorities, experts, journalists, and activists.”
Kubrakov is accused of helping a Ukrainian lawmaker embezzle around $350,000 through a fertilizer procurement scheme with Belarus. He said he has “absolutely no connection” to the lawmaker and is cooperating fully with investigators.
A person close to Kubrakov said they believe the raid was “retaliation” for a corruption probe launched this month against Zelenskyy ally Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov.
Investigators suspect Kubrakov may have implicated Chernyshov, which he denies. Chernyshov also denies involvement in a $24 million land fraud case.
Shabunin linked the crackdown to the blocked law granting amnesty for corruption crimes by arms suppliers and the charges against Chernyshov, saying, “Zelenskyy feels vulnerable.”
Meanwhile, the cabinet reshuffle has prompted accusations that the administration is centralizing power among a few individuals.
“This is revenge. They’re using the mobilization law and military secrecy to suppress critics, assuming the West is too distracted to notice,” said Kaleniuk.
The moves come as relations between Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump appear to be improving after a February Oval Office dispute and a temporary freeze on U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing.
Trump recently announced he would sell weapons to NATO countries that pass them on to Ukraine. But Trump has frequently shifted positions on Ukraine and russia, and few in Kyiv believe he is firmly on their side.
G7 ambassadors had previously warned Zelenskyy’s administration publicly about governance issues. But this time, ambassadors in Kyiv have remained publicly silent, including about the raids on Shabunin and Kubrakov.
U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink resigned in April in protest against Trump’s policies. The interim chargé d’affaires has been splitting her time between Kyiv and her post in Cyprus.
“It’s really hard to criticize Ukraine,” said one ambassador, “when it’s under relentless attack from russia.” Others noted the delicate balance between voicing criticism and maintaining support, as the war-torn country depends heavily on Western military and financial aid.
A Western diplomat in Kyiv closely involved with Ukraine’s civil society said the Shabunin and Kubrakov cases “are not isolated incidents.” “They follow a pattern: critics are sidelined, loyalists protected.”
“There’s a sense on Bankova [Zelenskyy’s office] that the West — especially the U.S. — has shifted its focus. Rule of law and good governance no longer seem to matter as much,” the diplomat said.
Ukraine’s commitment to democratic reforms was key to securing Western support. But as U.S. political attention turns inward and military aid becomes more transactional, some officials in Kyiv seem ready to test the limits.
“If institutions designed to maintain checks and balances become political tools, Ukraine risks losing the democratic core it has fought to build since 2014,” said Kaleniuk.
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