‘Critics sidelined, allies protected’: FT publishes sharp piece on Zelenskyy’s office after raids on Kubrakov and Shabunin

The outlet analyzed the criminal cases opened against Vitalii Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC), and former Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.

Politicians, activists, and diplomats accuse Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his inner circle of using emergency powers granted under martial law to silence critics, suppress civil society leaders, and tighten their grip on power, the FT wrote.

Speaking to the outlet, Shabunin said Zelenskyy was using the case against him “to send a message to two groups that might pose a threat to him.”

“The message is this: if I can publicly go after Shabunin — with the media watching and despite public support — then I can go after any of you,” the FT quoted him as saying.

He added that the first group includes journalists and activists exposing corruption. The second group is made up of military personnel.

“Because the charges against me are tied to my military service,” the anti-corruption activist said.

Both allies and critics of Shabunin and Kubrakov — as well as much of Ukraine’s civil society — have condemned the raids and warned they are likely part of a broader campaign by Zelenskyy’s administration to go after its critics.

The article also points to other recent moves by the government, including sanctions against some political figures such as former President Petro Poroshenko. Earlier this month, Ukraine’s Cabinet rejected the appointment of Oleksandr Tsivinskyi as director of the Bureau of Economic Security, even though he had been selected by the official commission.

The FT also noted the recent appointment of Yuliia Svyrydenko as prime minister.

“Svyrydenko is seen as a close ally of Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andrii Yermak,” the article said.

Activists, independent media, and Western officials in Kyiv warn that what began as a justified wartime push to defend sovereignty is morphing into a crusade to remake the state in the image of the ruling elite, the FT wrote. The reform progress achieved since 2014, it added, is now at risk.

The reshuffling of government leadership has also sparked accusations that Zelenskyy’s office is concentrating power in the hands of a few.

“This is revenge,” the FT quoted Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of AntAC, as saying.

“They’ve used the mobilization law and military secrecy to target critics, calculating that the West is too distracted to notice,” she added.

G7 ambassadors had previously issued public warnings to Zelenskyy’s office about flaws in state governance. This time, however, diplomats in Kyiv have remained silent — especially regarding the raids on Shabunin and Kubrakov, the FT noted.

The article also included comments from a Western diplomat in Kyiv who said the cases of Shabunin and Kubrakov “aren’t isolated.”

“They fit a broader pattern: critics get sidelined, allies get protected,” the diplomat said.

“There’s a sense inside the President’s Office that the West — especially the U.S. — has shifted its focus. Rule of law and good governance don’t carry the same weight they once did,” the diplomat added.

Ukraine’s commitment to democratic reform has long underpinned its support from the West. But now, with U.S. attention turning inward and military aid becoming more transactional, some officials in Kyiv appear willing to test the limits, the FT concluded.

Charges against Vitalii Shabunin

On July 11, the State Bureau of Investigation said it had searched Shabunin’s property and charged him with draft evasion and fraud. According to the bureau, Shabunin “systematically avoided military service” while receiving a monthly military salary of 50,000 hryvnias.

AntAC dismissed the charges as absurd and called the searches of Shabunin and his family illegal. The head of AntAC’s legal department and Shabunin’s lawyer, Olena Shcherban, told NV that investigators conducted the search without a court warrant and in the absence of any lawyers.

On July 17, Shabunin’s legal team said it would file a complaint with Ukraine’s SBU Security Service, demanding an investigation into the public disclosure in court of his unit’s location.

In March 2024, the SBI opened a criminal case against Shabunin on charges of document forgery and evading military service.