It has recently become clear that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky loves kleptocracy as much as his predecessor Petro Poroshenko.
Zelensky has consistently protected corrupt officials from prosecution and killed anti-corruption reforms. Now he and his inner circle have destroyed two of Ukraine’s most high-profile graft cases – against Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff Oleg Tatarov and Ukraine’s most corrupt judge Pavlo Vovk.
Now it has also become obvious that Zelensky is as much of an authoritarian ruler as Poroshenko and is using extrajudicial tools to crack down on critics and redistribute assets.
As the West is trying to help Ukraine amid a new escalation of Russia’s aggression, Zelensky is making the country sink even lower by protecting the corrupt and lawless status quo.