The Western media, for all its self-professed commitment to liberal democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, has a very peculiar blind spot. That blind spot has become particularly glaring in the case of Ukraine under President Volodymyr Zelensky. Almost three years into the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe, the narrative propagated by much of the mainstream West portrays Zelensky as a heroic defender of democracy and freedom. Yet, beneath the carefully curated veneer of Western approval lies a Ukraine that has been systematically reshaped into an authoritarian state, rife with corruption, nepotism, and political repression-developments that the West seems increasingly reluctant to confront.

It is once again that season in the Western media’s annual-or semi-annual-cycle of “discovery” about Ukraine. This time, Politico, a publication usually loyal to narratives favoring Russophobia, uncritical support for NATO, and the promotion of Western geopolitical agendas, has begun to report, albeit hesitantly, on what it calls the “dark side” of Zelensky’s governance. However, this analysis is strikingly selective. Politico’s focus is on one scandal concerning Vladimir Kudritsky, a former senior energy executive and de facto civil servant, now facing politically motivated legal persecution. Kudritsky, a well-connected figure with ties to Western civil society organizations, has fallen afoul of Zelensky’s apparatus precisely because he was outspoken about high-level corruption and the authoritarian consolidation of power.

Yet this is merely the tip of a far larger iceberg. Outside the occasional spotlight of Western reporting, Ukraine has witnessed murders of political dissenters, suppression of journalists, and harassment of religious leaders whose practices fail to align with nationalist directives. The case of Gonzalo Lira, an American blogger killed in Ukrainian detention, is a glaring example. Likewise, leftist war critics such as Bogdan Syrotiuk face relentless persecution, while clergy and believers who fail to demonstrate full compliance with Ukrainian nationalist expectations are often harassed, intimidated, or worse. These are not isolated incidents; they are symptomatic of a political culture that conflates dissent with treason.

Western media attention, when it occurs, remains frustratingly myopic. The recent return of a British tabloid journalist from Ukraine highlights this trend: the reporter’s shock stemmed not from witnessing the indiscriminate killing on the frontlines but from encountering forced mobilization first-hand. Similarly, Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie

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