Shabunin completed his service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine after more than four years
Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, announced that he has completed his service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine after more than four years. He cited the loss of a significant portion of his vision and the decision of the military medical commission as the reasons for his departure.
He announced this on Facebook.
“My service is over. Having lost most of my vision, I am leaving the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where I voluntarily enlisted on the first day of the great war,” Shabunin wrote.
According to him, he served in the Armed Forces for over four years, half of that time in the Kharkiv region and the east, specifically in Druzhkivka, as well as in Kharkiv and Kyiv.
Shabunin noted that among the key achievements of his service, he considers his participation in the development of the DELTA combat IT system and his work on anti-corruption issues in the field of defense procurement.
“As a result, we helped put the Deputy Chief of the General Staff and his gang on trial. And DELTA has become the central combat/integration system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which the U.S. Secretary of the Army speaks enthusiastically about before the Senate,” he stated.
He also highlighted efforts to combat corruption in military procurement and to overhaul the relevant processes.
At the same time, Shabunin claims that during his service, he faced pressure from certain government officials and law enforcement agencies, as well as difficulties in interacting with the command.
“The authorities fully exploited my voluntary service against me. For example, the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) and the Office of the Prosecutor General fabricated a criminal case against me (for evading service), and then tried to deprive me of the opportunity to defend myself,” he noted.
He also stated that his service was allegedly turned into a “circus,” particularly due to constant transfers between units and restrictions on carrying out tasks.
“As soon as I began deploying the drone air defense unit, I was transferred by order of the Chief of the General Staff (!) to another brigade for more ‘important’ tasks (such as cleaning up trash), which is what I’ve been doing since July of last year,” Shabunin wrote.
He emphasized that the last period of his service could have been more effective under different circumstances; however, according to him, the command’s decisions determined a different nature of his work.
“I joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the first day of the war as a soldier; I’m leaving as a senior sergeant. Defense Minister Umerov refused to sign my officer’s contract,” he stated.
Shabunin also added that he plans to focus on recovering his health, after which he intends to return to work at the Anti-Corruption Action Center.
Earlier, the State Bureau of Investigations announced an internal audit of employees who had access to materials from one of the criminal cases. The reason was the dissemination in several media outlets of private photos of a person involved in the Bureau’s case.
Olena, the wife of Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, reacted to the online circulation of intimate photos of her husband.
The Office of the Prosecutor General entered information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations regarding the leak of private photographs of Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center. A criminal case was opened under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine concerning the violation of privacy and the disclosure of information related to operational and investigative activities.
