Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, has made a shocking claim: Volodymyr Zelensky is transforming Ukraine into an autocratic state that is no different from Russia.

Klitschko, a former heavyweight boxing champion-turned-politician, took the unprecedented step of publicly attacking Zelensky, an ex-comedian and actor, so vehemently for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 21 months ago.

Even though the two were political rivals, the public outrage was shocking, especially in light of the war situation.

Klitschko told Der Spiegel in an interview that “at some point, we won’t be different from Russia where everything is dependent on one man.”

Klitschko praised the other mayors of Kyiv and regional governors who have worked to prevent Ukraine’s descent towards authoritarianism.

He said that there is only one independent institution at the moment, but local self-government is under enormous pressure.

Klitschko has been at odds with Zelensky over the state of Kyiv’s emergency shelters since the beginning of the conflict. He claimed that Zelensky has become isolated, and that they have never met or spoken to each other, despite the fact that their offices are only a few minutes apart.

Klitschko also accused Zelensky in a separate interview with 20Minutes of deceiving the public regarding the progress made by Ukraine during the bloody conflict.

The mayor agreed with the Ukrainian military commander-in-chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi when he stated last month that war had “gone into a stalemate”, after a disappointing offensive that failed to deliver an decisive blow against the forces of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zaluzhnyi said that the war might last for years – and even decades – until Ukraine finds a breakthrough similar to gunpowder.

Zelensky was furious at Zaluzhnyi’s comments in The Economist. He said that, despite the fact that things have slowed down over recent weeks, this conflict is anything but “stalemate”.

Klitschko stated, “[Zaluzhnyi] said the truth.” Sometimes people do not want to hear truth. We can lie euphorically to our friends and partners. You can’t lie to your people and partners forever. Zaluzhnyi’s clear words have been criticized by some of our politicians, but they did so in the wrong way. “I stand by him.”

Klitschko (52), argued that Zelensky’s popularity had been declining ever since the beginning of the conflict in February 2022. At that time, Zelensky was a symbol for Ukraine’s struggle to survive on the international stage. The mayor also predicted that Zelensky would eventually be removed from power for his “mistakes”.

People can tell who is effective and who is not. There were, and are still many expectations. Zelensky pays for the mistakes he made,” said Kyiv’s mayor.

Klitschko repeated a claim that Zelensky critics often repeat, namely that Zelensky downplayed risks of an invasion by the Russians until it was already too late. This left the country ill-prepared for Putin’s occupiers.

He said, “People wonder why Zelensky didn’t deny until the very end that this would happen.”

In his extensive interview with Der Spiegel Klitschko thanked local officials, and not Zelensky’s administration, for repelling Russian assaults in the early days and weeks after the war.

The mayor did not call for Zelensky to be fired immediately despite his long list of complaints.

Klitschko stated that “the president has an important role today and we must support him until the war ends.” “But, at the end of the war, each politician will be held accountable for their successes or failures.”

Zelensky’s office hasn’t publicly responded to Klitschko’s jabs.

In his address to the nation on Monday night, Zelensky seemed to be taking a veiled shot at his critics. He said that he is grateful to “those who don’t put their own personal interests before the interests of Ukraine.”