Trust in Zelensky and ‘Servant of the People’ party shows a downward trend, – poll results
Source: Kyiv Institute of Sociology
According to the latest survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, trust to president Volodymyr Zelensky and his political force ‘Servant of the People’ has a tendency to decrease.
The poll compared the rating of trust in Zelensky from the beginning of his presidency to May 2024. According to the results, in September 2019, Zelensky had 80% support and only 9% did not trust him.
Before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, in February 2022, only 37% trusted Zelensky, while the distrust rating jumped to 52%. In May 2022, during the third month of the full-scale war, his approval rating rose again to a record high of 90%, while the distrust rating dropped to 7%.
However, during the war years, the president’s rating began to fall again. In particular, 77% expressed confidence in Zelensky in December 2023, 64% in February 2024, and 59% in May 2024. On the other hand, the number of those who do not trust the president is increasing – 22%, 35% and 36%, respectively.
The trust rating of the ‘Servant of the People’ party, which won the majority of votes in the 2019 parliamentary elections, also dropped significantly.
The latest survey shows that only 7% of Ukrainians rate the activity of the party as ‘good’ or ‘rather good’. 31% of respondents rated the party neutrally, while the majority – 55% – answered that they rate the activities of the party as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
In 2025, the deadliest year yet for civilians, Ukraine’s three largest charitable foundations raised a record 105.9 billion hryvnias. It is more than the years 2022–2024 combined. According to the UN, humanitarian aid in Ukraine was delivered by more than 450 organisations, reaching five million people over the course of the year. Civic foundations hold licences to purchase lethal weapons, which is a function states have monopolised for centuries. These record sums were underwritten by international government grants, which means foreign states now channel billions directly through Ukrainian civic funds, bypassing inter-state channels. It is hard to imagine a stronger institutional trust in civil society.
During the GLOBSEC Defence Forum 2026 in Prague, representatives of “Steel Front”, an initiative by Rinat Akhmetov, discussed with NATO delegations, military officials, and representatives of the European defense industry the lessons learned from Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
After the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine witnessed an unprecedented wave of private support for the army. Citizens, big businesses, charitable foundations, and international philanthropists began financing the country’s defense alongside state assistance provided by international partners. Estimates of total private contributions range from tens to hundreds of billions of hryvnias. However, determining the exact amount remains difficult. In many cases, companies combine military aid, humanitarian programs, tax payments, social spending, and employee support in their reporting.
Rinat Akhmetov’s military initiative, “Steel Front”, has delivered a batch of drones worth UAH 214 million to the 1st “Azov” Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine. This shipment is part of the Metinvest Group’s ongoing support for the unit in 2025.
On October 6, the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court of Ukraine continued hearing case No. 990/80/25, in which the fifth President and leader of the party “European Solidarity”, Petro Poroshenko, seeks to have Presidential Decree No. 81/2025 from February 12, 2025 — enacting sanctions by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) — declared illegal and annulled. The plaintiff claims the document was falsified and that the sanctions are a tool of political persecution of the opposition, contrary to international norms. Government representatives deny the allegations and insist their actions were lawful. Journalists of Bukvy were present at the hearing.