Zelensky's Losing Ukraine's Trust as War Drags On

Public trust in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has started to slip as the war against Russia continues.

Sixty-two percent of respondents in a poll released by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology on Monday said they trusted Zelensky, while 18 percent did not. While the president holds onto most of the public's trust, the same poll by KIIS in December 2022 found that 84 percent of the Ukrainian president trusted their leader—a sign that support is slipping.

Trust among Kyiv's institutions faired much lower in KIIS's poll, which conducted phone interviews with 1,031 residents across all territories currently under Ukraine's control. Only 15 percent of respondents said that they trusted the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's unicameral parliament, and just 26 percent said that they trusted the government of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, faith in Ukraine's Armed Forces remains high: 96 percent of respondents indicated that they trusted Kyiv's military, and 88 percent said that they trusted Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of UAF.

Newsweek reached out to Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

The polling results come as Zaluzhnyi and Zelensky have publically disagreed over the state of the war in recent months. In an interview with The Economist published on November 1, the UAF commander said that both sides had reached a point of "stalemate." Days later, Zelensky's presidential spokesperson, Ihor Zhovkva, criticized Zaluzhnyi for sharing such information about the state of the war, telling reporters at a press conference that military personnel should refrain from doing so "because then we make the aggressor's job easier."

"I am sure that everything has been very carefully read (in Russia), noted, and conclusions have been drawn," Zhovkva added, according to a report from the Kyiv Independent.

The nearly 22-month-long conflict has resulted in heavy losses for both sides. However, neither Zelensky nor Russian President Vladimir Putin have indicated they are ready to discuss a peaceful end to the fighting. Support for Ukraine's fight has also started to waver in some of its biggest allies, including in Washington, D.C., where Republican lawmakers have continued to block sending additional aid to Kyiv unless a deal that includes funding for border security in the United States can be reached.

Support for Ukraine's fight has also started to slip among Americans. In August 2022, the polling group Gallup found that 66 percent of U.S. citizens believed Washington should support Kyiv. But in a similar poll in October of this year, support had dropped to 54 percent, and roughly 43 percent of respondents said they support reaching a quick end to the war, even if that means that Ukraine cedes some of its territory to Russia.

Zelensky has vowed that fighting cannot end until all Russia-occupied land is returned to Kyiv's control.