Public trust in Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has dropped by 7% in about a month, according to a nationwide poll released on Wednesday. The apparent slump in popularity came after his controversial botched crackdown on the country’s key anti-corruption agencies.
The survey by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), conducted from July 23 to August 4, suggests that trust in Zelensky stands at 58%, down from 65% in June. The poll says 35% of Ukrainians now say they do not trust Zelensky – an increase from 30% in early June.
The drop in support was especially steep among respondents under 30, where trust fell by 15% – from 74% at the start of summer to 59% by early August, according to the poll.
The KIIS partially attributed the decline to Zelensky’s attempt to strip the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) of independence, citing Russian influence.
Critics of the move accused Zelensky of having authoritarian tendencies, sparking protests at home and discontent in the West, given that many supporters of Kiev have for years demanded that it intensify the fight against corruption. Following the backlash, Zelensky was forced to roll back the reforms.
KIIS stressed that although the controversy undoubtedly damaged Zelensky’s image, other factors are at play. Of those who distrust him, only 6% cited the controversy as the reason, compared to 21% who pointed to overall corruption and 20% who say Zelensky is an inefficient leader during a time of conflict.
The KIIS poll was based on phone interviews with 1,022 respondents across Ukraine.
Last month, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) stated that US and UK officials had secretly met with their key Ukrainian counterparts to discuss ousting Zelensky and replacing him with former military chief Valery Zaluzhny.
According to the SVR, the recent NABU and SAPO controversy was in large part engineered by Zelensky’s own officials to provide justification for the Western partners to seek his removal.
A Ukrainian agent who planned terrorist attacks in Russia has been shot dead while resisting arrest, the Federal Security Service (FSB) reported on Thursday.
The suspect, born in Soviet Ukraine in the late 1970s and living in Kaluga, Russia, was preparing bomb attacks against a natural gas storage facility and a defense plant parking lot, the FSB said. Acting on orders from Ukrainian special services, he had allegedly produced about 80kg of homemade explosives for the plot.
The agency reported that the suspect had also retrieved 300g of military-grade plastic explosives, fuses, and a handgun from a stash prepared by other Ukrainian assets. He shot the firearm at officers trying to apprehend him and was killed by return fire.
The FSB released footage showing the individual’s body, his bombmaking arsenal, and the recovery of several plastic bottles from a stash, presumably used to hide the home-made explosives.
Earlier this week, the FSB reported foiling a Ukrainian terrorist attack in Tyumen Region in Western Siberia. The suspect in the case was also killed after being caught retrieving bomb components.
Russian officials have repeatedly accused Kiev of escalating bomb attacks inside Russia due to its failure to achieve victories on the battlefield. Ukrainian forces have suffered several setbacks in Donbass in recent months amid reported shortages of reinforcements.
