The press release was prepared by Anton Hrushetskyi, executive director of KIIS

During September 19-28, 2025, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey "Omnibus", to which, at the request of the public organization Center for Strategic Communications "Forum", questions were added about sanctions against P. Poroshenko and the prevalence of politically motivated persecution of the opposition. By the method of telephone interviews (computer-assistedtelephoneinterviews, CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting) in all regions of Ukraine (the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine), 1,029 respondents were surveyed. The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived in the territory of Ukraine controlled by the Government of Ukraine. The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities (at the same time, some of the respondents are IDPs who moved from the occupied territories), and the survey was not conducted with citizens who left abroad after February 24, 2022.

Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.3) did not exceed 4.1% for indicators close to 50%, 3.5% for indicators close to 25%, 2.5% for indicators close to 10%, 1.8% for indicators close to 5%.

Under conditions of war, in addition to the specified formal error, a certain systematic deviation is added. Factors that may affect the quality of results in "wartime" conditions were previously cited by KIIS.

In general, we believe that the obtained results are still highly representative and allow a fairly reliable analysis of the public moods of the population.

On February 12, 2025, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine adopted a decision “On the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)” and, in particular, sanctions were applied against Petro Poroshenko.

KIIS, in surveys conducted on February 14-24 and May 15-17, 2025, asked the question, how do Ukrainians feel about this. Respondents were given three answer options and respondents could choose one or more answers. In September 2025, we asked this question again. The results are shown in the graph below.

Overall, the majority of respondents – 60% (in May – 56%) – chose either the option “an attempt to divert attention from the difficult situation at the front” (among all respondents, 35% chose it), or the option “an attempt to neutralize the opposition on the eve of negotiations with Russia and possible elections” (34% among all respondents)[1].

At the same time, believe that these sanctions are an attempt by law enforcement agencies to really punish the guilty – 33% (in May 2025 it was 34%). The remaining 11% could not decide on their opinion.

Graph 1. As you may know, the National Security and Defense Council has imposed sanctions against Petro Poroshenko. In your opinion, this is … ? Select all that apply

The respondent could choose multiple answers

Below in graph 2, the data is presented in terms of those who trust/distrust President V. Zelenskyy. Overall, among those who trust the President, 45% chose either the option “an attempt to divert attention from the difficult situation on the front” or the option “an attempt to neutralize the opposition on the eve of negotiations with Russia and possible elections” (versus 43% who believe that this is an attempt by law enforcement agencies to punish the guilty).

Among those who do not trust him, 79% chose either the option "an attempt to distract attention from the difficult situation at the front" or the option "an attempt to neutralize the opposition on the eve of negotiations with Russia and possible elections" (compared to 15% who believe that this is an attempt by law enforcement agencies to punish the guilty)

Graph 2. Perception of sanctions against Petro Poroshenko among those who trust/distrust President V. Zelenskyy

On September 9, 2025, the European Parliament approved a resolution that, among other things, called on the Ukrainian authorities not to resort to politically motivated persecution of the opposition[2]. We asked respondents how widespread, in their opinion, cases of politically motivated persecution of the opposition are in Ukraine today.

As can be seen in the graph 3 below, 51% of Ukrainians believe that political persecution of the opposition is quite or very common (of which 20% consider such cases very common, and 31% consider them quite common).

Believe that such cases are not very common or practically non-existent – 37%. The remaining 11% could not answer the question.

Graph 3. Recently, the European Parliament approved a Resolution, which, among other things, noted the advisability of the Ukrainian authorities' refusal from politically motivated persecution of the opposition. In your opinion, how widespread or not is the problem of politically motivated persecution of the opposition in Ukraine by the authorities?

Among those who do not trust President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 70% consider politically motivated persecution of the opposition to be a fairly or very common practice (of which 43% believe that such a practice is very common). At the same time, among those who trust the President, quite a few also say that such a practice is widespread – 37%.

Graph 4. Perception of the prevalence of politically motivated persecution of the opposition among those who trust/distrust President V. Zelenskyy

A. Hrushetskyi, comments on the survey results:

In May 2024, in a survey conducted by KIIS for the USA National Democratic Institute (NDI), 93% of respondents said that Ukraine should be a fully functioning democracy[3]. One of the important aspects of democracy is the presence of an opposition that can act freely and, in particular, participate in competitive elections. Therefore, preventing politically motivated persecution of opposition representatives is a necessary condition for the further development of Ukraine. In the event that there are objective grounds for investigating the activities of individual opposition representatives (for example, involvement in corrupt acts or anti-Ukrainian activities), there should be transparent communication with reliable evidence of criminal acts (which would convince the public that there is no political component in the investigation).

In addition to democratic development, constructive interaction between the government and the opposition is a necessity for achieving success in the war. Internal strife weakens Ukraine and makes it easier for the Russian enemy (who will gladly use any line of tension in society, for example, between the government and the opposition, to "promote" a split). Joint efforts will make Ukraine stronger and even more impregnable for the enemy.

Annex 1. Formulation of questions from the questionnaire

Recently, the European Parliament approved a Resolution, which, among other things, noted the advisability of the Ukrainian authorities' refusal from politically motivated persecution of the opposition. In your opinion, how widespread or not is the problem of politically motivated persecution of the opposition in Ukraine by the authorities?

As you may know, the National Security and Defense Council has imposed sanctions against Petro Poroshenko. In your opinion, this is … ? Select all that applyDIFFERENT ORDER OF READING. RESPONDENT COULD CHOOSE SEVERAL ANSWERS