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

During January 9-14, 2026, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey, which, among other things, included questions about trust in individual Ukrainian public figures. By the method oftelephone 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), 601 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 5.3% for indicators close to 50%, 4.6% for indicators close to 25%, 3.2% for indicators close to 10%, 2.4% 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.

During the survey, we wanted to find out whether Ukrainians trust individual Ukrainian public figures from various spheres. We formed a list of 17 political, socio-political and military figures and for each of them we asked whether Ukrainians “completely do not trust”, “rather do not trust”, “rather trust”, “completely trust” (the option “hard to say” was not read, but respondents could name it on their own initiative).

An important methodological point is that for each figure, in addition to the surname and first name, we gave a short description. This is due to the fact that some figures are not clearly recognizable by name, and this can lead to confusion. We have already shown earlier that in the case of, for example, Yu. Svyrydenko, different trust indicators can be obtained if (not) saying that she is the Prime Minister[1]. In general, many people can "remember" a specific person thanks to the information-"clue" and, accordingly, for this figure we will have more reliable indicators of trust (although the information-"clue" itself plays a really important role, which can affect perception in addition to recognition).

For the purpose of publishing the results, we have divided the list into two parts: (1) politicians and public and political figures and (2) figures from the military sphere. We understand that in some cases the division is conditional (and may soon change), but since there is an attempt to “draw” individual military figures into politics (and often artificially by individual third-party entities, although the military figures themselves may never have spoken about participating in politics), we attribute credibility to them separately.

So, among the politicians and public and political figures on the list, V. Zelenskyy has the highest trust indicators, with 62% trusting him, do not trust – 34% (respectively, the balance of trust-distrust is +28%).

I. Terekhov also has high trust indicators (44% trust and 23% do not trust, balance – +21%),  M.Fedorov (38% trust and 26% do not trust, balance – +12%) and S.Prytula (46% trust and 41% do not trust, balance – +5%). Moreover, in the case of I. Terekhov and M. Fedorov, quite a few people do not know them even with a hint. That is, they can improve their trust indicators due to better recognition.

All other politicians and public figures on the list have a negative balance, i.e. they are distrusted more than they are trusted. At the same time, among them, we can single out those whose indicators (for Ukrainian realities) are relatively high: Yu. Svyrydenko, D. Razumkov (in the case of these two people, many people still don’t know them, i.e. there are prospects for improving attitude towards themselves) and to a somewhat lesser extent – V. Klychko. Their balance of trust-distrust is from -12% to -19% and at least no more than half (or about that) do not trust them.

O. Honcharenko has worse indicators, although better than the following list of politicians. 22% trust him, 54% do not trust him, and the balance of trust-distrust is -32%. The balance of trust-distrust for the rest of politicians on the list is -47% and lower.

Among the list of figures from the defense sector, all have a positive balance of trust-distrust. Respondents have the best attitude towards V. Zaluzhnyi (72% trust, 21% don't trust, and the balance is +51%) and to K. Budanov (70% trust, 19% don't trust, and the balance is +51%).

Next comes A. Biletskyi, who is trusted by 45%, distrusted by 13%, and the balance, respectively, is +32%. At the same time, 32% did not know who A. Biletskyi was, even with a “hint”, that is, he has significant prospects for improving his indicators due to higher awareness.

Commander-in-Chief O. Syrskyi is trusted by 46%, distrusted by 40%, the balance is +6%.

Table 1. Now we would like to know your attitude towards individual Ukrainian public figures. Do you “completely do not trust”, “rather do not trust”, “rather trust” or “completely trust” the following Ukrainian public figures? If you do not know him or her, say so.

The graph below shows the dynamics of trust in V. Zelenskyy. As can be seen, compared to December 2025, that is, over the past few weeks, there have been no significant changes.

Graph 1. Trust in Volodymyr Zelenskyy

* The option “hard to say” was not read to respondents. It was only marked if the respondent requested it.

In May 2025, we asked questions about trust in 9 politicians (except V. Zelenskyy), in August 2025 - in Yu. Svyrydenko. The table below compares the indicators. At the same time, we should note that the methodology for determining the level of trust is not completely equivalent for 9 politicians (except Yu. Svyrydenko), since in May 2025 we read only names and surnames, without additional information. Therefore, analyzing the dynamics should be done with caution.

As can be seen, in the case of almost all figures, trust indicators have deteriorated over the last six months (except for O. Arestovych, in whose case they were already low).

Table 2. Comparison of trust indicators in May 2025 (for Yu. Svyrydenko – in August 2025)

A. Hrushetskyi, comments on the survey results:

The survey results show that the level of trust in conventionally "old" politicians is low and there is an obvious demand for a new generation of leaders ("new" faces) who have proven themselves well during a full-scale war.

We see that among current figures in the political and public spheres, I. Terekhov (a representative of local government who, from the point of view of many citizens, effectively organizes community life despite his frontline status), M. Fedorov (a young figure and leader in the field of advanced technologies), S. Prytula (a volunteer whose organization makes a large-scale contribution to defense) have quite high trust and prospects.

Yu. Svyrydenko, D. Razumkov, V. Klychko, O. Honcharenko have lower trust, but still they currently have a certain segment and retain, albeit restrained, but also prospects (especially when it comes to obtaining a faction in the next parliament). Some of the "old" figures also retain a "core" of supporters, which may allow them to enter parliament. However, in their case, the "ceiling" of opportunities is obvious (due to too high distrust and anti-rating).

However, all of the above-mentioned figures are noticeably inferior to military figures, primarily V. Zaluzhnyi and K. Budanov (who have higher trust even than V. Zelenskyy). This reflects the significant public demand to see successful military figures at the head of the state after the war.

Annex 1. Formulation of questions from the questionnaire

Now we would like to know your attitude towards individual Ukrainian public figures. Do you “completely do not trust”, “rather do not trust”, “rather trust” or “completely trust” the following Ukrainian public figures? If you do not know him or her, say so. RANDOMIZATION OF READING