Zelenskyy less trusted than Zaluzhny and Budanov – KIIS survey
High levels of trust among public figures in Ukraine are held by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (62%), Mayor of Kharkiv Ihor Terekhov (44%), current Minister of Defense, former First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov (38%) and volunteer and public figure Serhiy Prytula (46%); however, their levels are lower than those of representatives of the security and defense forces - Valery Zaluzhny (72%) and Kyrylo Budanov (70%).
This is evidenced by the results of a sociological survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology on January 9-14, 2026. KIIS notes that a list of 17 political, socio-political and military figures was formed. During the survey, respondents were given certain tips regarding the activities of the persons proposed for consideration.
"Among politicians and public figures from the list (proposed by KIIS – IF-U), V. Zelenskyy has the highest trust indicators, who is trusted by 62%, distrusted by 34% (respectively, the balance of trust-distrust is +28%). Also, high trust indicators are given to I. Terekhov (44% trust and 23% distrust, balance – +21%), M. Fedorov (38% trust and 26% distrust, balance – +12%) and S. Prytula (46% trust and 41% distrust, balance – +5%)," the KIIS statement on its website says on Monday. It is indicated that quite a few people do not know Terekhov and Fedorov, even with a hint. All other politicians and public figures from the list have a negative balance, that is, 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: Yulia Svyrydenko, Dmytro Razumkov (in the case of these two people, many people still don’t know them, that is, there are prospects for improving their attitude towards themselves) and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Vitaliy Klitschko. Their balance of trust-distrust is from -12% to -19%, and at least no more than half (or about that) do not trust them.
Oleksiy Honcharenko, as the survey shows, has worse indicators. So, 22% trust him, 54% do not trust him, and the balance of trust-distrust is -32%. In the case of the rest of the politicians on the list, the balance of trust-distrust is -47% and lower.
Among the list of figures from the defense sector, everyone has a positive balance of trust-distrust. The respondents have the best attitude towards Valeriy Zaluzhny (72% trust, 21% do not trust, and the balance is +51%) and Kyrylo Budanov (70% trust, 19% do not trust, and the balance is +51%).
Next is Andriy Biletsky, whom 45% trust, 13% do not trust, and the balance, respectively, is +32%. At the same time, 32% did not know who Biletsky was, even with a "hint", that is, as sociologists note, he has significant prospects for improving his indicators due to higher awareness. Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky is trusted by 46%, distrusted by 40%, and the balance is +6%.
Executive Director of KIIS Anton Hrushetsky, in a comment on the study, noted that "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." According to his assessment, among current figures in the political and public spheres, Terekhov (a representative of local government who - from the point of view of many citizens - effectively organizes community life despite his frontline status), Fedorov (a young figure and leader in the field of advanced technologies), and Prytula (a volunteer whose organization makes a large-scale contribution to defense) have quite high trust and prospects.
"Svyrydenko, Razumkov, Klitschko, 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)," - notes Hrushetsky.
"However, all of the above figures are noticeably inferior to military figures, primarily Zaluzhny and Budanov (who have higher trust even than Zelenskyy). This reflects a significant public demand to see successful military figures at the head of the state after the war," - emphasized Hrushetsky.
During January 9-14, 2026, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion poll, which, among other things, included questions about trust in individual Ukrainian public figures. 601 respondents were surveyed using the computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) method based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers. 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 Ukrainian government. 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 occupied territories), and the survey was not conducted with citizens who left abroad after 24 January.
