Ukrainians welcome end of the year with combination of cautious optimism and demand for justice - Active Group
At the end of 2025, 56.2% of Ukrainians believe that the country is moving exclusively or predominantly in the right direction, while 30.6% assess this movement as wrong, according to the results of a nationwide sociological survey by Active Group, presented at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.
According to the published data, among Ukraine's main achievements since the start of the full-scale invasion, respondents most often cited the attraction of international aid (61.4%). Respondents also noted the organization of the country's defense (43.1%), the unification of society around support for defenders (32.8%), and the development of the domestic defense industry (32.6%).
At the same time, Ukrainians consider corruption to be the key internal challenge, with 79.2% of respondents naming it as the country's main problem. Among other problems, respondents pointed to mobilization (39.7%), economic support (32.2%), and defense organization (33.7%). At the same time, 41.7% believe that the real fight against corruption has intensified, while 47.3% say it has weakened.
“Ukrainians are approaching the end of the year with a combination of cautious optimism and a demand for justice, which is why corruption remains the main internal challenge for society,” said Alexander Pozniy, director of the research company Active Group, commenting on the results of the study.
The survey also showed a high level of support for the idea of peace talks: 78.0% of Ukrainians view negotiations to end the war very or somewhat positively. At the same time, views on the terms of peace remain ambiguous. Thus, 46.5% admit the possibility of a temporary loss of certain territories during the truce, while 56.3% consider a freeze on the front line to be acceptable. The greatest resistance is caused by scenarios involving strategic concessions: 66.2% do not allow the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the controlled part of Donbas, and 57.6% do not agree to a complete refusal to return the occupied territories by military means. At the same time, 76.2% support the idea of deploying NATO troops in Ukraine as a security guarantee.
Regarding elections during wartime, a total of 53.7% of respondents expressed a negative attitude towards holding elections before the end of hostilities, while 33.8% viewed the idea positively.
In the simulation of the first round of the presidential election, Volodymyr Zelensky (17.8%) and Valery Zaluzhny (16.6%) received the most support, followed by Kirill Budanov (7.3%), Petro Poroshenko (6.5%), and Dmytro Razumkov (5.4%). At the same time, 18.4% of respondents were undecided, and another 15.2% said they intended not to vote or to spoil their ballot.
Modeling of the second round shows Valery Zaluzhny leading against Volodymyr Zelensky with 38.5% to 26.7%, and against Kirill Budanov with 34.6% to 28.7%. According to the survey results, the most competitive scenario for the second round appears to be between Volodymyr Zelensky and Kirill Budanov: 32.1% would support Budanov, while 29.8% would support Zelensky.
In hypothetical parliamentary elections, Valery Zaluzhny's party leads (14.2%), ahead of Volodymyr Zelensky's party (10.4%) and European Solidarity (9.0%). Potential party projects associated with Kirill Budanov (9.3%) also show noticeable results. The share of those who are undecided is 17.8%.
The survey was conducted by Active Group using the SunFlower Sociology online panel. The method involved self-completion of questionnaires by Ukrainian citizens aged 18+. The sample consisted of 2,000 questionnaires, representative in terms of age, gender, and region of Ukraine. The theoretical error at a confidence level of 0.95 does not exceed 2.2%. The data collection period was December 21-23, 2025.