U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have been at odds in recent days, ever since U.S. and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss the next steps of the war, leaving Ukraine from the table. Zelensky stated that Trump has been “caught in a web of disinformation” following false claims made by Trump that the Ukrainian president had only a four percent approval rating and a suggestion that Ukraine had even started the war with Russia. On Wednesday, Trump then took another swipe at the European leader, claiming that he is a “dictator without elections”.
Data released by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) shows that while Zelensky’s support base has decreased since early 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, it is still far higher than Trump’s claim of four percent. In a poll conducted between February 4-9, 57 percent of adults said they trusted Zelensky, while 37 percent of respondents said that they do not and six percent said it was hard to say.
As the following chart shows, Zelensky’s support hit a high of 90 percent trust back in May 2022. It had gradually declined as the war dragged on, but has ticked up five percentage points in the most recent survey compared to December, 2024. The poll surveyed a representative population in Ukraine-controlled territories, with KIIS analysts accounting for wartime challenges through an additional systematic deviation alongside the formal margin of error.
Zelensky was democratically elected in 2019 with a landslide 73 percent. National elections would have been held in the country in 2024, but have been suspended due to Ukraine being in a state of war and under martial law. Zelensky has said the country will hold elections once the “hot phase” of the war is over.
