Trust in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has fallen by half amid the corruption scandal and the related investigation by competent authorities, The Economist reports, citing the results of sociological surveys.
The surveys conducted by the Ukrainian authorities were aimed at determining the probability of each candidate winning the elections if they were held in the near future.
The Economist does not provide specific data, but notes that even before the scandal broke, polls showed that Zelensky would lose to the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, and Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
The trust ratings in the Ukrainian president, according to polls conducted by the independent Kyiv International Institute of Sociology also show a gradual decline. In July, it was 58%, which is a 7% drop compared to the previous month. At the same time, the distrust rating increased - from 30% in June to 35% in July.
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the research company Socis in December 2024 showed that even then Zaluzhny, like Budanov, had already overtaken Zelensky in trust.
Zaluzhny publicly denied his plans to run for president. He noted that he considered voting impossible during military operations, because it is prohibited by the Ukrainian constitution).
The New York Times wrote that the corruption scandal surrounding the Ukrainian state-owned enterprise “Energoatom“ was a “dramatic turn“ in Zelensky's fate. The investigation, conducted by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), involves people from the president's inner circle. The weakening of the Ukrainian leader's position was also noted by The Washington Post.
Investigators believe that businessman and Zelensky's associate Timur Mindych is the "mastermind" behind the corruption scheme. He and his accomplices demanded bribes for contracts and took advantage of "friendly relations" with the head of state, investigators believe. Against the backdrop of the scandal, the ministers of justice and energy German Galushchenko and Svetlana Grinchuk were dismissed, and Mindych fled the country.
Zelensky supported the actions of the anti-corruption authorities and demanded that those responsible be punished. He admitted that he was not aware of "what was happening behind his back" when he spoke about corruption.
However, as The New York Times noted, the scandal, although not directly affecting Zelensky, "casts a shadow" on his image as a leader capable of "bringing order" to Ukrainian politics. The publication explains that Zelensky himself had previously publicly emphasized the fight against corruption.