An overwhelming majority (72%) of Ukrainians would disapprove of the resignation of Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, and only 8% believe that there are serious disagreements between him and President Volodymyr Zelensky, a poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) released on Dec. 20 found.
Earlier, reports surfaced in Western and Ukrainian media about supposed disagreements between Zelensky and Zaluzhnyi, which have received much public attention following Zaluzhnyi's interview on the state of the war for The Economist.
The poll found that Zaluzhnyi is the most trusted military leader at 92%, followed by the head of Ukraine's military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, at 60%.
When asked about the supposed disagreement between Zaluzhnyi and Zelensky, 8% believed it was serious, 35% said it was not that serious, and 39% believed there was little to no disagreement.
Anton Hrushetskyi, the executive director of KIIS, said that the results of the poll demonstrated that there is still a relatively high level of trust in the top military and political leaders and that Ukrainians have not really listened to rumors about the supposed rift between Zaluzhnyi and Zelensky.
He added that an attempt to remove Zaluzhnyi would likely cause a backlash.
Alexander Khrebet
(Updated: )
