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Poll: Military is Ukraine's most trusted institution

by Martin Fornusek October 11, 2023 8:08 PM 2 min read
Ukrainian soldiers on duty outside of Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast on Sept. 23, 2023. (Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance

Around 93% of Ukrainians have trust in the Armed Forces, making it the most trusted institution in the country, followed by volunteer armed units (85%) and other volunteer organizations (84%), according to a survey by the Razumkov Center published on Oct. 11.

They are followed by the State Emergency Service (83%), the National Guard (81%), the State Border Guard Service (76.5%), the President (72%), the Defense Ministry (71%), the Security Service of Ukraine – SBU (66%), non-governmental organizations (60.5%), churches (59%), the police (57%), and mayors (54%).

The respondents voiced the most distrust for political parties (74%), civil servants (72%), judiciary (70%), the Parliament (64%), the Prosecutor's Office (61%), the government (60%), banks (59%), the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (53%), the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (52%), and the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (52%).

While the President ranks only as the seventh most trusted institution, Volodymyr Zelensky has the highest rating among individual public figures (75%).

He is followed by Mykolaiv Oblast Governor Vitalii Kim (64%) and Serhii Prytula (51%), a politician and the head of a charity foundation crowdfunding money for military and humanitarian needs.

Most distrusted public figures are the leaders of the opposition political leaders, namely Yurii Boyko (82%), the head of the Platform for Life and Peace party that succeeded the pro-Russian Opposition Platform — For Life after its ban.

This ranking is followed by Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and the leader of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, and Petro Poroshenko (73%), the former president and the head of the European Solidarity party.

The survey was conducted between Sept. 21 and 27 in all of Ukraine's oblasts, excluding the occupied territories, with 2,016 respondents.

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Editor’s Note: This is an analysis by Nataliya Bugayova, Kateryna Stepanenko, and Frederick W. Kagan for the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). This analysis was originally published by the ISW on Oct. 1, 2023, and has been republished by the Kyiv Independent with permission. Russian President V…

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