Ukrainians' Support For President Zelensky Amid Ongoing Conflict With Russia

The vast majority of Ukrainians approve of President Volodymyr Zelensky's handling of the ongoing war with Russia, data shows, with his popularity skyrocketing shortly after Moscow invaded the war-torn country last year. A year after full-scale conflict broke out in February 2022, 58 percent of Ukrainians strongly approved of Zelensky's navigation of the war, data published by Statista shows. A further third of respondents somewhat approved of Zelensky's leadership, according to the data for February 2023.

Just 4 percent of those polled said they somewhat disapproved, with 3 percent responding that they strongly disapproved. An additional 2 percent found the question difficult to answer or didn't respond. The figures were broadly the same as in June 2022, according to the data. However, Zelensky's approval rates over the past year are significantly higher than the pre-war figures.

In March 2021, just 12 percent strongly approved and 26 percent somewhat approved of Zelensky's actions, with 53 percent disapproving to some degree. The respondents were all over 18 years old and polled through computer-assisted telephone interviews. The data included Ukrainians living in Ukraine, although it didn't incorporate those living in territories controlled by Russian-backed forces, such as the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and the annexed Crimean peninsula.

Although Ukraine's population has been galvanized by its war effort, Zelensky has also navigated domestic scandals, often involving corruption. He was elected in 2019 on an anti-corruption platform and dismissed a slew of individuals from high-profile positions in January 2023. "Any internal problems that hinder the state are being cleaned up and will be cleaned up," Zelensky said at the time. The Ukrainian leader also had to contend with a corruption scandal in mid-May.

His approval ratings in Ukraine remain high across all age groups, as Ukraine continues to battle Russian forces. In a separate data set published by Statista, young people in Ukraine displayed the highest approval ratings for Zelensky at the beginning of autumn 2022. Out of 1,000 respondents in Ukraine, answering through telephone interviews between September 2 and 11, 2022, 91 percent of Ukrainians aged between 15 and 34 supported Zelensky's actions as president.

For those aged between 35 and 54, his approval rating dropped by 6 percentage points, falling a further 6 percentage points for those over the age of 55. "The war has entirely changed the attitude of Ukrainians towards Zelensky," Volodymyr Paniotto, director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, told the non-profit Institute for War and Peace Reporting in February 2023.

"It was significant for Ukrainians that Zelensky behaved as a true leader at the decisive moment," Evgeniya Bliznyuk, who heads up Ukrainian research company Gradus Research, also told the non-profit. "He did not leave the country despite offers and performed his duties with dignity." Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian Presidential Office for comment via email.