A poll conducted by the Kyiv Institute of Sociology (KIIS), released in recent months, found that President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to enjoy the trust of six out of ten Ukrainians.
According to the results of the poll released on October 14, 59 percent of Ukrainians surveyed “trust” Zelensky, while 37 percent distrust the President. Three percent of respondents to the poll were unsure. The results are almost identical to another KIIS poll released in May 2024, and down from a peak of 64 percent in February this year.
Zelensky’s level of trust has steadily decreased since his record-high 90 per cent in may 2022, just months after the start of the invasion in February 2022. Only seven percent of respondents at that time said they did not trust the president.
The numbers are also a stark contrast to the level of support Zelensky received at this time last year. In Oct. 2023, Zelensky received the of 76 percent of respondents – a drop of 18 percentage points.
Zelensky has the support of a majority in every region of Ukraine, including a regional peak of 62% in the central regions. This includes Kyiv.
Zelensky is also trusted by 51 percent of respondents from the war-torn east of the country, despite the fact that the level of distrust in the eastern Ukraine is among the highest levels in the entire country.
Zelensky commands a level trust that is not often seen among Western democracies, despite the steadily decreasing numbers since the beginning of the war. Comparatively, the average approval rating of U.S. Presidents between 1938-2023 was only 53%. Only Barack Obama, the most recent president, received an average approval rating greater than 50%.
The KIIS survey was conducted between Sept. 20, 2024 and Oct. 3, 2024. It involved 2,004 respondents in all regions of Ukraine.
After Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, 81% young German respondents expressed concerns about the possibility of war, a sharp increase from 46% in 2019
Charles Michel, President of the European Council, announced on October 15 that he invited President Volodymyr Zelensky to present his plan for defeating Russia during a summit this week of EU leaders.
On Oct. 15, former President Donald Trump declined to confirm whether he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin after leaving office in 2021, but said: “If I did it, it was a smart thing.”
According to Suspilne, the sources claim that the North Korean soldiers left around 7 kilometers (4miles) from the border of Ukraine.
Join our monthly KI Insights briefing to gain valuable insights on Ukraine’s economic issues.
Serhii Lehchenko, advisor to the Presidential Office, reported that unnamed U.S. legislators cited America’s Vietnam War experience, where men aged 18-26 years old were drafted into combat.
Western diplomats and analysts say that the growing military ties between Russia and North Korea show Moscow’s increasing dependence on resources to continue its costly war in Ukraine.
Interfax reported that Roskomnadzor, the federal censorship authority, confirmed that Steam, with its online catalog of over 100,000 games, and the fact that it is used by more than 130 million people around the globe, including about 10 million in Russia has agreed to comply to the law.
David Arakhamia is the leader of Zelensky’s Servant of the People, a parliamentary group. He made comments to the Kyiv Independent.
Financial Times (FT), Oct. 15, reported that Elina Valtonen, Finnish Foreign Minister, warned that Western countries are becoming tired of their support for Ukraine and called for a stronger commitment to backing Kyiv.
According to a Harvard CAPS/Harris survey, 48% of voters in swing states who said they’d vote early supported Trump while 47% sided Harris. Another 5% of voters said they had voted or chose another candidate.
Mark Rutte stated in an interview with Reuters on October 13 and German radio Hessischer Rundfunk that “the message (to Russian president Vladimir Putin) is that he won’t get his way. Ukraine will prevail.”
On Oct. 14, hundreds of Ukrainian schools, businesses and media outlets including the Kyiv Independent received bomb threats by email. This prompted the evacuation of state institutions.
In an interview with Kremlin‘s RIA Novosti, published on October 15, Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that Budapest and Russia’s state-owned Gazprom are in discussions on additional gas purchases next year.
The Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces shot down 12 of the 17 drones of the type Shahed launched by Russia over night. Overnight, seven S-300/400 and two Kh 59 missiles were fired at Mykolaiv Oblast.
“With the beginning of the ‘heating seasons,’ we can anticipate massive Russian strikes in the energy sector,” Oleksandr Litvynenko said, National Security and Defense Council Sec.
Dmytro Lytvyn, Ukraine’s presidential advisor, reacted after almost a full week of silence following Ukrainska Pravda’s claim that the Ukrainian Government is exerting “systematic” pressure against one of Ukraine’s largest news media sites.
The statement follows an article in the French newspaper Le Monde that claimed that Tuareg fighters of the anti-government CSP were using Ukrainian drones to attack the military and Wagner mercenaries.
“Now the town is more like a desert world: there are no shelters either for civilians or for soldiers,” said Anastasia Bobovnikova. She was a spokesperson from the Operational Tactical Group Luhansk.
“It was (Ukraine) the apple of his eyes; he used talk about it.” Donald Trump said that he had told him, “You’re not going to go in, and he was not going to go in.”
This includes 1,210 casualties that Russian forces have suffered in the last day.
Read More @ kyivindependent.com