72% of Ukrainians consider Zelensky responsible for the corruption of his entourage — KIIS

72% of surveyed Ukrainians believe that President Volodymyr Zelensky bears personal responsibility for the corrupt actions of his circle. At the same time 25% of respondents disagreed with this, and another 3% could not decide. These are the results published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology following a survey conducted 12–21 September 2026.

KIIS separately stresses that the notion of “personal responsibility” in this question should be interpreted cautiously. According to the sociologists’ explanation, in citizens’ answers it mostly means the political responsibility of the president for the actions of his circle, and not a claim about Volodymyr Zelensky’s personal involvement in corrupt actions.

Among those who fully trust the president, 3% consider him responsible for the corrupt actions of his circle, 81% do not, and 16% are undecided. Among those who somewhat trust Volodymyr Zelensky, responsibility is assigned to him by 17%, not assigned by 60%, and another 23% are undecided.

Among respondents who tend not to trust the president, 57% consider him responsible for the corrupt actions of his circle, 19% do not, and 23% could not answer. In the group of those who do not trust Volodymyr Zelensky at all, 85% consider him responsible, 5% do not, and another 10% are undecided.

Separately, sociologists asked Ukrainians which problems worry them most. Respondents could choose up to three options. Most often they named corruption in the authorities — 50%. In second place were intense missile and drone strikes — 40%. Also 30% named unprofessionalism and incompetence of the authorities, 28% — low levels of wages, pensions and social payments, 24% — the activities of territorial recruitment centers (TRCs), 23% — rising prices, and 21% — the situation at the front.

KIIS notes that if you combine the responses regarding the war — intense missile and drone strikes and the situation at the front — they were named by a total of 53% of respondents. Corruption in the authorities or incompetence of the authorities together were named by 64% of respondents.

Another 72% of respondents believe that during the full-scale invasion the level of corruption in Ukraine has increased. Only 6% believe it has decreased. The rest either see no change or could not decide.

The KIIS survey was conducted by telephone interviews among 1002 adult citizens of Ukraine who at the time of the study resided in territory controlled by the government of Ukraine. Residents of temporarily occupied territories and citizens who left abroad after 24 February 2022 were not included in the survey.

Under normal conditions the sampling statistical error, taking into account a design effect of 1.3 and a confidence probability of 0.95, did not exceed 4.1% for indicators close to 50%. KIIS notes that under wartime conditions, in addition to the formal error, some systematic deviation is also possible.

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