Survey: 94 percent of Ukrainians trust their Army

This is evidenced by a recent study co-run by the Razumkov Center and Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, whose results were presented at Ukrinform on Thursday.

The report says 94% of respondents trust the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Ukrainians also tend to trust other security and defense bodies: volunteer units (89%), the State Emergency Service (83%), the National Guard (82%), the Ministry of Defense (73%), the State Border Guard Service (72%), the Security Service (71%), and National Police (58%).

A total of 68% of respondents trust the Ukrainian president.

The level of trust in NGOs, including volunteer organizations, also remains high, at 63% and 86%, respectively. Some 63% of respondents trust the church, 53% - their local leaders (mayors), and 51% - the National Bank of Ukraine.

Some 48% and 43%, respectively, express trust rather than distrust in Ukrainian mass media (47% vs 41%), in local councils (43% vs 41%), and the ombudsman (43% vs 31%).

The majority of respondents have no trust in political parties (76%), 73% express distrust in government officials in general, 72% - in courts and judiciary in general, 66% - in the Verkhovna Rada, 63% - in the Government, 62% - in the Prosecutor's Office, 58% - in commercial banks, 52% - in the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office, 51% - in the National Agency for Corruption Prevention, and 51% - in the National Anti-corruption Bureau.

The study also included questions of trust in certain politicians, officials, and public figures. The highest level of trust is reported for President Volodymyr Zelensky (71%), Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration chief Vitaliy Kim (65%), Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (56%), volunteer Serhiy Prytula (55%), and the adviser to the President’s Office, Mykhailo Podoliak (52%) have the highest level of trust among respondents.

People express trust rather than distrust toward NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov (44% vs 30%), SBU Head Vasyl Maliuk (41% vs 21%), Defenes Minister Rustem Umerov (35% vs 22%), and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko (31% vs 21%).

Reintegration Minister Iryna Vereshchuk saw the shares split almost equally (40% vs 39%), and MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak (Voice)- 19% and 21%, respectively.

The majority of respondents do not trust Homeland party leader Yulia Tymoshenko (85%), ex-adviser to the President’s Office Oleksiy Arestovich (82%), head of the Platform for Life Yuriy Boyko (81%), ex-President Petro Poroshenko (74%), MP Mariana Bezuhla (Servant of the People) (58.5%), Servant of the People faction chief MP David Arakhamia (57%), and Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak (54%).

Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko saw distrust being expressed more often than trust (45% do not trust him while 40% do), Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal (42% vs 38%), Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk (41% vs 28% ) Deputy Chief of the President’s Office Oleh Tatarov (34% and 10%), Parliament’s Finance Committee chair Danylo Hetmantsev (33% vs 20%), Vice Prime Minister for European Integration Olha Stefanishyna (23% vs 17%), and Deputy Head of the President’s Office Rostyslav Shurma (21% vs 10%).

The research was run by the Razumkov Center sociological service jointly with the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation on December 8-15. A total of 2019 respondents over the age of 18 have been surveyed. The sampling error is within 2.3%.