Ukrainians trust Defense Forces most, prosecutors least - poll

This is seen from a survey run by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Ukrinform reports.

“In the case of the Defense Forces, support remains consistently very high, 92% trust with only 2% distrust (a year ago, the figures were 96% and 1%, respectively). The balance of trust-distrust is +90%,” the survey says.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian citizens trust courts and prosecutors the least.

“Trust in courts and prosecutors remains critically low. Only 12% of Ukrainians trust courts and only 9% trust prosecutors. 63% and 67% do not trust them, respectively. Against last year, the situation has not changed,” said Anton Hrushetsky, KIIS executive director.

Analyzing the outcome of the survey, he noted a decline in trust in other state institutions.

“If we talk about other authorities (the Verkhovna Rada, the Government), we see that the trend of decreasing support remains in place. In the case of the Verkhovna Rada, the level of trust has hardly changed over the past year (13% now versus 15% in December 2023), but the share of those who do not trust the parliament has increased from 61% to 68%. In December 2023 the trust-distrust balance stood at 46%, and now it is -55%,” the survey states.

According to KIIS, trust in the government is slightly higher, but also remaining low: now 20% trust the Cabinet (in December 2023 it was 26%), and 53% do not trust it (in December 2023 it was 44%). The balance of trust over the past year has decreased from -18% to -33%.

“At the same time, in the context of trust in parliament and government, we note that, despite low trust, the majority of Ukrainians stand against holding elections now,” KIIS emphasizes.

In contrast, the SBU maintains a fairly high level of trust (despite a slight decrease against last year). Thus, according to the survey, 54% of Ukrainians trust the SBU, and 21% do not trust the agency (in December 2023 the figures were 58% to 16%).

The survey authors also noted that trust in the police has decreased slightly over the year – from 41% to 37%, while the number of those who do not trust them has increased from 29% to 38%.

The survey was conducted from December 2 to 17, 2024, using CATI method. A total of 2,000 respondents aged 18 and over, living in regions controlled by the government, were surveyed.

As reported, as of December, 52% of Ukrainians trusted President Volodymyr Zelensky, while 39% did not.