After more than two years of war, support for President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine has fallen to an all-time low – but he still has the trust of more than half of the population. According to a poll published on Friday, people’s approval of the head of state fell below 60 percent for the first time. In May 2022 – shortly after the start of the Russian war of aggression – the figure was still at 90 percent.
As the war progressed, however, approval ratings for Zelensky continued to decline. In December 2023, 77 percent of Ukrainians trusted him, compared to 64 percent in February of this year.
Now this figure has fallen below 60 percent for the first time, as the KIIS polling institute reported on Friday. “The downward trend in trust continues,” the institute wrote. “At the same time, however, we would like to point out that Volodymyr Zelenskyj continues to have legitimacy in the eyes of Ukrainian society and that the majority of Ukrainians trust him.”
Zelenskyj took office in 2019. His term actually ended last month – but he remained president under the current martial law. According to the Ukrainian authorities, there will be no elections for the time being, partly because 20 percent of the country is under Russian control and millions of Ukrainians have fled abroad.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden apologized publicly to Zelensky for the first time for the months-long delay in military aid. Both heads of state took part in commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy in France. In the capital Paris, Biden told Zelensky that he apologized to the Ukrainian people for the weeks of uncertainty.
The US Congress only presented a $61 billion aid package to Biden for signature after six months. Biden nevertheless stressed that the American people are standing by Ukraine in the long term. “We are still there. Fully,” he said.
The USA is by far the largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine, which has recently come under increasing pressure due to a Russian offensive in the east of the country. The Russian advance is concentrated in the border regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk, but Kiev has warned that it could spread. Moscow tried to exploit the lack of ammunition and soldiers among the Ukrainian defenders on the approximately 1,000-kilometer-long front and pushed ahead with the offensive. This shortage is due in no small part to the delay in military aid in the US Congress.