Trust in President Volodymyr Zelensky among Ukrainians declined from 65% in June to 58% in July 2025, according to a poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS). The survey began the day after the high-profile vote in the Verkhovna Rada’s draft law number 12414 – which many experts said would undermine the independence of the two anti-corruption agencies: the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).
KIIS said that the decline in trust towards Zelensky had begun even before the adoption of the controversial law, but the vote itself became a significant factor in shaping public sentiment.
“When analyzing the dynamics of trust in the context of the events surrounding Law No. 12414, it is important to note that we already observed a downward trend in early June. Therefore, not all of the seven-percentage point drop in trust can be attributed to the adoption of the law. However, this event undoubtedly had an impact, as some respondents specifically cited the vote as the reason for their distrust of the President,” according to the survey’s commentary.
The proposed law drew criticism from anti-corruption organizations, human rights defenders, and some of Ukraine’s international partners. Its passage through parliament was seen as a step toward weakening the independence of the country’s anti-corruption institutions, which are among the key requirements laid down by Western allies in the context of EU integration and support for reforms.
It is also reported that 35% of respondents now do not trust the President – a 5% increase from early June.
According to sociologists, trust in Zelensky continues to decline: the trust-distrust balance dropped from +35% in June to +23% in early August. At the same time, current indicators remain higher than the lowest levels recorded in December 2024 after almost three years of full-scale war.
The most significant drop in trust was recorded in the western regions of Ukraine – from 73% in June to 55% in August which saw an erosion of the previously highest level of support for Zelensky drawing more closely to that of other regions.
The central regions, trust levels remained unchanged at 63%, while in the south trust fell from 61% to 55% and in the east from 61% to 54%.
Despite the decline, the majority of respondents in all regions still express trust in the head of state, and the trust-distrust balance remains positive.
The sharpest decline in trust was observed among those under 30 – from 74% in June to 59% in August.
The KIIS survey was conducted via telephone interviews with respondents from all regions of Ukraine, excluding the occupied territories, and said to be representative of the adult population of the country.
On Tuesday, July 22, the Verkhovna Rada voted to strip NABU and SAPO of their independence – a move that drew sharp criticism from the EU and triggered mass protests demanding its reversal.
Many feared that weakening these institutions would block future investigations into high-level corruption.
On July 31 Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 13533, proposed personally by Zelensky, which reinstated the independence of key anti-corruption institutions.
Under the “12414” legislation, the Prosecutor General would have the authority to take over criminal proceedings initiated by NABU or SAPO at any time and transfer them to another law enforcement agency.
This sparked serious concern, as the Prosecutor General is part of the state apparatus that Ukraine’s anti-corruption reforms were designed to keep at arm’s length. The Office of the Prosecutor General also has a long history of friction with NABU.
For instance, in October 2020, NABU opened a case against the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Oleh Tatarov. In December, NABU and SAPO announced they had formally served him with a notice of suspicion.
However, almost immediately, the Office of the Prosecutor General, led at the time by Iryna Venediktova, removed the case from NABU and handed it over to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), then headed by Ivan Bakanov, with the case stalling following Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion.