The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) found higher trust in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy among people interviewed later in October, but its unchanged overall reading limits evidence of a broader shift.
Trust stood at 57% among 757 people questioned Oct. 10-16, versus 43% among 274 interviewed Oct. 8-9, KIIS said in results released Oct. 20. Distrust was 39% in the later group and 52% in the earlier group. The 14-percentage-point difference compares separate groups of people; KIIS did not track changes in individuals’ views.
Across the full Oct. 8-16 poll, 54% trusted Zelenskyy and 41% distrusted him. Those figures matched KIIS’s Aug. 21-Sept. 10 survey, giving the overall result a different picture from the split within October’s interviews.
KIIS said a response to U.S. pressure was its most likely explanation for the later group’s stronger support. The institute also noted that trust has sometimes measured lower near the beginning of its surveys for methodological reasons. The poll cannot establish why the groups answered differently. KIIS Executive Director Anton Grushetskyi said the strength and duration of any renewed increase remain uncertain.
The polling period included an Oct. 9 U.S. Treasury Department license authorizing specified transactions involving Russian-origin diesel, including imports into the United States. EconoTimes has separately covered lawmakers’ criticism of a Russia sanctions waiver. KIIS did not publish interview times that would establish the order of the Oct. 9 responses and the license announcement. President Donald Trump’s Oct. 19 suggestion that Ukraine seek another negotiator came after polling ended.
KIIS interviewed 1,031 Ukrainian citizens aged 18 or older by mobile phone in government-controlled territory. The sample excluded people living outside that territory and Ukrainians who had left the country after Feb. 24, 2022. KIIS reported margins of error of 7.7 percentage points for the earlier group and 4.6 points for the later group, and warned that wartime conditions could add error.
KIIS cited a previous rise during U.S.-Ukraine tensions: Trust measured 57% in a February 2025 survey and 68% among people interviewed March 1-4 after a White House exchange. The institute announced no date for its next poll.
