Page 13 - UKRRptApr21

Registrations of new companies fell by 20% y/y last year, a drop blamed on the pandemic and quarantine measures, according to recent report by YouControl, an online database. In 2020, the state registered 54,000 new companies. At the same time, 10,000 companies closed, largely in June, at the end of the hard lockdown.
A poll conducted by the Rating sociological group found that 71% of Ukrainians consider Russia to be an aggressor nation. Another, 22% of Ukrainians hold the opposite opinion. "Most of these people live in eastern regions and vote for the parties of Shariy and Murayev, as well as the Opposition Platform - for Life," sociologists said. 68% of respondents believe that Ukraine should use all opportunities to return Crimea to Ukraine, while 21% are ready to accept the transition of the peninsula under Russian control. At the same time, sociologists stated that the number of supporters of Crimea’s return to Ukraine had been gradually increasing since 2014. 45% of respondents support the initiative to resume water supply to the temporarily occupied Crimea, 48% do not support it.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s political ratings are on the rise, according to the latest public opinion surveys. On Wednesday, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) reported that 45% of Ukrainians trust Zelenskiy, compared to 39.5% earlier this month. The Razumkov Center noted a similar uptick in Zelenskiy’s ratings as of mid-March, with 31% of respondents saying they trust the president, up from 26.5% back in February. According to Razumkov’s latest poll, 27% of decided voters would cast their ballot for Zelenskiy in a hypothetical presidential election — a 4% increase compared to last month’s survey data. On the other hand, the Rating Group has reported only a slight increase in electoral support for Zelenskiy: 22.5% of decided voters would vote for him as of early March, compared to 21.2% in early February. In a blog post for Ukrainska Pravda, political analyst Vladimir Fesenko attributed the jump in positive attitudes towards Zelenskiy to the recent sanctions against pro-Kremlin oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk (for backstory, check out BMB’s February 26 issue). This conclusion was echoed by commentator Roman Shraik, who wrote on Telegram that the sanctions “obviously” benefit Zelenskiy’s ratings. Notably, the latest polling results underscore that Medvedchuk is a deeply distrusted figure in Ukraine. According to survey data from the Razumkov Center and the Rating Group, only 13-15% of Ukrainians trust him.
The largest population of Ukraine trusts Volodymyr Zelensky (45%), Yulia Tymoshenko (31%), Yuriy Boyko (26%), Petro Poroshenko (25%), the least - Maksym Stepanov and Serhiy Sternenko (8% each) and Oksana Marchenko (10%) ), according to a KIIS survey in March.
If you calculate the balance of trust and distrust (the percentage of those who trust minus the percentage of those who do not trust), the best balance for Zelensky (-7%), followed by Sternenko (-16%) and Stepanov (-23%). Medvedchuk (-57%), Avakov (-48%) and Poroshenko (-48%) have the worst balance.
13 UKRAINE Country Report April 2021 www.intellinews.com