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the coronavirus may be the cause, while another 6% believe that the escalation in Donbas could stir crisis. Also, 22% of respondents assess the direction in, which the government is steering the country as correct, 63% - as incorrect, while another 15% found the question difficult to answer.
The number of Ukrainians that fully trust, or rather trust Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has fallen below 50% of the population, according to a recent poll by Ukrainian Institute for Social Research, Interfax Ukraine reported on June 23. Zelenskiy is fully trusted by 13% of the respondents to the survey, with another 28.3% that they said they “rather trust” the president. However, 25.4% of respondents said they “rather do not trust” Zelenskiy and 24.8% don't trust him at all. "Thus, 50% of the population today does not trust President Zelenskiy," Olha Balakireva, the head of the institute said in comments cited by Interfax. Zelenskiy trust rating still puts him well ahead of the rest of the field, but his popularity is waning as he runs into more and more problems with this programme to remake the country. The young president was swept into office last April on the back of a promise to bring the war in Donbas to a rapid end.
For the first time since Volodymyr Zelenskiy was elected Ukraine's president in April 2019, the proportion of Ukrainian citizens who disapprove of him has exceeded that of his supporters​, a recent survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) poll found. According to the poll outcome, 38% Ukrainians approve of ​Zelenskiy​ and 45% disapprove of him. Meanwhile, in May, 47% of Ukrainians approved of Zelenskiy, while 37% disapprove, according to the findings of the KIIS's previous poll. The June poll also found that 51% Ukrainians consider the recently opened probe into the country's previous president Petro Poroshenko to be "punishment for breaking the law." 30% of the respondents see probes as "political persecution." The same survey also revealed Ukrainians' disappointment about co-operation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 61% of respondents said that the current co-operation with the IMF and obtaining loans from the global financial agency are inappropriate. Only 24% of Ukrainians said Ukraine needs loans from the IMF, compared with 32% in April.
“Half of Ukrainians (50%) do not regret the collapse of the USSR, but one in three (33.5%) regret it,” ​reveal the results of a new survey from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) at the end of June.​ ​KIIS insists that region differences accounts for much of the variation in opinion among respondents, including those among people claiming different ethnic identities or main languages of communication. However, age and family wealth were also influential factors.​ ​In Western Ukraine, the vast majority of respondents do not regret the fact that Soviet Union collapsed — 69% vs. 15% — while Central Ukraine saw a ratio of 51% to 32%. “In the South, East, and Donbas, those who regret the collapse of the USSR are predominant: 41.5% to 49% depending on the region, compared to the 35% to 39% of those who do not regret it,” KIIS says.​ ​Only 14% of people under the age of 30 regret the collapse of the USSR, while 50% of people aged 70 and older regret it. Meanwhile, 56% of Ukraine's poorest citizens regret the Soviet collapse, compared to just 17% of the richest.
KIIS sociologists also analyzed the data in terms of the country’s main presidential and party electorates​, revealing that Poroshenko’s voters regret the Soviet collapse the least — 4% regret it, while 88% do not — and that Zelenskiy’s voters aligned more closely with the views of the general population. Holos party supporters also showed a low level of regret regarding the collapse of the USSR: 79% don’t regret it, while just 17% do.​ ​When asked if they felt being part of the Soviet Union brought more harm or benefit to Ukraine, 35% of respondents said that it was more beneficial, while 28% felt it caused more harm (however, 25.5% felt it was difficult to say).​ ​KIIS also used data from the independent Russian pollster the Levada Center to compare nostalgia for the Soviet past in Ukraine and Russia, revealing that the polling
23​ UKRAINE Country Report​ July 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com