72% of Ukrainians say Zelensky bears personal responsibility for corruption in his entourage, KIIS poll finds
A Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) poll conducted September 12–21, 2026 found that 72% of surveyed Ukrainians believe President Volodymyr Zelensky is personally responsible for the corrupt actions of people in his circle, while 25% disagree. The same poll showed corruption in government tied or slightly edged out war-related concerns among the issues that worry Ukrainians most, with 72% saying the level of corruption has risen since the full-scale invasion.
Key points
- KIIS polled 1,002 adults in government-controlled territory by telephone between September 12 and 21, 2026; citizens abroad and residents of non-controlled territories were excluded.
- 72% of respondents said Zelensky bears personal responsibility for corruption in his entourage; 25% disagreed; 3% could not answer.
- Among respondents who fully trust Zelensky, 3% see him as responsible for his circle's corruption; among those who fully distrust him, 85% do — the share rises steeply with falling trust.
- When asked what worries them most, 50% named corruption in government, 40% named massive Russian missile and drone strikes; 64% overall cited either corruption or government incompetence, versus 53% citing war-related factors.
- 72% of respondents said the level of corruption in Ukraine has increased since the start of the full-scale invasion; 6% said it has decreased; 17% said it has stayed the same.
- KIIS cautioned that respondents understand 'personal responsibility' more as political responsibility than as personal involvement in corruption.
- Earlier 2026 KIIS polling shows framing matters: an open-ended question found 65% naming the war and 29% corruption, while an April 2026 closed question put corruption ahead of the invasion 54% to 39% as the greater threat.
Why it matters
An attribution of personal responsibility to a wartime president from nearly three-quarters of those polled is an unusually strong negative judgment from voters, made sharper by the simultaneous finding that anti-government concerns now rival or slightly exceed wartime fears as what worries Ukrainians most. The overlap between views on Zelensky and trust in him — only 3% of his full supporters blame him, versus 85% of his full opponents — suggests corruption is now a central axis of political evaluation rather than a side issue. The 72% who say corruption has grown since the invasion began indicates a widespread perception that the war has coincided with, rather than suspended, graft.
What happened
KIIS conducted a nationwide telephone poll of 1,002 adults living in government-controlled territory between September 12 and 21, 2026, with additional questions on corruption commissioned by the NGO Forum. On the question of Zelensky's personal responsibility for corruption in his entourage, 72% said he bears it, 25% said he does not, and 3% could not answer. Asked what worries them most, with up to three choices from 12 options, 50% named corruption in government, 40% named massive Russian missile and drone strikes, 30% named government incompetence, 28% named low wages and pensions, 24% named the activity of military recruitment centers (TCC), 23% named rising prices, 21% named the situation at the front, and 10% named war fatigue and lack of unity. Aggregated, 64% cited government-related concerns and 53% cited war-related concerns. Separately, 72% said corruption has increased since the start of the full-scale invasion, 6% said it has decreased, and 17% said it has stayed the same. KIIS noted that 'personal responsibility' is read by respondents more as political than as personal culpability, and that wartime conditions add a systematic deviation beyond the formal margin of error, though the results remain highly representative.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
All 14 supplied articles are Ukrainian domestic outlets, so the framing is uniformly national. Reporting centers the 72% responsibility figure as the political takeaway and highlights the corruption-versus-war comparison as a signal that anti-government sentiment now rivals wartime fears. Several outlets carry KIIS's methodological caveat that respondents understand 'responsibility' as political rather than personal complicity, which softens the headline judgment without displacing it.
Background
KIIS conducted the poll by CATI telephone interview using a random sample of mobile numbers across all government-controlled regions; citizens who left Ukraine after February 24, 2022 and residents of non-government-controlled territories were excluded. The 'what worries you most?' question was asked with 12 answer options read out and respondents allowed up to three, so percentages sum to more than 100 and individual items should not be read as a forced ranking. KIIS executive director Anton Grushetsky noted that earlier 2026 KIIS polling showed the order of concerns shifts with the framing: an April 2026 closed question put corruption ahead of the invasion 54% to 39% as the greater threat, while an earlier open-ended question found 65% spontaneously naming the war and 29% naming corruption. The poll was conducted in the context of reported high-profile investigations, including NABU and SAP inquiries and an investigation referred to as 'Carthage' involving an Office of the Prosecutor General official, though the synthesis does not detail their outcomes.