According to a study released on Monday, the vast majority of Ukrainians (78 percent) believe President Volodymyr Zelensky is personally responsible for corruption in the government and military.
Based on the Kyiv Independent, the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology survey, which was conducted in July, Ukrainians ranked corruption within their own government as a greater threat to “Ukrainian entrepreneurship” than the ongoing Russian invasion.
The poll was conducted following months of investigations, which were preceded by months of firings at the highest echelons of government.
In January, Zelensky announced measures to combat bribery and other forms of corruption in his administration, including the dismissal of five governors and four deputy ministers.
Those dismissals followed the removal of top infrastructure official Vasyl Lozinskyi on suspicion of embezzlement.
Since the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation poll in July, Zelensky has sacked every regional recruitment centre director for accepting payments from men wanting to flee the conflict and replaced the country’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov.
At the time of publication, Reznikov was not facing any criminal charges or accusations of direct involvement in corruption, but rumours of corruption preceded his “resignation.”
According to the Kyiv Independent, which translated the poll results, elder Ukrainians were more likely to directly link Zelensky in any government wrongdoing.
While 78 percent of all Ukrainians believe the president is directly accountable for corruption, that figure drops to 70 percent among those aged 18 to 29, and rises to 80 percent among those over 60.