More Than Half Of Ukrainians Consider Corruption A Greater Threat To The Country Than War
- 6.05.2026, 19:19
Survey.
54% of Ukrainians have named corruption in state authorities as a greater threat to Ukraine's development than Russia's military aggression. This is evidenced by the results of a sociological survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KMIS), which were released on May 6.
Sociologists noted that the answers differ depending on the format of the question. If in the open question in February 2026, 65% of respondents named war among the main challenges, in the new survey, when choosing between corruption in power and military aggression of the Russian Federation, the majority chose the first option. Russia's military aggression was named by 39% of respondents, while another 7% were undecided.
The poll traced the connection between the answers and the level of trust in Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
"The less respondents trust Zelensky, the more often they talk about corruption as a more important problem than the war. Thus, among those who "don't trust" Zelensky at all, the view that corruption is a bigger threat absolutely prevails (76% vs. 16% who say war). Among those who "completely trust", there are already slightly more of those who consider war a greater threat (52% vs. 42% who talk about corruption)," the report says.
At the same time, most Ukrainians remain optimistic about the future of the country: 63% of respondents believe that in 10 years Ukraine will be a successful state within the European Union. The pessimistic scenario - a country with a ruined economy and a large outflow of population - was chosen by 25% of respondents. Compared to January 2026, the level of optimism has slightly decreased: then the future of Ukraine was positively assessed by 66% of Ukrainians, and pessimistically - 22%.
"Despite the extremely difficult winter, geopolitical and economic "earthquake" due to the war in Iran, Russia's continuation of its terror, the uncertainty of our relations with allies and all other challenges, most Ukrainians remain remarkably optimistic about the future. Russia has failed to break the will of Ukrainians and impose a gloomy worldview of bleak years ahead," said Anton Grushetsky, executive director of KMIS, in a commentary on the poll results.
KMIS also asked Ukrainians about their willingness to take unpopular decisions by the government for the sake of receiving Western funding. Almost half of the respondents believe that Ukraine should adopt all the necessary laws and reforms, even if they involve raising taxes for the population and businesses. At the same time, 30% spoke out against such decisions, even if it may lead to a shortage of funds in the budget for defense and social programs. A significant number of respondents (22%) could not make up their minds.
According to the institute, support for unpopular decisions prevails among most groups of respondents regardless of their level of trust in Zelensky, except for those who do not trust him at all: among them there are more supporters of rejecting such steps.
The poll was conducted on April 20-27 by telephone interviews among 1,005 Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older in government-controlled territory. The sample did not include residents of temporarily occupied territories, as well as Ukrainians who went abroad after February 24, 2022. The statistical error of the sample under normal circumstances does not exceed 4.1%.