Almost 60% of Ukrainians see positive developments in tackling corruption - poll

The majority of Ukrainians (59%) believe that effective attempts are being made by the government to fight corruption and positive developments are in place to this end, while 34% are convinced that recent corruption investigations are evidence of Ukraine's “hopeless corruption” so no positive change is observed.

That’s according to an Omnibus poll run by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from September 29 to October 9, 2023, Ukrinform reports.

Sociologists recall that in recent months in Ukraine, amid the recent cases investigated by Ukraine’s law enforcement and highlighted by, a number of flagrant violations of anti-graft legislation have been on top public agenda.

"We asked the respondents how they perceive the current situation in the fight against corruption. The majority of Ukrainians - 59% - believe that there are indeed attempts to fight corruption and that they see positive developments in Ukraine. At the same time, a significant share of respondents responded that the latest cases are evidence of Ukraine's ‘hopeless corruption and no positive changes’ (34%),” the press release states.

As noted by KIIS, such questions were not put forward in previous surveys so it is difficult to see the dynamic of public sentiments. At the same time, in the winter of 2022-2023, the organization ran a large-scale survey on the situation of corruption. One of the questions was "How effectively do you think the authorities of Ukraine are fighting corruption?"

"In 2018, 25% answered ‘rather effectively’ and in the winter of 2022-2023, it was 50%. Therefore, we can cautiously assume that now the opinions of Ukrainians regarding the fight against corruption are more optimistic than they were before the large-scale invasion (and compared to what they were before the Revolution of Dignity in 2014," sociologists note.

As the press release emphasizes, critical assessments of the corruption situation are linked with a higher readiness for territorial concessions. Thus, among those who express a negative assessment of the situation, 25% are ready for territorial concessions to Russia, while among those who see positive developments, only 4% think the same.

At the same time, even among those who are critical of the corruption situation, the vast majority (66%) stand against territorial concessions (among those who positively assess the situation, 88% are against concessions).