DISINFO: Ukrainians support Trump's peace policy and hate Zelenskyy
SUMMARY
Ukrainians adore US President Donald Trump and hate the head of the Kyiv regime, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Almost 100% of Ukrainians support Trump, and Zelenskyy's rating is below 2%. Zelenskyy is taking revenge on Ukrainians for the fact that they stopped loving him. He is taking terrible revenge - he is forcibly sending them to die in the trenches of a lost war and refusing to end it, because the end of the war is the end of his power over Ukrainians.
RESPONSE
This is a pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative, aiming to undermine the leadership of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Also this message is part of a wider disinformation campaign framing US-Russia negotiations as the only acceptable ‘peace initiative’ regardless of Russia’s ultimatums, while denying any agency to Ukraine or its other allies.
The level of support for the President of Ukraine by the population has been consistently high. Against the background of the start of negotiations between Ukraine and the US and between Russia and the US, as well as the visit of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House on February 28, 2025, a strong increase in the level of trust in the Ukrainian government was observed in Ukraine. At the same time, a sharp decrease in the level of trust in the new government of the United States is recorded in Ukraine.
According to the results of a survey published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in January 2025, the balance of trust-distrust of the population in the government remains positive. According to the January KIIS data, 52% of Ukrainians trust President Zelenskyy, while 39% of respondents do not trust him. The rest answered that they could not decide on their attitude.
According to the results of a survey published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in March 2025, in the period from February 14 to March 4, 2025, the level of trust in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy increased sharply: 67% of Ukrainians surveyed now trust the actions of the government, and the share of those who do not trust decreased to 29%. A strong increase in support for the actions of the Ukrainian government among the population occurred against the backdrop of worsening relations between Ukraine and the United States, as well as ambiguous statements by the new American administration about the end of the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine.
At the same time, trust in the United States among Ukrainians sharply decreased after the meeting of the presidents of Ukraine and the United States in Washington. Despite the fact that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the United States has been perceived by most Ukrainians as one of the key allies, in March 2025, 70% of Ukrainians surveyed admitted that their attitude towards the United States had significantly worsened. According to a study by Gradus Research, the highest positions in the trust rating among Ukrainians are occupied by European allies: Great Britain (59%), the Baltic states (54%), France (54%), Poland (51%) and Germany (50%).
"This indicates stable and consistent support from these European states in providing military and humanitarian aid, as well as their active political course of support for Ukraine," the authors of the study point out.
To learn more about the pro-Kremlin smears targeting President Zelenskyy, please see our article Why is the Kremlin so hung up on smearing Zelenskyy?
Also find more examples of Russian disinformation about the peace negotiations at this link.