The press release was prepared by Anton Hrushetskyi, executive director of KIIS

During September 19-28, 2025, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey "Omnibus", to which, at the request of the public organization Center for Strategic Communications "Forum", a question was added regarding the perception of how the level of corruption in Ukraine had changed during the full-scale invasion. By the method of telephone interviews (computer-assistedtelephoneinterviews, CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting) in all regions of Ukraine (the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine), 1,029 respondents were surveyed. The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived in the territory of Ukraine controlled by the Government of Ukraine. The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities (at the same time, some of the respondents are IDPs who moved from the occupied territories), and the survey was not conducted with citizens who left abroad after February 24, 2022.

Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.3) did not exceed 4.1% for indicators close to 50%, 3.5% for indicators close to 25%, 2.5% for indicators close to 10%, 1.8% for indicators close to 5%.

Under conditions of war, in addition to the specified formal error, a certain systematic deviation is added. Factors that may affect the quality of results in "wartime" conditions were previously cited by KIIS.

In general, we believe that the obtained results are still highly representative and allow a fairly reliable analysis of the public moods of the population.

The vast majority of Ukrainians – 71% – believe that the level of corruption in the country has increased during the full-scale invasion. Another 20% believe that it has not changed and 5% believe that the level of corruption has decreased.

Graph 1. In your opinion, during the full-scale invasion, the level of corruption in Ukraine …?

In all regions of Ukraine[1] the majority of the population believes that the level of corruption has increased.

Graph 2. Perception of changes in the level of corruption in the regional dimension

Although among those who trust President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the ratings are slightly better, even among them the majority believe that the level of corruption has increased during the full-scale war.

Graph 3. Perception of changes in the level of corruption among those who trust/distrust President V. Zelenskyy

A. Hrushetskyi, comments on the survey results:

Corruption remains an extremely serious problem in the eyes of the public. It is possible (and even necessary) to discuss how much the subjective perception of the level of corruption corresponds to the objective situation. Most likely, there is indeed progress, albeit not so fast and effective (and not always linear), but still with the identification and prosecution of corrupt officials and with the general fight against corrupt actions (if we look at a fairly long period, for example, since the 2000s). That is, the objective situation is better than it may seem to us.

Moreover, to a large extent, the perception of the level of corruption is largely formed not as a result of personal experience, but through the media (now especially through social media), which is why there is a noticeable gap between the objective situation and its reflection in public opinion. A paradoxical situation arises when the intensification of the fight against corruption (and the appearance of numerous information in the media) can be perceived as an increase in corruption. Therefore, the question of whether corruption is objectively increasing must be investigated through special researches. For example, since the 2000s, KIIS has been conducting regular researches “The State of Corruption in Ukraine” (the last one was in 2024[2]). According to these data, the level of corruption in general is decreasing according to many parameters. But we study both the perception and the specific personal experience of people, and people's experience does not concern communication with higher levels of government. While people, when they talk about corruption, mean higher authorities (everyday corruption is largely tolerated by ordinary Ukrainians).

At the same time, social sciences has long emphasized that subjective perception can play an even more important role in people's subsequent actions than the objective situation. Such people's belief in widespread corruption can have quite realistic consequences that can be negative not only for the authorities, but also for society as a whole. Therefore, it cannot be ignored (even if it turns out that this is objectively not the case) that so many Ukrainians believe that the level of corruption has increased during the invasion.

Annex 1. Formulation of questions from the questionnaire

In your opinion, during the full-scale invasion, the level of corruption in Ukraine …?