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

During January 9-14, 2026, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey, which, among other things, asked about USA actions in Venezuela. By the method oftelephone 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), 601 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 5.3% for indicators close to 50%, 4.6% for indicators close to 25%, 3.2% for indicators close to 10%, 2.4% 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.

During the survey, respondents were read 5 possible interpretations of USA actions in Venezuela, and respondents had to answer which ones they agreed with (the respondent could choose any number of answers, as well as name their own option).

Therefore, the majority of respondents believe that in Venezuela the USA is trying to seize the country's resources and use them for selfish purposes (57%). Many respondents also spoke about efforts to end Venezuela's cooperation with China and Russia (35%), efforts by the USA government to improve its rating (26%), and the fight against drug trafficking (24%). The fewest respondents chose the option of trying to establish democracy in the country (11%)..

Graph 1. The USA recently arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Which of these explanations for the USA actions do you agree with? You can choose any number of answers.

In general, 3 explanations can be considered conditionally positive for the USA (pressure on China/Russia, drug trafficking, establishment of democracy), and 2 - conditionally negative (seizing resources and working for one's own rating).

As can be seen in the graph below, 29% of respondents share both certain positive and certain negative interpretations of the actions in Venezuela. 36% share only negative interpretations, 21% only positive ones. That is, in total, 65% agree with at least one negative view of the actions, but there are also 50% who agree with at least one positive view.

Graph 2. Perception of USA actions in Venezuela

A. Hrushetskyi, comments on the survey results:

In Ukraine, the perception of the USA deteriorated significantly during 2025. If in December 2024 only 24% did not trust the USA, then by December 2025 the indicator had increased to 52%[1]. As a result, Ukrainians are quite critical of the USA's actions on other issues (except the war between Ukraine and Russia), in particular, regarding the events in Venezuela.

So, ordinary Ukrainians are most likely quite poorly informed about the situation in Venezuela, the history of its relations with the USA and other countries, the essence of the claims against Venezuela (perhaps many in Ukraine, if not the majority, even knew little about its role for Russia). In such cases, the perception of events is often shaped by whether or not a person trusts the country. Perhaps if Ukrainians saw the USA as a reliable partner who wants Ukraine to succeed in the war, wants economic prosperity for Ukraine and the development of democracy, then the USA would have a “credit of trust” from Ukrainians regarding the events in Venezuela.

Currently, for a number of reasons, Ukrainians have a reserved perception of the USA leadership, which also affects how Ukrainians assess the events in Venezuela. However, at the same time, there is no unequivocal condemnation of the USA actions among Ukrainians. As we can see, half of Ukrainians share at least one of the positive interpretations of the actions in Venezuela and only a third share exclusively negative interpretations.

Annex 1. Formulation of questions from the questionnaire

The USA recently arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Which of these explanations for the USA actions do you agree with? You can choose any number of answers. READ. RANDOMIZATION OF THE ORDER