ABSTRACT
The rise to power of Volodymyr Zelensky was directly connected with the reaction of the Ukrainian population to the results of the country’s development under President Petro Poroshenko (2014–19). 1 In early 2019, Ukrainians had a very low level of trust in the government, with just 9% of respondents expressing confidence in it—the lowest level in the world in 2018–19 and far below the regional median of 48% for post-Soviet nations. 2 Dissatisfaction with the government in 2018–19 was so great that Zelensky, a person with no political or administrative experience, obtained a mandate for power from 73% of the voters, among both rich and poor, urban and rural dwellers, and Ukrainian and Russian speakers living across all regions of Ukraine. 3
