Zelenskyy's approval rating grows to 57%, debunking Trump's 4% support claim

Despite the US president's claims of low support, Zelenskyy's approval rating reached 57% in February — higher than Trump's own.

Transcript

00:00Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump is

00:06living in a Russian disinformation space.

00:10That comes after Trump claimed on Tuesday that Zelenskiy's approval rating among Ukrainians

00:14stands at just 4 percent.

00:17But the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology said Zelenskiy's rating had risen to 57 percent

00:22at the beginning of February.

00:24Zelenskiy said in a statement that he has seen the disinformation and understands that it

00:31comes from Russia, and we have evidence that these figures are discussed between the U.S.

00:42and Russia.

00:43Unfortunately, President Trump, with great respect to him as a leader of a nation that

00:52we very much respect, the American people, who constantly support us, lives in this disinformation

00:59space.

01:00Trump also criticized Ukraine for not holding a presidential election that was originally

01:04scheduled for March or April last year.

01:07That vote was postponed as the Constitution doesn't permit elections to take place under

01:11martial law, which was declared in 2022, the day of the Russian invasion.

01:16The Kremlin has repeatedly tried to use the delay to portray Zelenskiy as illegitimate.

01:22Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Zelenskiy said he is open to

01:26discussing elections in Ukraine, but is reluctant to lift martial laws that could weaken the

01:30country's defense.

01:32Also on Tuesday, Trump appeared to blame Ukraine for the Russian invasion, saying the Ukrainians

01:36should never have started it.

01:39That came in response to criticism from Zelenskiy and other Western leaders that Ukraine wasn't

01:43invited to participate in peace talks with Russia and Saudi Arabia.

01:52For more UN videos visit www.un.org