HPQ presentation

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine How did it all begin?

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War that began in 2014. The invasion caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II, with around 7.2 million Ukrainians fleeing the country and a third of the population displaced.

The invasion began on the morning of 24 February, when Putin announced a "special military operation" to "demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine. Few minutes after his announcement, missiles and airstrikes hit across Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, followed by a large ground invasion from different directions on the north, west and south of Ukraine. Few hours later, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy enacted martial law and a general mobilisation.

How did it all begin?

Subtopics

Who is Volodymyr Zelenskiy?

What is the attitude towards the president during the war, the trust of the country ?

What was the attitude towards the government of the country during the war in 2022, the trust of the people?

Why people do not trust the government?

Changes in the government of Ukraine

What is the attitude towards the government of the country after the political changes?

Subtopics

Who is Volodymyr Zelenskiy?

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskiy, is a Ukrainian politician and former comedian and actor who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019.

Zelenskiy announced his candidacy in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election on the evening of 31 December 2018, alongside the New Year's Eve address of then-president Petro Poroshenko on the TV channel 1+1. A political outsider, he had already become one of the frontrunners in opinion polls for the election. He won the election with 73.23 percent of the vote in the second round, defeating Poroshenko. He has positioned himself as an anti-establishment and anti-corruption figure.

In 1995-2000, he studied at the Kyiv National University of Economics, majoring in "Jurisprudence", and obtained the qualification of a lawyer. Until 2019, he worked as an actor, comedian and TV presenter. He was also a director of famous Ukrainian films and series.

Who is Volodymyr Zelenskiy?

What is the attitude towards the president during the war, the trust of the country ?

Attitude

Despite the trials of war and the efforts of Russian propaganda, the trust of Ukrainians in state and social institutions is only growing. According to sociologists, the balance of trust increased the most in the year for the President of Ukraine (+93%).

"Among respondents who trust the president of Ukraine, more than 90% are convinced of Ukraine's victory in the war. Those who do not trust the president are less likely to believe in the victory of Ukraine. However, the majority of such respondents (64%) also believe that Ukraine will win the war," the study says.

It is very interesting that in November 2021, 38.3% people of Ukraine absolutely did not trust Volodymyr Zelenskiy and 28.1% rather do not trust then trust. But in December 2021, situation had changed and support for the actions of the President of Ukraine has tripled.

Rating of support for Volodymyr Zelenskiy as of the beginning of 2022:

Green-support

Red-do not support

White-hard to rate

Diagram

Website: “Ukrainian Pravda” (03.03.2022)

What was the attitude towards the government of the country during the war in 2022, the trust of the people?

In the case of the Ukrainian parliament, the situation looks completely different.

As of September 15, 2022, Ukrainians had the least trust in political parties (-55%), the judicial system (-46%), officials (-46%), commercial banks (-37%) and the Verkhovna Rada (Unicameral parliament of Ukraine. Verkhovna Rada is the main govering body of Ukraine and composed of 450 deputies, who are presided over by a chairman.) (-19%).

Atitude

Diagram provided by website “Ukrainian Pravda ” (15.09.2022)

Why people do not trust the government?

After the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, many traitors and supporters of Russian propaganda appeared among the Ukrainian parliament. From the first day, they tried to demoralize the Ukrainian population and encourage cooperation with the aggressor. Their actions have a very negative impact on Ukrainian society in general. After all, there are people who really believe in propaganda. This especially applies to the older generation.

Unfortunately, some of the politicians continue to do so to this day, but some of them now arrested and under the prison.

This is also due to the fact that some of the Ukrainian politicians still have secret economic or political ties with Russia. For example Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk .

Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk is a Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch and politician who was elected as People's Deputy of Ukraine on 29 August 2019. He served as the chairman of the pro-Russian political organization “Ukrainian Choice” from 2018 to 2022. He is an opponent of Ukraine joining the European Union.

Why people do not trust the government?

On 19 February 2021, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine included Medvedchuk and his wife, Oksana Marchenko, on the Ukrainian sanctions list, due to alleged financing of terrorism. On 11 May 2021, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine accused Medvedchuk of treason and attempted looting of national resources in Crimea (which had been annexed by Russia but remains internationally recognised as Ukrainian).

Medvedchuk's house arrest started on 13 May 2021. Medvedchuk escaped this house arrest on 28 February 2022, four days after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and went missing. On 8 March 2022 he was removed from the post of co-chairman of Opposition Platform — For Life. On 12 April 2022 Medvedchuk was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

Medvedchuk is considered an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, whom Medvedchuk has referred to as "a personal friend".

Why people do not trust the government?

Changes in the government of Ukraine

Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova was dismissed. A. Kostin was appointed the new Prosecutor General.

The heads of the SBU administration in Kyiv, Ternopil, and Lviv regions were also dismissed. A. Bondarenko became the new chief in the Kyiv region.

Zelenskiy wanted to fire the Minister of Foreign Affairs Kuleba, but at the moment he is still in office.

A new head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration - Yaroslav Yanushevych was also appointed. Yanushevych is an Honored Economist of Ukraine, Candidate of Economics and Doctor of Law.

Changes in the government of Ukraine

Chages in the government of Ukraine

In general, starting from December 2022, the President of Ukraine announced new changes in the parliament. In this regard, searches among civil servants were intensified, which showed that there are still many corrupt and traitors among our government.

For example, on February 1, 2023, the apartment of Ukrainian oligarch and billionaire I. Kolomoisky was searched. According to one of the official telegrams news channel, the Security Service of Ukraine exposed his large-scale scheme of assigning UAH 40 billion to Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta (leaders in Ukraine’s oil industry). To date, it is known that criminal proceedings have been initiated in this regard.

Also, the entire management of the Ukrainian customs was dismissed for non-fulfillment of the customs plan. (only 57% were executed due to large-scale corruption schemes).

The Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, the Deputy Minister of Development of Communities and Territories, the Deputy Minister of Social Policy and the Deputy Prosecutor General were also dismissed from their posts. Subsequently, the heads of military-civilian organizations of the Sumy, Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kherson regions resigned. Kyrylo Tymoshenko - Head of the Offices of the President of Ukraine, also wrote a resignation letter, for whom a new position is already being prepared. Instead, Oleksiy Sobolev was appointed to the position of the dismissed Minister of Economy of Ukraine.

As of February 2023, searches and changes among deputies and government are still ongoing.

What is the attitude towards the government of the country after the political changes?

Atitude after the changes

Despite the fact that changes are still ongoing, trust in the government among Ukrainians is slowly starting to grow. For example, Ukrainians began to trust the Security Service and the National Police more. The level of trust in the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada also increased.

"There is a significant improvement in trust in two other law enforcement structures on the list: trust in the SBU increased from 29% to 63% (the balance increased from -7% to +54%), and in the National Police - from 30% to 58% (the balance increased from -14% to +45%). The perception of the government and the Verkhovna Rada also improved significantly. Trust in the government increased from 14% to 52% (the balance increased from -7% to +33%). In the case of the parliament (Verkhovna Rada), although overall trust indicators are not high, but there is also a significant increase in trust: from 11% to 35%, and the balance has increased from -19% to +2%," - noted sociologists.

Source: website “Suspilʹne Novyny” 13/01/2023

Sources

[1] Wikipedia The free Encyclopedia

[2] “Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Ukraine”, 2022 15/09/2022

[3] ZN,UA 15/09/2022

[4] Segodnya.ua, 2022 27/02/2022

[5] Telegram channel “InsiderUA” 2022

[6] “BBC news Ukraine” 2022

[7] Ukrainian Pravda 03/03/2022

[8] “Suspilʹne Novyny” 13/01/2023

Sources