In war-fatigued east Ukraine, Zelensky loses his shine

KIEV

Olena Semykina, the owner of a village shop in east Ukraine, voted for President Volodymyr Zelensky five and a half years ago, hoping the fresh-faced political newcomer would end the fighting unleashed by Russian proxy forces in 2014.

The screech of an artillery shell over her leafy village in the war-battered Donetsk region and the plumes of dark smoke billowing on the horizon suggested that her hopes for his first term had fallen short.

"We expected the war to end, like he promised. But the war hasn't ended. There's even more fighting. It seems to me that it's become even more intense," the 43-year-old told AFP in the village of Kleban-Byk, where invading Russian forces are fast approaching.

Across the industrial Donetsk region some war-fatigued residents, like Olena who voted for Zelensky in 2019, have lost faith in the 46-year-old leader as Russia's invasion grinds through its third year.

The former comedian won respect internationally and drew comparisons with Winston Churchill when he stayed in Kiev in February 2022 to lead his country in a David-versus-Goliath battle against Russian forces.

But in interviews with AFP, Donetsk residents blamed him for failing to prevent the full-scale invasion in the first place, for daily speeches that felt empty or for being out of touch with Ukrainians living near the front lines.

Donetsk has been partially controlled by Russian proxy forces since they wrested control over swathes of the industrial territory in 2014.

Zelensky swept to victory five years later, promising to end the bitter fighting and stamp out systemic corruption among Soviet-style political elites.

Polling in September 2019, just months after his inauguration, showed the former TV star was riding high with around 80 percent approval ratings.

Those figures plummeted before Russia invaded in 2022, but skyrocketed to around 90 percent as Russian missiles began raining down on Ukrainians.

Now his ratings are falling precipitously again, standing at 55 percent, according to polling by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).

"To be honest, I don't listen to him at all anymore. It's pointless. I don't believe in anything he says. He talks a lot but does little," said Vadim, a miner in Selydove, another Donetsk-region town in Russia's sights.

"You have to be here to understand what's going on here and how people live," added the 42-year-old, who earlier sent his family to Kiev for safety from Russian bombardments.

Zelensky's first five-year term officially ended earlier this year. Under martial law, Kiev cannot hold elections, which would anyway face myriad obstacles with millions of Ukrainians abroad, living under Russian occupation or near active hostilities.

KIIS polling suggested that least 70 percent of Ukrainians oppose holding any ballot with the war raging, but there is still a clear appetite for change, said the institute's Executive Director Anton Grushetsky.

"It is obvious that the request from ordinary Ukrainians is for more and more competent, decent people to hold the most important government positions," he wrote in an analytical note alongside the poll findings.