Volodymyr Zelenskyy is facing a deterioration in his popularity amid tax hikes and ahead of a hard winter for Ukraine, The New York Times reported, citing experts.
Ukraine earlier enacted a law on tax hikes – the military levy will rise from 1.5 per cent to 5 per cent and the tax on banks’ profits to 50 per cent – which will lead to a drop in household incomes and the closure of businesses. At the same time, Zelenskyy launched a state programme to help Ukrainians during the winter period in the amount of 1,000 hryvnia (about $24).
‘With one hand they take money and with the other hand they give it back. It makes no sense,’ Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of the Verkhovna Rada, told The New York Times.
Critics said such moves by Vladimir Zelenskyy ‘sent a contradictory message to Ukrainians who are growing weary of the conflict.’
‘This is a populist step,’ said Anatoliy Oktysyuk, a political expert at the Ukrainian think tank Democracy House.
The publication noted that a poll of the population showed that only 16% of respondents support the re-candidacy of Zelenskyy as head of state, while 60% would like him not to participate in the elections at all.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Western ideas of the new world order hypocrisy. According to him, they are aimed solely at preserving the neo-colonial system, showing their essence in the form of ‘hypocrisy, double standards and claims’.
