The prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia in September was “the event of the year,” according to a survey published on Dec. 23 by Rating Group Ukraine.
In the same survey, Ukrainians named President Volodymyr Zelensky the politician of the year. Zelensky, then a TV comedian, announced that he was running for president on the New Year’s Eve, and won the election in a landslide in April.
The majority of Ukrainians who took part in the survey, 47%, named Zelensky the politician of 2019.
Others were far behind. Ex-Prime Minister and Batkivshchyna party leader Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuriy Boyko, one of the leaders of a pro-Russian party Opposition Platform For Life, and Dmytro Razumkov, the speaker of the parliament, all received from 8 to 10% of the vote.
The prisoner swap held on Sept. 7 between Ukraine and Russia, which brought home 35 captives from each side, is seen as an event of the year by 48% of Ukrainians. But the presidential election wasn’t far behind, with 44% naming it the most important event of 2019.
One in five believes that the event of the year was the renewal of the Normandy Format four-party peace negotiations. A summit of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France took part in Paris on Dec. 9 after three years of standstill.
The survey questioned 2,500 adult Ukrainians on Dec. 13–17.
