Investments, tariffs, and war: Zelenskyy's top 10 failed promises in two years of presidency

The Committee of Voters of Ukraine analyzed the public promises of Volodymyr Zelenskнy during his presidency and highlighted the top 10 of those that he had not yet fulfilled in two years. They mainly relate to the matters of the end of the war, the fight against corruption, the tariff reduction, and the like.

Top 10 Zelenskyy’s unfulfilled promises in two years

In February 2020, Zelenskyy stated that "Ukraine should be covered with an avalanche of investments, both external and internal," and even at that time the country reached the necessary prerequisites for this. However, the Committee of Voters says that last year the volume of foreign direct investment in Ukraine was the lowest in the last 20 years due to the coronavirus pandemic and the unfavorable business environment.

Read also: Can Ukraine reverse its outflow of FDI?

"I think we will exterminate the bootleg by the end of 2019," Zelenskyy stated in August 2019, but in May 2021 this is still a pressing problem. Note that in early April, the head of state put into effect the NSDC decision "On the imposition of personal special economic and other restrictive measures" that imposed sanctions on a number of individuals suspected of organizing smuggling.

In July 2020, the head of state stated that Ukraine should be among the first countries to purchase the vaccine. However, now there are less doses of vaccines in Ukraine than planned, and the rate of vaccination is one of the lowest in Europe.

"I will get vaccinated right away, but not in the first wave that is intended for medical workers, because it is wrong... The first wave will be vaccinated with Pfizer medication," he said in February this year. However, Zelenskyy was vaccinated in the first wave (on March 2, when vaccination began on February 24), and the first wave of vaccinations was carried out by the Indian medication AstraZeneca (Covishield).

this is true, we have no right. It [ed.—Ukrainian vaccine against coronavirus], to tell the truth—is unique. This is not pathos or populism. It is unique because it is not like the others," Zelenskyy stated in October 2020. However, there is currently no information on the successful development of a Ukrainian vaccine against coronavirus.

In April 2020, Zelenskyy stated that during his tenure the war in Donbas would end and if the Minsk process did not work, then Ukraine would change its tactics. In the East, on the contrary, since December 2020, hostilities have intensified again, and there have been no significant changes in tactics.

Read also: Russia announced the troop withdrawal from the borders of Ukraine

Earlier, Zelenskyy promised to force the People's Deputy from the Servant of the People party, Roman Ivanisov, who had a conviction for rape, to resign and leave the party.And although he left the faction, he continued to work in parliament as a non-affiliated deputy.

"From the helicopter we saw what was going on both with the deforestation and with amber. We know all the names... We will definitely deal with this matter. I think that these people will not go far from our country," he said in August 2019.

According to the Committee of Voters, in December 2019, Zelenskyy signed a law regulating the amber mining in Ukraine. However, according to experts, the problem has not yet been comprehensively solved. The police regularly report the facts of illegal amber mining. The same is the situation with illegal logging (the Security Service of Ukraine reported on a scheme for illegal timber export for 15 million ГФР in 2002 and 2021).

In December 2019, Zelenskyy promised to adopt a separate program that should reduce heat tariffs by almost half last winter. However, in the 2020-2021 season, the cost of utilities for the population increased significantly, and that is why the government even reduced tariffs manually, setting the maximum price for gas—6.99 UAH.