Ukrainian President Zelenskyy Reveals Income Amid Push for Transparency

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a speech during his visit to Warsaw, Poland, on April 5, 2023. (Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly declared his income for the first time since the start of the war with Russia amid a push to increase transparency and alleviate fears of corruption in his government.

In a Jan. 28 statement, Mr. Zelenskyy revealed that in 2021, the year before the start of the war, his family earned roughly 10.8 million hryvnia, which works out to be around $285,000. The income for that year mainly consisted of salaries, bank interest, income from renting out real estate and around 5 million hryvnia, or $142,000, from the sale of government bonds.

President Zelenskyy and his family earned around 12 million hryvnia the previous year, 2020, or roughly $316,000. According to Mr. Zelenskyy, his income dropped to 3.6 million hryvnia, or roughly $95,000, in 2022. His family’s cash balance also decreased due to the ongoing war with Russia.

“The income of the President’s family in 2022 decreased due to the temporary termination of lease agreements on the territory of Ukraine as a result of the beginning of Russia’s full-scale aggression against our country,” the statement said. “There were no other changes in 2021 and 2022 regarding assets, real estate, vehicles, etc.”

It was also revealed that Mr. Zelenskyy continues to own several trademarks. In 2021, the process of registering 22 trademarks was still ongoing. How much he earns from these trademarks or what they might be connected to remains unclear.

According to Forbes, which tracks the wealthiest people in the world for its famous billionaires list, Mr. Zelenskyy has a rough net worth of $20 million. Before becoming president, Mr. Zelenskyy was a successful comedian and actor. The primary source of his wealth is an estimated 25 percent stake in Kvartal 95, a group of companies that produce TV shows, one of which was picked up by Netflix. The rest of his wealth comes from a real estate portfolio, estimated to be worth roughly $4 million.

Ukraine’s Struggles With Corruption

Following the billions of dollars in war aid from Western allies, chief among them the United States, Ukraine has been under increased scrutiny on the issue of corruption and how the money is being spent. There are fears the cash is being squandered. Ukraine’s government has been scrambling to ease these concerns with several high-profile instances of public officials being dismissed over corruption, including as recently as Jan. 24.

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Ukraine has long been regarded as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. After achieving independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the country suffered under a long line of corrupt public officials and businessmen.

According to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which ranks 180 countries and territories around the world on their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of 0, meaning highly corrupt, to 100, meaning very little to no corruption, Ukraine’s consistently low scores indicate high levels of perceived corruption.

In the most recent CPI, for the 2020 to 2022 period, Ukraine scored 33, indicating high levels of perceived corruption. Russia scored 28, while North Korea got 17. The United States received a score of 69. The frontrunners for least corrupt countries were Denmark, New Zealand and Finland, with scores close to 90.