The Levada Center, a prominent independent Russian polling organization, has found that Russians’ attitudes toward Ukraine have steadily improved since the most recent Ukrainian presidential election. In a new survey that was conducted in late September, 56 percent of respondents said they have a positive opinion of Ukraine. That figure marks a record high since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. Levada Center experts wrote that the change likely stems from Russians’ sympathetic attitudes toward Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who won Ukraine’s presidential election in April of 2019.