Kremlin poll shows Putin’s popularity falling

Ukrainian incursion into Russia dents leader’s usually rock-solid public support

Vladimir Putin’s popularity has fallen since Ukraine’s surprise invasion of Kursk, according to a Kremlin-linked research unit.
The poll by VTsIOM confirms unofficial analysis that the Ukrainian incursion has dented the Russian president’s usually rock-solid public support.
It showed that Putin’s popularity fell by 3.3 percentage points to 73.6 per cent within a fortnight of Ukraine’s Aug 6 attack, the first invasion of Russia since the Second World War.
This is the largest slip in support for Putin since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, larger than drops after a mobilisation in Russia in September 2022 and a failed coup by Kremlin mercenaries last year, according to VTsIOM.
Other reports had already hinted at a drop in Kremlin popularity after the Kursk attack.
An analysis of Russian mainstream and social media by FilterLabs, a US-based company, eight days ago, said that although Russian propaganda had remained unflinchingly pro-Putin, data from the Kursk region showed “real frustration with the Russian government” because people felt the Russian leader “deserved some of the blame”.
Such direct attacks on Putin are comparatively rare in Russia, where ordinary people’s frustrations are normally directed at lower-ranking officials.
Peter Pomerantsev, an author of books on Kremlin propaganda, said that the invasion of Kursk had rattled Russians’ confidence.
“While state media in Russia is deflecting blame away from the ‘dear leader’ for Ukraine’s success, on social media and inside Kursk sentiment towards Putin is dipping hard,” he said.
On Saturday, social media videos showed Ukrainian soldiers raising their flag in another village in the Kursk region, backing up Ukrainian estimates that its forces now control almost 500 square miles of Russian territory and 93 settlements.
Ukraine has also expanded its drone attacks across Russia, striking not only military targets but civilian infrastructure. 
This week, the largest Ukrainian drone strike of the war hit Moscow and, on Saturday, in a video address to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day, Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine could now strike any location across Russia.
“Sooner or later, a Ukrainian response will reach any point in the Russian Federation that is a source of danger to the life of our state or our people,” he said.
But while Ukrainian forces are taking ground in the Kursk region, reports from the front line in the eastern Donbas region showed Russian forces on the offensive.
A Russian missile attack on the town of Kostiantynivka, near Bakhmut, killed five civilians on Saturday, according to Ukrainian officials, and Russian military bloggers said that Putin’s armies were closing in on the town of Pokrovsk, 35 miles to the south west. 
Pokrovsk had a pre-war population of 70,000 people and is considered a key logistics hub for the Ukrainian army as it lies on railway and road intersections.
Russian forces are now only six miles from the town and analysts have said that the entire front line could “collapse” if it falls.
The Two Majors, a well-connected Russian military blogging Telegram channel, confirmed Russian soldiers’ push towards Pokrovsk and said that they were close to capturing a nearby village.
“The Ukrainian armed forces are losing positions in Karlovka. The Russian army is moving towards Mirnograd and Pokrovsk,” it said.
There have also been reports for the first time since the US agreed to a major military aid package for Ukraine in May that front-line Ukrainian forces are running low on ammunition. 
Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas have been told to ration their ammunition and Mr Zelensky admonished Ukraine’s Nato allies on Friday for being slow to deliver promised military aid because his armies need shells and ammunition now, not promises of “tomorrow or soon”.