Shevchenko, Khmelnytskyi and Bandera: the most prominent Ukrainians of all time named

The sociological group “Rating” has published the results of a survey in which Ukrainian citizens named the three most outstanding compatriots of all time. Most respondents identified Taras Shevchenko, Lesya Ukrainka, and Bohdan Khmelnytsky as leaders, while Stepan Bandera and President Volodymyr Zelensky also made it to the top five.

This is stated on the website of the “Rating” group.

The survey was conducted using an open-ended question, without suggested answer options. Respondents were asked to name the three most prominent Ukrainians of all time.

According to the survey results, citizens named the most prominent Ukrainians as follows:

• Taras Shevchenko – 60%;
• Lesya Ukrainka – 28.4%;
• Bohdan Khmelnytskyi – 15.9%;
• Stepan Bandera – 11%;
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy – 10.4%;
• Ivan Mazepa – 9.9%;
• Mykhailo Hrushevskyi – 9.8%;
• Hryhoriy Skovoroda – 9.1%;
• Vyacheslav Chornovil – 8.9%.

In another part of the survey, participants were offered a list of historical figures and asked to rate their attitude towards each of them.

Respondents rated Bohdan Khmelnytskyi the best – 90%, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi – 84%, Ivan Mazepa – 82%, and Stepan Bandera – 74%.

The attitude towards Pavlo Skoropadskyi was moderately positive – 63%, Symon Petliura – 59%, and Roman Shukhevych – 56%.

The perception of Nestor Makhno is controversial: 45% of respondents have a positive attitude towards him, while 22% have a negative attitude, which is the highest indicator of negativity among all figures.

The attitude towards Volodymyr Vynnychenko remains predominantly positive – 40%, Yevhen Konovalets – 39%, and Andriy Melnyk – 25%.

Sociologists noted that attitudes toward Symon Petliura, Stepan Bandera, and Ivan Mazepa have been growing in recent years.

The survey was conducted by Rating Group using computer-assisted telephone interviews from August 4 to 9, 2026 among 2,000 respondents. The study covered all regions, except temporarily occupied territories and territories without Ukrainian mobile communications. The sample is representative by age, gender, and type of settlement, the margin of error is no more than 2.2% with a confidence interval of 0.95.

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