Zelensky Offers $24 One-Off Payment to Win Over War-Weary Ukrainians

After nearly three years of a grueling war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine faces a difficult balancing act: extracting more financial resources to sustain the fight without overwhelming a population already straining under the conflict’s economic toll.

That tension was on full display in recent days as Mr. Zelensky signed into law the largest tax increase of the war while simultaneously introducing a state-sponsored program providing financial aid to Ukrainians during the winter.

The government said that every Ukrainian would be eligible to receive a one-off payment of 1,000 Ukrainian hryvnias, about $24 — a modest sum compared to the average monthly salary in Ukraine of roughly $500. But the government has touted the move as a way of demonstrating support for its citizens.

“For many families and at the level of the whole country, this is tangible,” Mr. Zelensky said in his nightly address on Monday, saying that more than 3.2 million Ukrainians had already applied to receive the grant.

Analysts say the program is a calculated effort by Mr. Zelensky to shore up his popularity among a population that is growing tired of the war. That fatigue has been exacerbated by a mobilization drive this year that exposed divides in society and corruption scandals that tarnished the government’s image.

A recent poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, a private think tank, found that while trust in Mr. Zelensky remained relatively strong at 59 percent, it had nonetheless fallen from 77 percent a year ago.