Almost 60 percent of Ukrainians support diplomatic ways of resolving the war in eastern Ukraine, according to a poll conducted by Rating Group Ukraine in January 2019, the results of which were announced at the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Thursday.
Some 37 percent of respondents are for the cessation of the hostilities and the freezing of the conflict, and 22% stand for granting these territories an independent or federal status within Ukraine. Only 7 percent of respondents support the complete separation of the occupied lands. On the other hand, 18 percent support the continuation of military operations until Ukraine restores full control over Donbas.
Some 68 percent of respondents still consider the Russian Federation an aggressor in relation to Ukraine, while 20 percent hold the opposite opinion. At the same time, mostly all respondents who support the latter opinion are based in Donbas.
Support for the Ukraine’s pro-western course predominates in Ukraine: 46 percent of those polled support joining NATO and 32 percent against, and 50 percent are for joining the EU, while 30 percent favor maintaining equal relations with Russia and the West. Some 9% are for joining the Customs Union.
The survey was conducted from January 16 to January 24, 2019. Some 6,000 respondents aged 18 years and older were interviewed using a face-to-face method. The sample is representative by age, gender, region, and type of settlement. The margin of error of the poll does not exceed 1.3 percent.
