Some 81% of residents of the occupied territory of Donetsk region and 60 percent of residents of the part of the region controlled by Ukraine are most afraid of the resumption or intensification of hostilities in their territories.
These are the results of a sociological survey “Peculiarities of Consciousness and Identity of Residents of Occupied and Controlled Territories of Ukraine in Donetsk Region,” which was held in December 2017 by the Ukrainian office of the IFAK Institut international research agency at the request of the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine and with the support of the Donbas Think Tank and the National Endowment for Democracy.
Some 40 percent of residents of the occupied territory of the region and 53 percentof those living in the government-controlled area are afraid of a decline in living standards (price increases, irregular wage payments).
Some 35 percent of respondents in the occupied territory and 20% of those living in government-controlled part of Donetsk region are afraid that the conflict in Donbas will be frozen.
In the government-controlled territory of Donetsk region, 42 percent of respondents identify themselves as citizens of Ukraine, which is 10% more than in 2016. At the same time, 45 percent of residents of controlled territories prefer “territorial identity” (“regional” or “local”) – 21 percent consider themselves “residents of Donbas,” 11 percent of Donetsk region, and 13 percent consider themselves residents of their towns or villages.
In 2017, in the occupied territory of the Donetsk region there was a decrease from 18 percent to 13 percent compared to 2016 in the number of those who identify themselves as “citizens of DPR.” At the same time, territorial identity grew from 60 percent to 72 percent there.
Some 34 percent of respondents living in the controlled territory of the region believe that they are different in their values and thinking from residents of Russia and closer to those living in other regions of Ukraine.
In the occupied territory of the region, 41 percent believe that they differ from residents of other regions of Ukraine, but rather similar to residents of Russia. At the same time, in the controlled area the number of such people decreased from 20 percent to 17 percent.
At the same time, the number of those who consider themselves different both from residents of other regions of Ukraine and from Russians has increased from 16 percent to 24 percent in the controlled territory of Donetsk region.
More than half of respondents (57 percent) in occupied territories noted that they are united with residents of other Ukrainian regions by culture and traditions, and 53 percent by distrust in the Ukrainian authorities. At the same time, the main disuniting factors in their opinion are values and way of thinking (62 percent), disappointment with changes in the country (54 percent), belonging to the Ukrainian civil society (52 percent), religion (51 percent), and the desire to change life in Ukraine for the better (49 percent).
On the controlled territory of Donetsk region the main uniting factors are the desire to change life in the country for the better (74 percent), love for Ukraine (66 percent), distrust in the current Ukrainian authorities (63 percent), belonging to the civil society of Ukrainians (62 percent), culture and traditions (62 percent), and disappointment with the development of changes in the country (62 percent).
Some 72 percent of residents of the occupied part of Donetsk region and 68 percent of residents of the controlled part communicate with their friends and relatives who live in other regions of Ukraine.
The survey was conducted from December 10 to December 26, 2017 via a personal (face-to-face) interview. A total of 600 people were interviewed in the non-government controlled area of Donetsk region and 705 in the government-controlled area.
