Nearly 90% of Ukrainians believe Russia will not stop at currently occupied territories
Pravda Ukraine
The vast majority of Ukrainians believe that Russia intends to destroy Ukraine and is not planning to stop at the territories it has already occupied.
Source: a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from 14 February to 4 March.
Quote: “A total of 87% of Ukrainians believe that Russia does not want to stop at the already occupied territories.”
Details: Sociologists note that in all regions of Ukraine, the absolute majority, ranging from 80% in the east and south to 89-90% in the west and centre, believe that Russia will continue its territorial expansion.
In addition, 66% of respondents are convinced that Russia’s goal is to destroy Ukraine and its people. Specifically, 28% believe Russia seeks to physically exterminate Ukrainians, while 38% think Russia wants to seize all or most of Ukraine’s territory and eliminate Ukrainian statehood and national identity.
Quote: “Also, 70% in the west, 68% in the centre and 62% in the south believe that Russia wants to commit physical genocide or destroy Ukrainian statehood and the nation. In the east, the indicator is also high – 46%.”
Details: Another 14% think Russia aims to seize most of Ukraine and install a puppet government, while 7% believe Russia wants to occupy the entire Donbas, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Only 4% believe that Russia simply wants to maintain control over already occupied territories, while just 3% think Russia’s goal is merely to “de-Nazify” and demilitarise Ukraine. The remaining 7% of respondents were unsure how to answer.
Anton Hrushetskyi, Deputy Executive Director of KIIS, stated that the survey results indicate that while Ukrainians are very tired, they still categorically reject peace “on any terms”.
Quote from Hrushetskyi: “Ukrainians are quite flexible and ready to discuss even painful options for ending the war. At the same time, Ukrainians are ready to continue to defend their ‘red lines’ (which consist of the survival of the Ukrainian nation, preservation of sovereignty and guarantees of security) and are definitely not going to simply lay down their arms and surrender to the mercy of the enemy.”
More details: The survey was conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviews based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers. A total of 1,029 respondents aged 18 and older, residing in all government-controlled regions of Ukraine, participated.
The sample did not include residents of temporarily occupied territories, although some respondents were internally displaced persons who had fled occupied areas. The survey also did not cover Ukrainians who had left the country since 24 February 2022.
Under normal circumstances, the statistical margin of error for this sample, with a probability of 0.95 and considering a design effect of 1.3, would not exceed 4.1% for figures around 50%, 3.5% for figures around 25%, 2.5% for figures around 10%, and 1.8% for figures around 5%. Given the ongoing war, additional systematic deviations may exist, but sociologists believe the results remain highly representative and provide a reliable analysis of public sentiment.
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