Ukrainians spoke about their vision of future relations with Russia: opinion poll
Only 12% of respondents are in favor of friendship between the two countries, and 0.3% want unification into one country.
In May 2024, 75% of Ukrainians are convinced that relations with Russia should be with closed borders, visas and customs, according to data poll KMIS.
Only 12% of respondents want the countries to be friendly, and only 0.3% support the idea of uniting into one state.
Sociologists note that before the Revolution of Dignity, the majority of Ukrainians (70%) wanted to see the countries as independent, but friendly. Only 15% insisted on closed borders, visas and customs, and 12% supported unification into one state.
After the occupation of Crimea and the start of the war in Donbass, the share of those who believed that relations should be like with other states increased from 15% to 44%, although 48% still wanted friendly relations. Those who supported the union were only 5%.
After the large-scale invasion, the share of those who want closed borders with Russia has increased to 79%. Until May 2024, this indicator remained almost unchanged.
Anton Hrushetskyi, deputy director of KMIS, noted that the absolute majority of Ukrainians want to be fenced off from Russia.
“In 2020, 57% of Ukrainians believed in the possibility of normalizing relations with Russia, but now the absolute majority of Ukrainians (justifiably) do not want to have anything to do with Russia and Russians and will perceive them as enemies for many years to come.” – he said.
The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted the survey from May 16 to 22, 2024, excluding residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the authorities of Ukraine.
It is also noted that Ukrainians mostly have a negative attitude towards six countries of the world, in particular towards Russia (-92.6%) and its allies: Belarus (-79.5%), Iran (-72.3%), China (-54, 2%) and Hungary (-28.6%).
