05.10.2017
For the Defender of Ukraine Day
- According to a survey conducted by Rating Group in September 2017, 54% of respondents said they would be ready to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity with arms if such a threat arose, almost twice as many as in 2012. In the Central and Western regions, this share reaches about two thirds, while in the South it is around half. In the East, however, 52% said they would not be ready to defend the country with weapons (26% said they would, and 22% were undecided). Patriotic attitudes are more common among men, Ukrainian-speakers, and people with higher incomes.
- Fifty-nine percent of respondents support establishing Defenders of Ukraine Day on October 14, and nearly the same share (56%) do not support abolishing the celebration of February 23, the former Soviet Army and Navy Day. Support for October 14 is stronger in the West, while opposition to abolishing February 23 is more widespread in the South and East. Notably, support for October 14 is equally strong among men and women, and there are also no gender differences in opposition to abolishing February 23. Almost half (45%) of those who support October 14 as Defenders of Ukraine Day nevertheless do not support canceling the Soviet-era holiday.
- Nearly half of respondents (49%) support recognizing the OUN and UPA as participants in the struggle for Ukraine’s independence, while 29% oppose this idea; about one quarter were undecided. Compared with 2015, support for recognition has increased (from 41% to 49%), and since 2010 it has grown by a factor of 2.5.
- Support for recognition is highest in the West (80%), while about half of respondents in the Center also support it. At the same time, nearly half of residents of the East and South oppose recognizing the nationalist insurgent movement. Men, younger people, rural residents, people with higher education, and Ukrainian-speakers are more likely than others to support recognition of the OUN and UPA.
- A majority of respondents (56%) have a positive attitude toward the idea of reconciliation between soldiers of the Soviet Army and the OUN-UPA, up from 44% in 2012. In the West, support is more than twice as high as in the East (75% versus 34%). Support for reconciliation is also stronger among people with higher education, rural residents, and Ukrainian-speakers, and is almost twice as high among those who support recognition of the OUN-UPA compared with those who do not.
- An overwhelming majority (90%) agree that soldiers of the Soviet Army defended their homeland during World War II, while 53% also agree that fighters of the OUN-UPA defended their homeland during the war. Support for the latter view has increased by about one and a half times since 2012. Those most likely to support the idea that OUN-UPA fighters defended their country are young people, men, rural residents, Ukrainian-speakers, and residents of Western Ukraine.
Methodology
- Audience: population of Ukraine aged 18 and older.
- Sample size: 2,000 respondents.
- Sampling: representative by age, gender, region, and type of settlement.
- Method: face-to-face formalized interviews.
- Margin of error: not more than 2.2%.
- Fieldwork period: September 20–29, 2017.
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