87% of Ukrainians believe Russia won’t halt at currently occupied territories – survey

The vast majority of Ukrainians believe that the Russian Federation does not want to stop at the already occupied territories and aims to destroy Ukraine.

Rubryka reports this, referring to the results of a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology conducted from February 14 to March 4.

"87% of Ukrainians believe that Russia does not want to stop at the already occupied territories," sociologists noted.

Experts note that in all regions of Ukraine, the absolute majority (from 80% in the East and South to 89-90% in the West and Center) believe that Russia will not stop at the already occupied territories.

In addition, 66% of those surveyed are convinced that Russia's goal is still to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians (28% believe that Russia wants to commit physical genocide of Ukrainians, and 38% believe that it wants to seize all or most of the territory of Ukraine and destroy Ukrainian statehood and the nation).

"70% in the West, 68% in the Center, 62% in the South believe that Russia wants to commit physical genocide or destroy Ukrainian statehood and the nation. In the East, the figure is also high – 46%," sociologists note.

Another 14% believe that the Russian Federation wants to seize all or most of the territory and establish a puppet government. 7% think that the Russian Federation wants to occupy all of Donbas, Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia.

Only 4% believe that Russia only seeks to preserve the already occupied territories, and only 3% believe that Russia simply wants to "denazify" and demilitarize Ukraine.

The remaining 7% of respondents could not answer the question.

Deputy Executive Director of KIIS Anton Hrushetsky said that these survey results indicate that although Ukrainians are "very tired", they are "still categorically against peace "on any terms".

"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 in the survival of the Ukrainian nation, preservation of sovereignty and security guarantees) and are definitely not going to simply lay down their arms and surrender to the mercy of the enemy," Hrushetsky concluded.

The study lasted from February 14 to March 4. Using the method of telephone interviews based on a random sample of mobile numbers, 1,029 respondents aged 18 and over living in all regions of Ukraine controlled by the government of Ukraine were surveyed.

The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities (at the same time, some of the respondents are IDPs who moved from occupied territories), and the survey was not conducted among citizens who left abroad after February 24, 2022.

Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.3) did not exceed 4.1% for indicators close to 50%, 3.5% for indicators close to 25%, 2.5% for indicators close to 10%, 1.8% for indicators close to 5%.

In wartime, a specific systematic deviation is added in addition to the aforementioned formal error. However, sociologists believe that the results obtained retain high representativeness and allow for a relatively reliable public sentiment analysis.

For reference:

As Rubryka wrote, Ukraine seeks to return the territories temporarily seized by the Russian Federation through diplomatic means, because this will allow it to preserve the most valuable thing – human lives. At the same time, diplomacy does not mean a compromise in favor of the aggressor or concessions on issues of state sovereignty.

It should be noted that over the almost three years of war, Ukrainian society has changed significantly, as shown by the dynamics of sociological surveys. Migration sentiment has stabilized, and the vast majority of citizens have returned to work, although they constantly feel fatigue, tension, and a high level of stress. To understand the general sentiment of Ukrainians, the research company Gradus Research conducted the eleventh wave of the study within the framework of the project "Gradus Society during War."

Moreover, in France, two-thirds of citizens support continued assistance to Ukraine and the dispatch of peacekeepers after the end of hostilities.