Interfax: Over half of Ukrainians want conflict in Donbas to be resolved through negotiation – poll

(Interfax – July 21, 2015)

Over half of all Ukrainians (56.8 percent) surveyed by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology believe the best solution to the military conflict in Donbass would be through further peace talks and a peaceful settlement on the basis of the Minsk agreements.

The poll shows that 28.3 percent of the respondents believe that the territory of Donbas should be liberated by the Ukrainian army, 13.7 percent could not answer the question, and 1.1 percent refused to answer it.

A total of 56.3 percent of the respondents agree that any agreements with the Russian Federation are not upheld and the Russian authorities will never fulfill them anyway, only 13.2 percent disagreed with that.

A total of 36.4 percent of the respondents agree that the territory of Ukraine can only be liberated using the Ukrainian army, and 25.7 percent disagree with that.

A total of 47.7 percent of the respondents said they are ready to give the Russian language the status of a state language to achieve peace in Ukraine (38 percent are not ready for that), 40.7 percent are not ready to enter NATO (41 percent are ready), 33.9 percent are ready to give up the European Union membership (48.8 percent are not ready), 33.3 percent are ready to agree to the separation of Crimea from Ukraine (50.6 percent are not ready), 28 percent are ready to enter the Customs Union (50.6 percent are not ready), 26,4 percent are ready to give autonomy to the DPR and the LPR (56.1 percent are not ready), 24.7 percent are ready for separatists to be given an amnesty (55.4 percent are not ready), 21 percent are ready to agree to the federalization of the entire Ukraine (59.1 percent are not ready).

A total of 18.7 percent of the respondents suggest recognizing the independence of the DNR and the LNR (63.8 percent are not ready for that), 15.3 percent believe the entire Donbass should be given to Russia (72.1 percent are not ready for that), and 5.8 percent believe Russia should get the entire Eastern and Southern Ukraine along the Dnieper line (83.7 percent are not ready for that).

Only 6 percent of the respondents believe it would be better for their region to separate from Ukraine and 83.2 percent do not think so.

A total of 22.9 percent of residents of the territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, controlled by Ukraine, believe it would be better for them to separate from Ukraine and 51.7 percent do not support this idea, the poll shows.

The poll was conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology in the period between June 27 and July 9. It surveyed 2,044 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine except for the territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions not controlled by Ukraine.

The statistical margin of error does not exceed 3.3 percent for indicators close to 50 percent, 2.8 percent for indicators close to 25 percent, 2 percent for indicators close to 10 percent, and 1.4 percent for indicators close to 5 percent.