Interfax: Almost half Ukrainians doubt government’s ability to protect sovereignty – poll

KYIV. Oct 8 (Interfax) – Only 10.7% of polled Ukrainians think the government’s current security and defense policy fully meets national interests.

Forty-two per cent of respondents think state policies in this sphere partly meet national interests; 30.9% hold to the opposite opinion, and 16.4% could not answer, according to the findings of a poll conducted by the Razumkov Centre, which were unveiled at a press conference at Interfax in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Furthermore, 46.2% of respondents consider the new Ukrainian government unable to protect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine; 26.1% of respondents think the opposite.

Forty-nine point three per cent of respondents think Ukraine must regain its status of a nuclear state; 27.7% of respondents are opposed.

Nuclear status is favored by a majority of residents in the western and central regions of Ukraine (64.3% and 60.3%, respectively) and a relative majority in the country’s south (39.5%).

In the eastern region, the proportions of supporters and opponents of nuclear status are approximately the same (36.8% and 39.5%)

The poll was conducted on October 5 – 10, 2014. A total of 2,014 respondents were polled in all Ukrainian regions.