The press release was prepared by Anton Hrushetskyi, executive director of KIIS

During February 17-23, 2024, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey "Omnibus". Bythemethodofcomputer-assistedtelephoneinterviews(CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting), 1,052 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine (except AR of Crimea) were interviewed. The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived on the territory of Ukraine controlled by the Government of Ukraine. The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the authorities of Ukraine, and the survey was not conducted with citizens who went 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 1.1) did not exceed 3.4% for indicators close to 50%, 3.0% for indicators close to 25%, 2.1% - for indicators close to 10%, 1.5% - for indicators close to 5%.

Under conditions of war, in addition to the specified formal error, a certain systematic deviation is added. In particular, if in May 2022, among all the respondents we interviewed, 2.5-4% lived in the territories occupied after February 24 (and this corresponded to the percentage of those who live there, because the generation of telephone numbers was random), now due to the occupiers turning off the telephone connection, not a single respondent who currently lives in occupied settlements was included in the sample (along with this, out of a total of 1,052 respondents, 33 respondents lived in a settlement that is currently occupied until February 24, 2022). It is important to note that although the views of the respondents who lived in the occupation were somewhat different, the general trends were quite similar. That is, the impossibility of interviewing such respondents does not significantly affect the quality of the results. There are other factors that can affect the quality of results in "wartime" conditions, which were cited by KIIS earlier.

In general, we believe that the obtained results are still highly representative and allow a fairly reliable analysis of the public moods of the population.

The narrative that Ukraine is a failed state, which in fact does not possess sovereignty and is not capable of being an independent state, began to spread almost from the moment of the declaration of Independence. On the way to European integration, hostile Russian propaganda colored this narrative with the idea that Ukraine is allegedly "totally controlled by the West" (and in Ukraine, some activists speculated in parallel with the idea that "the West is turning Ukraine into its colony"). Even in the West, some politicians, together with the leaders of individual states, also expressed the statement that Ukraine is not a sovereign state.

Although the majority of Ukrainians have always (both in the 1990s and beyond) had a pro-Ukrainian position and saw Ukraine as an independent state, for example, in a 2016 survey conducted by KIIS for the “Democratic Initiatives” Foundation, 49% of respondents did not consider Ukraine to be a truly independent state . Considered Ukraine a truly independent state - 38%.

In the context of a large-scale invasion and intensive cooperation between Ukraine and the West, the hostile narrative about Ukraine's inability and lack of independence becomes particularly dangerous and requires monitoring and countermeasures. That is why we asked the respondents the question, what do they think, whether Ukraine retains its sovereignty.

The vast majority of Ukrainians - 68% - believe that Ukraine retains its own sovereignty and is able to make its own decisions. Believe that Ukraine has mostly lost its sovereignty and is under the control of the West and rather follows its commands - 25%. The remaining 7% could not make up their mind.

Graph 1. Continuing the issue of relations with the West, Ukraine …

Previously, KIIS published the results of how Ukrainians currently perceive Western aid to Ukraine. Those who believe that the West is tired of Ukraine and wants to pressure Ukraine to make concessions believe in the "loss of sovereignty" significantly more. Among them, 36% believe that Ukraine has lost its sovereignty (although 60% do not think so).

Among those who believe that the West remains a serious ally of Ukraine, only 15% believe that Ukraine has mostly lost its sovereignty, and 78% see Ukraine as sovereign and capable of making its own independent decisions.

Graph2. Whether Ukraine retains its sovereignty depends on how the current support from the West is perceived

The graph below shows the data in regional terms. In all regions, the majority of Ukrainians (65-71% depending on the region) believe that Ukraine retains its sovereignty.

Graph3. Does Ukraine retain sovereignty in the regional dimension

A. Hrushetskyi, comments on the survey results:

Ukraine passed the capacity test in 2014 and especially in 2022. No matter how hard the enemies (and some "friends") of Ukraine tried to create a different reality, Ukraine took place as a state and the Motherland of Ukrainians long before 2014. So, the Ukrainian state has certain problems and a number of imperfections (for which we even excessively criticize it), but it is its own and one in which Ukrainians themselves are ready to work and build their "land of dreams".

To some, the current indicators of faith in the true sovereignty of Ukraine may not seem so high. Unfortunately, we have not asked the question in this way before. However, flipping through the results of our surveys for the 1990s and 2000s, we can say with confidence that the Ukrainian nation, in its eyes, is moving along the path of subjectivization and the growth of its own self-esteem. That is, the current indicators (in particular, in the regional dimension) testify to the intensive process of nation-building and crystallization of the modern Ukrainian civil nation, which feels capable of being a full-fledged subject in the international arena.

We must all continue to work in the same direction. To put aside head-scattering and destructive fatalistic criticism of the Ukrainian state, and instead to work constructively on correcting shortcomings, strengthening unity and building up one's own forces.

Annex 1. Formulation of questions from the questionnaire

Continuing the issue of relations with the West, Ukraine … RANDOMIZATION OF THE ORDER