The press release was prepared by the President of KIIS, Volodymyr Paniotto, and the Executive Director, Anton Hrushetskyi

From September 20 to October 3, 2024, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey "Omnibus", to which, on its own initiative, added questions about attitudes towards refugees abroad, IDPs, Russian-speaking citizens, etc. By the method of telephone interviews (computer-assistedtelephoneinterviews, CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting) in all regions of Ukraine (the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine), 989 respondents were surveyed. The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived in the territory of Ukraine controlled by the Government of Ukraine. 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 the occupied territories), and the survey was not conducted with 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%.

Under the conditions of war, in addition to the specified formal error, a certain systematic deviation is added. Factors that may affect the quality of results in "wartime" conditions were previously cited by KIIS.

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.

Cohesion, unity is one of the important characteristics of society. For Ukraine, which is forced to fight a powerful enemy, this is a matter of the country's survival as an independent state. Sociological studies show that, in general, the cohesion of Ukrainian society has increased significantly, differentiation by region, language, ethnicity has significantly decreased. But the war in Ukraine has caused not only physical destruction, but also social differentiation in society. As a result of the war, new categories of people have emerged who find themselves in different situations: those who are fighting, those who have become disabled, those who have remained in place, those who have been forced to leave their homes and move to another settlement within Ukraine (internally displaced persons, IDPs), those who have gone abroad (refugees), as well as those who have found themselves in occupied territory. However, sometimes, instead of coming together and supporting each other, new forms of distrust and condemnation arise. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology conducted a research on this topic in March 2023 and repeated it a year and a half later in September 2024 to analyze the social consequences of the war in Ukraine and understand how these consequences affect the integration and cohesion of Ukrainian society.

Methodological remarks

We usually provide methodological information in the appendices, but in this case preliminary explanations are necessary. Since 1994, KIIS has been conducting research on the attitudes of the Ukrainian population towards certain ethnic and social groups[1].  This research is conducted using the scale of the American sociologist Emory Bogardus (adapted by N. Panina). For each ethnic group on the list, respondents must answer how close a relationship they are ready to allow with representatives of each group.  This is called social distance.  Minimum social distance 1 (agree to admit as a family member), maximum 7 (would not allow into Ukraine). Often the level of social distance is interpreted as the level of prejudice against a particular group.

Now I will read you the names of some social and national groups. For each group, say whether you agree to allow its representatives ... . Choose all that apply.

Survey results

The full distribution of responses to these questions is given in Table Д1 in the appendix. Below, Table 1 shows the distribution of responses, which combines the percentage of people who are ready to accept refugees, IDPs and representatives of other groups as family members, friends, neighbors or work colleagues (score 1-4). Using the terminology of Ye. Holovakha and N. Panina, this attitude can be called tolerant[2]. The attitude towards a particular category of the population, which consists in the fact that a person would not like to see representatives of this category in his environment, but does not object to these people being citizens of Ukraine (score 5), can be called social isolation by analogy with the terminology of Ye. Holovakha and N. Panina. And disagreement with people from this social category living in Ukraine can be called xenophobia. If they do not object to these people coming as guests (score 6) – this is a lower level of xenophobia, and if they do not even perceive them as guests (score 7 – would not let into Ukraine at all) – this is the highest level of xenophobia.

Table 1. To what social distance are Ukrainian residents ready to allow representatives of several social categories, %. October 2024

Attitude towards refugees

As we can see from Table 1, 47% of respondents are completely tolerant, almost 40% agree that they should return to Ukraine (87% in total). Only 13% would not like to see them in Ukraine. In principle, these data are consistent with the data of the survey we conducted in September 2022[3]. We studied attitudes towards refugees in Europe using direct questions about attitudes towards them (“As you know, many Ukrainians left Ukraine due to the Russian invasion and became refugees. Some Ukrainians who remained are understanding of the refugees and do not condemn them for leaving and not returning. Other people, on the contrary, are upset by this choice and condemn them for leaving and not returning. And what is your general attitude towards Ukrainian refugees in Europe?”). We studied attitudes towards refugees in general and towards individual categories of refugees. Overall, 90% of Ukrainians are understanding of refugees and do not condemn them.

The average social distance from the population of Ukraine to refugees is 3.66, which is almost the same as the average for the 13 ethnic groups, the attitudes towards which we constantly study – the average for the 13 groups is 3.7.

For a better understanding of the results of this research, we also present the results of a survey using the Bogardus scale, which we conducted in October 2023 for two groups - with minimal social distance (Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians, average distance 2.22) and with maximum social distance (Russians - residents of Russia, average distance 6.39)

Table 2. To what social distance are residents of Ukraine ready to allow between Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians and Russians living in Russia, %. October 2023

As we can see, even for Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians, the social distance is not equal to 1, approximately 25% of the population would not like to see them among their closest environment and 5% have a xenophobic attitude towards them. Therefore, 13% of negative attitudes towards refugees do not cause much concern. 87% of the population is ready to allow refugees into their immediate environment, the situation with the attitude towards refugees is satisfactory.

The difference with the results of March 2023 is insignificant, the situation regarding refugees has not changed in a year and a half.

Attitudes towards internally displaced persons (IDPs)

Ukrainians treat IDPs from the groups we studied this time better than other groups. The social distance index is 3.20, which is significantly lower than the average for ethnic groups, almost 58% are ready to let them into their environment, another 35% agree that they should live in Ukraine (total 93%). Thus, 93% of the population agrees to allow IDPs into their environment, only 7% have a xenophobic attitude towards them (almost the same as towards Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians). Therefore, the situation with IDPs looks quite favorable.

Additionally, we note that in September-October 2024, KIIS conducted a survey for the Council of Europe Office and, in particular, separately among IDPs [4]. Thus, 68% of IDPs feel a positive attitude towards themselves from the community, 27% – neutral. And only 4% feel a negative attitude towards themselves.

The difference with the results of March 2023 is insignificant, the situation regarding IDPs has not changed in a year and a half.

Attitude towards Ukrainians who found themselves in the occupied territory after February 24, 2022

The attitude towards this category is worse. The social distance index is 3.97, which is below average, 40.7% are ready to let them into their environment, another 44.6% agree that they should live in Ukraine (total 85%). 15% have a xenophobic attitude towards them. The difference with the results of March 2023 is insignificant, the situation regarding the occupied has not changed in a year and a half.

In September 2022, we asked about those who remained in the occupied territory in a slightly different way[5], respondents had to choose which of the two answer options was closer to their point of view – (1) “The majority of residents who still live in the territories occupied after February 24 continue to live there because they really support the Russians or they simply don’t care about Ukraine” or “The majority of residents who still live in the territories occupied after February 24 are victims of circumstances, and they would like Ukraine to regain control over these territories.” The first answer was chosen by 12%, and the majority (72%) believed that the occupied are victims of circumstances and are waiting for the return of Ukrainian power, the rest did not know what to answer. Finally, in December 2022, in a similar survey, 83% expressed sympathy for the occupied Ukrainians, and 6% - condemnation. However, in another research conducted by KIIS for the NGO "Opora" in August 2022[6] a significant part of those surveyed demanded criminal liability for certain categories of occupied Ukrainian citizens. In July-August 2023, KIIS conducted a survey for the Presidential Representation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the “Partnership for a Strong Ukraine” Foundation[7], the results of which show a fairly normal attitude towards residents under occupation, but with the demand for punishment of certain categories.

The state should have clearer and more understandable communication with those who remained in the occupied territory so that it is clear what activities fall under the law on collaboration. Overall, the situation with regard to the occupied citizens still looks more or less satisfactory, but requires constant monitoring and attention.  This is also one of the factors that affect Ukraine's chances of returning the occupied territories and Ukrainian citizens.

Attitude towards Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine

The social distance index is 3.73, which corresponds to the average, 49% are ready to allow them into their environment, another 34% agree that they should live in Ukraine.  That is, 83% of the population is ready to allow Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine into their environment. 17% have a xenophobic attitude towards them.

The difference with the results of March 2023 is insignificant, the situation regarding Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine has not changed in a year and a half.

Attitude towards citizens of Ukraine who are Russians by nationality

This group has the worst attitude among those we studied this time. The social distance index is 4.32, quite high, 39% are ready to let them into their environment, and 29% agree that they should live in Ukraine (68% in total). 32% have a xenophobic attitude towards them. There is a certain positive trend here (see Table 2). There are 10 percentage points more people who are ready to let Ukrainian-ethnic Russians into their closest social circle, and the number of those who have a xenophobic attitude is 7 percentage points lower.

Table 3. Dynamics of attitudes towards citizens of Ukraine who are Russians by nationality from March 2023 to October 2024, %.

And yet this attitude is obviously irrational and unfair, because the data of sociological research show that in general the views of citizens of Ukraine who are ethnic Russians, although somewhat different from the views of ethnic Ukrainians, are not very significant, and these citizens also protect Ukraine from enemies. Of course, the attitude towards Russian citizens of Ukraine is much better than towards Russian citizens of Russia, who would not be allowed into Ukraine even as guests by 80%, but still this situation is worrying and may negatively affect the unity of our society. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in the past Ukrainian-ethnic Russians supported pro-Russian parties more than ethnic Ukrainians. But now the situation has changed, regional, linguistic and ethnic differentiation on most important issues has disappeared or significantly decreased. It is possible that many respondents have not yet realized these changes. Now many people of Russian nationality call themselves Ukrainians in the survey, because they have just such a civic identification. In addition, according to our research, 78% of those ethnic Russian-speaking Russians who continue to call themselves Russians, first of all consider themselves citizens of Ukraine[8]. 

V. Paniotto, comments on the survey results:

KIIS continues to study the attitude of the population towards new categories of people who found themselves in different situations as a result of the war. Negative attitudes towards certain social groups can have a significant impact on our society, reducing its cohesion, resistance potential, and the ability to rebuild the country after the war. Negative attitudes towards our refugees in Europe, which are quite widespread in social networks, reduce the percentage of those who will return to Ukraine after the war. The same applies to those who found themselves in the occupied territories. And this is no less than 8 million people in total. Attitudes towards internally displaced persons affect the ability to adapt to a new place and economic processes. Attitudes towards other groups are also important.  

Fortunately, so far the attitude of the population towards most of the groups we study is satisfactory. The best attitude towards IDPs, more or less normal attitude towards refugees and the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine, a little worse, but generally normal attitude towards the occupied. At the same time, the situation may change, greater aggressiveness in social networks and individual high-profile cases may worsen the situation, so neither the authorities nor civil society should calm down.

The worst situation is with the attitude towards Ukrainians-ethnic Russians. Negative attitude towards Russians-citizens of Russia is a natural defense mechanism, an adequate and necessary reaction of any normal person to the support of the majority of the Russian population for the insidious and harsh war against our country. But, unfortunately, these feelings, as our research shows, were partially transferred by Ukrainians to citizens of Ukraine who are Russians by nationality. This is an understandable, but not rational and unfair reaction to the actions of a real enemy. Ukrainians who are ethnic Russians, according to research, currently do not fundamentally differ from ethnic Ukrainians on key issues (attitudes towards Russia, towards the independence of Ukraine, towards the EU, towards NATO) and also defend Ukraine in the ranks of the Defense Forces, as well as through volunteer and other activities. Citizens of Ukraine are Ukrainians regardless of their ethnic origin, only such an approach allows us to preserve the unity of Ukraine. We must clearly distinguish real enemies from compatriots, brothers and sisters who are fighting with us. I hope that the authorities, public organizations, media, and opinion leaders will fight this negative trend and contribute to the integration of our society.

Appendix 1.

Table Д1. To what social distance are Ukrainian residents of several social categories ready to allow, %. October 2024