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

During February 4-9, 2025, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey "Omnibus", to which, on its own initiative, added a question about the perception of the Revolution of Dignity by Ukrainians. By the method of telephone interviews (computer-assisted telephone interviews, 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), 1,000 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.

The Revolution of Dignity of 2013-2014 was one of the defining events in the history of Ukraine and Ukrainians. Ukrainians demonstrated their commitment to freedom and the will to defend it, even at the highest cost – their own lives.

At the same time, the events of 2013-2014 were interpreted differently among the public. In particular, in February 2014 (before the shootings on Maidan), in a survey by KIIS for the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, 44% of respondents said that they supported the protests, 49% said that they did not. In different formulations for that period (i.e., during the protests), the distribution of opinions was 50:50, which demonstrated significant differences in the perception of the protests by different citizens. It is important to note that different views on the protests (and the external vector of development) did not mean that the Ukrainian state was illegitimate in the eyes of citizens (or, even more so, a failed state). Yes, indeed, the majority of those who supported the protests advocated rapprochement with the EU, and the majority of those who did not support the protests advocated rapprochement with Russia. At the same time, 93% of those who supported the protests and 76% of those who did not support them saw Ukraine as a state independent of Russia (and 2% and 21%, respectively, wanted unification into one state). That is, regardless of their views on the protests or the choice of an external vector, the absolute majority understood that Ukraine is and should be an independent state.

After the Revolution of Dignity and the beginning of Russian aggression, it might have seemed that historical events had put everything in its place and that the perception of events should be, if not unambiguous, then at least have a significant consensus in society. However, a decade of Russian propaganda and its playing into the hands of Ukrainian actors has led to a situation where pro-Russian narratives have taken root among a significant part of the public. In February 2015, KIIS conducted its own survey to investigate the extent to which Ukrainians share the narratives of Russian propaganda[1]. One of its central elements is the perception of the Revolution of Dignity either as a people’s protest in support of a pro-Western path of development, or as a nationalist struggle for power with the support of Western special services.

So, as can be seen in Graph 1, in 2015, 63% considered the Revolution of Dignity to be a people’s protest in support of pro-Western development, compared to 20% who were more likely to believe that it was a nationalist struggle for power with the support of Western intelligence services. Another 17% had no definite opinion. In February 2025, ten years later and after a full-scale invasion, opinions on this issue have hardly changed: now 67% consider the Revolution of Dignity a people’s protest, compared to 18% who see it more negatively. Another 15% could not decide on their view.

In February 2025, we also asked how Ukrainians in general assess the impact of the Revolution of Dignity on the further development of Ukraine. 62% of respondents chose the option that, perhaps not so quickly and with certain problems, but overall, thanks to the Revolution of Dignity, Ukraine is developing and moving towards a better country. Instead, 24% share a rather negative interpretation – that because of the Revolution of Dignity, Ukraine’s development was set back, and the country and people suffered needless destruction and suffering. The remaining 13% could not decide on their views.

The table below shows a combination of respondents' answers to both questions (and the sum of the cells, respectively, is 100%). As can be seen, 52% of respondents have a consistently positive perception of the Revolution of Dignity - at the same time consider it a popular protest and positively assess the consequences. Consistently negative perception (as a struggle for power and the fact that it had negative consequences for Ukraine) is 9%.

Table 1. General perception of the Revolution of Dignity

100% – sum of all cells

The graph below shows the regional dimension[2] of perception of the Revolution of Dignity. It was shown above that at the national level, the perception of the Revolution of Dignity has not changed significantly. However, there is a more important dynamic – a significant reduction in regional differences. Thus, in 2015, the share of those who perceived the Revolution of Dignity as a people’s protest decreased from 85% to 32% from West to East. However, in 2025, the majority in all regions (69% in the West, 71% in the Center, 62% in the South and 55% in the East) perceive the Revolution of Dignity as a people’s protest.

Thus, although some regional differences persist, as of 2025 they are not very significant and we can speak of a certain interregional consensus.

Graph 3. Perception of the Revolution of Dignity in the regional dimension

The graph below shows data on the perception of the consequences and we can also see that although there are certain differences by regions, the majority everywhere rather positively assesses the consequences of the Revolution of Dignity for Ukraine and Ukrainians.

Graph 4. Perception of the consequences of the Revolution of Dignity in the regional dimension

A. Hrushetskyi, comments on the survey results:

After the full-scale invasion of 2022, Ukrainians radically “revised” their views on a number of important socio-political issues. Before repeating the question about the Revolution of Dignity in the survey, we actually expected that Ukrainians’ views had also changed and that now the absolute majority would perceive the events of 2013-2014 as a people’s protest.

However, as we see, at the national level the changes are not very significant, although from the point of view of the unity of society it is definitely more important to see the overcoming of interregional differences. That is, there are definitely positive developments after the full-scale invasion. At the same time, it cannot be ignored that despite the unambiguous events not only of 2014, but also of 2022, a significant part of Ukrainians still remain, to some extent, susceptible to Russian interpretations of those events.

Obviously, the issue of building and promoting a unifying pro-Ukrainian narrative that will organically encompass the period up to 2014, the protests of 2013-2014 themselves, and subsequent events remains relevant. At the same time, it is important to avoid stigmatizing those who were critical of the protests in 2013-2014. In 2022, Ukrainians demonstrated nationwide resistance regardless of their region of residence or language, which once again proves that although Ukrainians could (and still can) have different views on certain internal issues, they are united in repelling Russian aggression. An inclusive Ukrainian civic nation is being built and strengthened before our eyes, and we must continue to move along this path.

Annex 1. Formulation of questions from the questionnaire

In 2013-2014, mass protests known as Euromaidan or the Revolution of Dignity took place in Ukraine.

Please tell which of the following 2 opinions is closer to yours regarding this event? Euromaidan / Revolution of Dignity was ... RANDOMIZATION OF READING 1-2. BETWEEN OPTIONS DURING READING ADD "whether" OR "or"

How would you assess the overall impact of Euromaidan/Revolution of Dignity on the development of Ukraine? Please consider all events from 2014 to now until 2025. So, in your opinion … RANDOMIZATION OF READING 1-2. BETWEEN OPTIONS DURING READING ADD "whether" OR "or"