Nearly half of Ukrainians see joining NATO as best security guarantee

Some 49% of Ukrainians think that Ukraine's accession to NATO is the best option for guaranteeing security for the country, according to a survey conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation in cooperation with the sociological service of the Razumkov Center.

The results of the survey were presented at a press conference at Ukrinform on Thursday, December 29.

"We asked the following question: which option best guarantees the national security of Ukraine after the armed conflict? The option with NATO received the largest number of votes - almost 49% of respondents, and about 6% chose a strategic and defense alliance with the U.S. About 9% said it could be a strategic defensive alliance with neighboring countries but without the U.S. Another 16% said that Ukraine should develop its own Armed Forces and defense capabilities following the example of Israel and Switzerland. About 14% said that Ukraine should be a neutral country, while relying on international security guarantees," said Petro Burkovskyi, executive director of the Democratic Initiatives Foundation.

According to the survey, a quarter of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine will be able to become a full member of NATO immediately after victory in the war, and the same number of respondents believe that, in addition to victory, Ukraine will still have to implement all the necessary reforms to join. Some 19% of respondents believe that Ukraine will join NATO even before the war is over, and 16% of Ukrainians do not really believe that Ukraine will ever join NATO.

In addition, the survey showed that a record share of Ukrainians support Ukraine's accession to the European Union - 79%.

The poll was conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation together with the sociological service of the Razumkov Center with the support of the MATRA program from December 13 to 21.

A total of 2,018 respondents over the age of 18 were interviewed in 22 regions of Ukraine and in Kyiv. The poll's margin of error does not exceed 2.3%.

Photo: Emerging Europe