Over 70% of Ukrainians engaged in volunteering efforts since war-start - poll

Since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the absolute majority of Ukrainians (71%) have contributed to volunteer aid to the Army, temporarily displaced persons, or other war-affected persons.

This was reported at the press conference "Independence Day of Ukraine: the value of the state, unity and volunteering during the war", held at Ukrinform, by scientific director of the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Oleksiy Haran, who presented a survey jointly run with the Razumkov Center.

Some 34% of Ukrainians provided financial assistance, 15% provided physical aid, and another 22% helped both physically and financially. Only 17% of Ukrainians did not engage in providing aid and neither do they plan to do so.

In the West of the country, a significantly higher share of residents compared to the national average helped through physical labor (25%), while the largest share of those who helped financially was among the residents of the South (40%) and Center (36%).

The survey found that most of those who, after the full-scale invasion, provided financial aid to the Army, temporarily displaced persons, and persons affected by war, continue donating.

At the same time, the circulation of donations tends to decrease. Just under half (47%) of those who have been donating since 2022 do so in the same amount as a year ago, while 34% of respondents saw their donations decrease. At the same time, 9% of those who provided financial assistance after the invasion are now donating more than they did a year ago. Only 7% of those who used to donate stopped doing so in the past year.

According to Haran, the most common reason (61%)  for the decrease in donations is a drop in donors’ income and savings level.

The second most common reason (35%) is corruption scandals, which reduced the respondents' motivation to donate their own funds, as long as budget money is spent inefficiently. For one in four (26%) of those who started donating less, the reason was due to reports of fundraising scams. ·

Also, 76% of those surveyed are convinced that the Russians do not perceive Ukraine as an independent sovereign state. Moreover, such assessments prevail among all socio-demographic groups of respondents, regardless of their age, gender, type of settlement, level of education, and income.

The nationwide survey was conducted from August 8 to 15, 2024, and covered 1.017 respondents.