Half of Ukrainians ready to take up arms or otherwise help country’s army - poll

poll

22.02.2022 15:03

Ukrinform

Almost half of Ukrainians, 48%, say they are ready to either join Army ranks or provide other non-military assistance to the military in the event of a large-scale war with Russia.

That’s according to a poll run by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Ukrinform reports.

"How are Ukrainians prepared to react to Russia's offensive? Some 23% are ready to fight and take up arms directly – that is, more than one in five. Another 25% will provide all possible non-military assistance. That is, in total this is 48%, almost half of Ukrainians," said Oleksiy Haran, scientific director of the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Professor at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy National University.

At the same time, the scholar added that respondents who support the rivaling European Solidarity and Servants of the People parties are ready to stand side by side and defend Ukraine as part of the Armed Forces or volunteer troops.

A third of the voters of both European Solidarity and Servant of the People are ready to defend Ukraine as part of the Armed Forces or volunteer troops. The figures here are almost the same: 33% of those with the ES and 32% with the SoP. We see that our political struggle continues, although now the temperature of mutual accusations has subsided a bit, and that's good, but if we talk about defending the country, then the electorate of European Solidarity and Servant of the People are very close,” Haran noted.

He also noted that 13.5% of respondents do not believe that there will be a full-out war with Russia. "This figure has fallen by 9% against December 2021. And it is obvious that, had we conducted a poll today, this figure would be even lower," said Haran.

Some respondents, 18%, say they will simply try to survive, while another 3% will try to move out of the country. "Nevertheless, the position of half of Ukrainians is very pro-active, and that's good," he said.

Haran clarified that if the war is unleashed, these figures will increase accordingly.

A nationwide representative poll was conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation in cooperation with the Center for Political Sociology on February 1-12, 2022. The sample is representative of gender, age, type of settlement, and locality. The theoretical sampling error does not exceed 2.2%.