Some 64% of Ukrainians believe there is an ongoing war in Donbas between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the latest poll says.
The survey was run by the Ukrainian Institute for the Future (UIF) with the assistance of New Image Marketing Group, presented at a Kyiv press conference on Wednesday, an UNIAN correspondent reported.
Read alsoUkraine ready for war, but won't stop fighting for peace in Donbas through diplomacy – ZelenskyUIF Executive Chief Vadym Denisenko said the poll was conducted amid the latest escalation in eastern Ukraine. He noted that over the past two months, when the active phase of military and information escalation had begun, "with his actions, Vladimir Putin, in addition to all the negative things he's done to us, also made something truly positive – a significantly larger number of people started to clearly understand and clearly realize that everything that's been happening in Donbas is, first of all, a war between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, or between Ukraine and Russian puppets."
Respondents from the west of Ukraine gave this answer more often than others (77% against 64% overall), from the east and south – less often than others (47% each against 64% overall). Respondents from the east and south were somewhat more likely than others to mention that, as per their personal interpretation, an armed conflict is taking place in the east between the authorities of Ukraine and the self-proclaimed republics ("LPR/DPR") supported by Russian authorities – 24% and 25%, respectively, vs 17% overall.
In addition, 70% of the respondents named the unwillingness of Russian authorities to end the conflict as the main obstacle on the way to peace in the region.
*** The survey was conducted in April. Some 1,148 respondents aged 18 and older were involved in an online survey on an interactive structured questionnaire in all regions except for the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas. The margin of error does not exceed 3.5%.
