Over half of surveyed Donetsk region residents want Donbas to be part of Ukraine – poll
Only 11.5% of surveyed Ukrainian citizens believe that Donbas should not be part of Ukraine, with the majority of people who believe so coming from Donbas (35%). In addition, only 7% want Halychyna (western part of Ukraine) to separate from Ukraine. Once again, the majority of people who believe so are Donbas residents (16%), while people from Volyn region (0.5%) and Halychyna (1%) support the idea the least, according to a poll conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, in cooperation with Ukrainian Sociology Service through December 25, 2014 – January 15, 2015.
"The situation in Donbas is very complicated: 35% of surveyed residents stand for separation from Ukraine, out of whom 20% would like to no longer be a part of Ukraine, but an independent state, and 15% want to become a part of another country. On the other hand, 58% would like Donbas to remain a part of Ukraine: 30% want Donbas to be an autonomous region as part of federative Ukraine, another 30% –a part of unitary Ukraine that has more authority, and 2% are satisfied with the current powers of the region," reads a press release posted on Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation’s website.
Overall, only 5% of respondents from the whole of Ukraine would like the region they live in to separate from Ukraine, 3% of them would like the region to be independent, and 2% want it to join another country. A total of 8% of the respondents would like to be a part of a federative district.
Public opinion is generally divided between two possible options: whether a region should remain a part of unitary Ukraine with current powers (33%) or more authority (46%).
"As a matter of fact, only [residents] of Halychyna definitely support the current status of their region (70%). The desire for extended authority for their regions was clearly express by [people] in the south-west and south [of Ukraine] (61.5% and 60%), Sloboda (43%) and Dnieper Ukraine (60%)," reads the press release.
Public opinion in other regions is divided almost in half between these two options, including Kyiv (38% and 44%), central Ukraine (35% and 48%) and other regions.
In addition, the majority of the Ukrainians consider themselves, first of all, citizens of Ukraine (67.5%), less than 3% consider themselves citizens of former USSR and only 0.3% think of themselves as Russians.
Some regions show a higher level of regional identification. First of all this concerns Donbas and southwestern Ukraine (Zakarpattia and Chernivtsi regions). In Donbas, 38% believe they are first of all Ukrainian citizens, 35% – Donbas residents, 10% – residents of their cities, 9% – citizens of the world, 5% – citizens of USSR and 0.3% – Russian citizens. In the south-west, 38% of the respondents believe they are first of all Ukrainian citizens, 27% – residents of their cities, 22% – residents of their region and 6% – citizens of the world.
The poll was commissioned by the International Centre for Policy Studies and was conducted in 11 regions of Ukraine. A total of 4,413 people were surveyed.
The poll wasn't conducted in Luhansk region and Crimea. The poll's margin of error in every region did not exceed 5%.
