• In February 2019, 57% of the Ukrainians responded they had a positive or very positive attitude toward Russia, 27% had a negative or very negative attitude, 17% were undecided. In Russia, 34% of the population had positive or very positive attitude to Ukraine, 55% – negative or very negative, 10% were undecided on that matter. The Ukrainians are much more positive about Russia than the Russians are about Ukraine (57% compared to 34%, that is, the difference is 23 percentage points).

• In addition to questions about the attitude toward Russia as a whole, we also asked questions about the attitude to the government of Russia and the population of Russia. In February 2019, 77% of the Ukrainians had a positive attitude to the Russians (the citizens of Russia), and 13% had a positive attitude to the political leaders of Russia (mostly at the expense of the population of Eastern region and Donbas). Similar indicators are observed for Russia: 82% of the Russians were positive about the Ukrainians (the citizens of Ukraine), and 7% were positive about the government of Ukraine. The Russians are more positive about the Ukrainians than the Ukrainians are to the Russians by 7 percentage points. Thus, the positive attitude of the Ukrainians toward Russia is mainly due to the positive attitude toward the Russians (as well as the positive attitude of the Russians toward Ukraine is associated with a positive attitude toward the Ukrainians).

Table 1. Percentage of those who have positive (positive or very positive) attitude to Russia, the Russians, the government of Russia. February 2019

• The attitude of the Ukrainians to Russia relies significantly on the region: 41% are positive about Russia in the West, 51% - in the Center, 70% – in the South, 75% – in the East (see Table 1). The same is observed in the attitudes to the government of Russia and the Russians.

The dynamics of answers to the question “What type of the relations between Ukraine and Russia would you prefer?” 

• Compared to February 2018, that is, in a year, the support for the independence of Ukraine (percentage of those who believe Ukraine should be independent on Russia) remains the same – 87%. That is, the general tendency remains the same: almost 90% of the population believe that Ukraine should be an independent state. At the same time, compared to 2018, the number of those who want closed borders with Russia decreased (from 44% to 39%), and the number of those who want independent relations but with no visas and customs increased (from 44% to 48%). Also, 4% of the polled Ukrainians want to unite in one state (it was 3% in February 2018, the difference is statistically insignificant).

• In Russia, compared to the data from March 2018, the number of those who want closed borders with Ukraine decreased from 39% to 25%, and the number of those who want to unite in one state increased from 10% to 17%.

Commentary of Volodymyr Paniotto, the CEO of KIIS:

Over the last year, the attitude of the Ukrainians toward Russia has improved significantly (from 48% to 57%), while the positive attitude of the Russians toward Ukraine varied within the margin of sampling error, and as of now, it constitutes about a third of the population (32-34%). The positive attitude towards the state is, first of all, determined by the positive attitude towards the population both in Ukraine and in Russia (77% of the Ukrainians feel positive about the Russians, and even more Russians (Russian citizens) are positive about the Ukrainians - 82%). At the same time, the attitude toward the government is sharply negative (only 13% of Ukrainians are positively attached to the leadership of Russia, and only 7% of Russians – to the leadership of Ukraine).

What could be a significant improvement in the attitude of the Ukrainians toward Russia and the Russians, which occurred during the last year, due to? One of the possible hypotheses is the election campaign and activation of the work of pro-Russian political forces and television channels.

Graph 2. What type of relations with Russia does the population of Ukraine prefer?*

* Line on the graph “Ukraine and Russia should be independent states” is a sum of the two first columns of  Table 6, that is, the percentage of those who want the independence with closed borders and customs and of those who prefer the independence without borders and customs (see tables below).

Addition 1. Formulations of the questions from the questionnaire

What type of relations between Ukraine and Russia would you prefer? ONE ANSWER

What is your general attitude toward Russia?

What is your general attitude toward the Russians (the residents of Russia)?

What is your general attitude toward the Russian government?

Addition 2. Composition of the regions of Ukraine

Western macroregion –  Volynska, Zakarpatska, Ivano-Frankivska, Lvivska, Rivnenska, Ternopilska, Khmelnytska, Chernivets`ka oblasts (regions); 

Central macroregion –  Kyiv city, Kyivs`ka, Vinnytska, Zhytomyrska, Kirovohradska, Poltavska, Sumska, Cherkaska, Chernihivska oblasts; 

South macroregion – Dnipropetrovska, Zaporizka, Mykolaivska, Odeska, Khersonska oblasts; 

Eastern macroregion –  Kharkivska, Donetska, Luhanska oblasts (only regions controlled by Ukraine).

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Addition 3. TABLES 

Table 2. What is your general attitude toward Russia/Ukraine?

Table 3. What is your general attitude toward Russia?  Distribution by regions, September 2018, %

Table 5. What type of relations of Ukraine with Russia would you prefer? Distribution by regions, February 2019, %

Table 6. What is your general attitude toward the Russian government?

 (opinion of the residents of Ukraine  – KIIS data)

Table 7. What is your general attitude toward the Russians (the residents of Russia)?

(opinion of the residents of Ukraine  – KIIS data)

LEVADA-CENTER DATA

Table 8. What is your general attitude toward the Ukrainian government?

 (opinion of the residents of Russia – Levada-Center data)

Table 9. What is your general attitude toward the Ukrainians (the residents of Ukraine)?

 (opinion of the residents of Russia – Levada-Center data)