More than 90% of Ukrainians trust veterans of war with Russia since 2014

The absolute majority of Ukrainians (96%) trust ATO veterans and the soldiers who are currently defending Ukraine from the Russians, and the level of respect for them by society remains high – 76% [The ATO or Anti-Terrorist Operation is a term used from 2014 to 2018 by the media, the government of Ukraine and the OSCE to identify combat actions in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts against Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists – ed.].

These are the results of the 27th national survey conducted by the Sociological Group Rating.

How many respondents have people who have fought or are fighting among their close ones?

55% of the respondents said they had people among their close ones who had participated in combat actions from 2014 to 2021 (in September 2023, this figure was 49%). And 70% of respondents have relatives or friends who are fighting or have been fighting since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. This is a 5% increase compared to the previous survey.

Do the respondents admit the possibility of becoming veterans in the future?

A significant number of respondents (41%) suggested that they might become veterans in the future. This answer was most often given by residents of Ukraine’s west, younger respondents, and men whose relatives or friends have been fighting since 2014 and continue to serve in the military today.

Instead, 53% do not consider this possibility for themselves.

The survey was conducted at the initiative of the Ukrainian Veterans Fund of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine on 2-5 March 2024.

It involved 1,000 respondents aged 18 and older in all oblasts except the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas, as well as areas where there was no Ukrainian mobile coverage at the time of the survey.

The results are assessed using the latest data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. The sample is representative in terms of age, gender and settlement type.

The error of representativeness of the survey with a confidence level of 0.95 is no more than 3.1%.

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