About 46% of Ukrainians support Ukraine's accession to EU - poll

07.05.2018 15:41

Ukrinform

About 46% of Ukrainians surveyed by representatives of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in April support Ukraine's accession to the European Union and more than 41% back the country's joining the North Atlantic Alliance.

KIIS Deputy Director Anton Hrushetsky said this at a press conference entitled "The social and political moods of the Ukrainian people: April 2018 (based on the results of the KIIS survey)," an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

According to Hrushetsky, respondents were asked to choose one of three options - joining the European Union, joining the Customs Union with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, and not joining the EU or the Customs Union. Some 45.9% of citizens believe that Ukraine should focus on joining the European Union, 8.9% on joining the Customs Union, and another 32% chose the third option, he said.

At the same time, support for the pro-European vector is greatest only in the west of Ukraine.

According to the poll, 41.4% of Ukrainians rather or definitely support Ukraine's accession to NATO in contrast to 37.8% of those respondents who do not share such a vector of state development.

"At the same time, there is a significant regional specificity. Accession to NATO is supported by 61% in the west of Ukraine, 46% in the center, and no more than a quarter in the south, east and in Donbas," the expert said.

The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology conducted an all-Ukrainian public opinion poll from April 5 to April 19. A total of 2,004 respondents aged over 18 years from 110 populated localities of Ukraine, except for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, were interviewed.