KYIV. Dec 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Most Ukrainians want the Donbas conflict to be resolved via political and diplomatic means, the Rating sociological group said at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

"Eight percent of Ukrainians want the occupied Donbas territories to be separated from Ukraine, 11% say that the Donbas territories should be regained with arms. i.e. that an offensive should continue until a victory is won, and 13% suggest an autonomous status of those territories which, however, should remain a part of Ukraine. Seventeen percent want the hostilities to stop and the conflict to be frozen until it is resolved in the future, putting emphasis on the need to stop shooting," Rating head Oleksiy Antypovych said while presenting poll results.

Most respondents who want to regain Donbas by force live in the west and center of Ukraine, while residents of southern and eastern Ukraine are inclined to support the region's autonomy, he said.

Forty-three percent of the respondents said that the breakaway Donbas regions should be regained by political and diplomatic methods, Antipovych said. "This means the Ukrainians do not want war, the Ukrainians want to come to terms and end this war through negotiations," he said.

The sociologists polled 2,000 Ukrainians older than 18 in face-to-face interviews on November 22-30, 2017. The poll represented respondents by age, gender, region and type of populated locality. The margin of error does not exceed 2.2%.