Over 40% of Ukrainians back accession to NATO, over a third support non-aligned status - poll
More than 40% of Ukrainians support their country's accession to NATO, according to a poll conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
According to the survey, 41.6% of respondents support Ukraine's accession to NATO as the preferred option for guaranteeing security, 35.3% back Ukraine's non-aligned status, 6.4% favor a military alliance with Russia and other CIS countries, and 16.3% were undecided.
In addition, 63% of respondents expressed their readiness to participate in a referendum on Ukraine's accession to NATO. Of these, 67.2% would support Ukraine's joining the alliance.
Among the main reasons why Ukrainians support the country's accession to NATO, 76.2% named a guarantee of Ukraine's security, 34% believe this will help Ukraine resist Russian aggression and regain control of occupied territories, while 31.5% think this will help strengthen and modernize the Ukrainian army.
Among the opponents of the country's accession to the Alliance, most are those who fear that it can drag Ukraine into NATO military operations (47.3%). Some 37.9% are sure that the alliance is an aggressive imperialist bloc, and 32.8% believe that Ukraine should in principle be a non-aligned country.
The nationwide survey of the Ukrainian population was conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation and KIIS from August 16 to August 28, 2018. A total of 2,041 respondents older than 18 years were interviewed in all regions of Ukraine, except for Crimea and occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The poll's margin of error is 2.3%.