Page 15 - UKRRptJan22

Solidarity party would have received more votes than Zelensky's Servant of the People party. This was the first time polling showed Poroshenko's party ahead.
Three out of four (72%) Ukrainians believe Russia is a hostile state, according to a poll from the Ukrainian polling organisation Rating Group published on December 10. US intelligence has warned that Russia is massing troops near Ukraine’s border and may be preparing to invade the country since October. Moscow says it is not planning to attack and is responding to Ukrainian military posturing. Just 12% of Ukrainians said they see Russia as an ally, according to the survey. Russian President Vladimir Putin held a virtual summit on December 7 with US president Joe Biden to deescalate tensions and demand Nato promise no more expansion near Russia’s borders. The Russian Foreign Ministry followed up on December 10 with a concrete list of demands that also included Nato rescinde a 2008 memorandum that called for both Georgia and Ukraine to eventually join the military alliance. During the last build up of Russian troops on Ukraine’s border in April a similar poll found 76% of Ukrainians thought Russia was a “hostile” nation. Some 14,000 people have died in the seven-year conflict between Ukraine and pro-Russian forces. Despite a ceasefire agreement, violations are rife and dozens of fighters from both sides are killed every year. The poll also found that a majority of Ukrainians believe the Minsk 2 agreement needs to be modified.
The survey also showed Ukrainians have grown significantly more negative toward Belarus over the past eight months as strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko has aligned himself more closely with Moscow amid international isolation.Almost half (48%) of the respondents said Belarus was a “hostile state,” up from 22% in the previous survey.
More than half of Ukrainian citizens (56%) support the initiative of direct negotiations with Russia on the issue of resolving the conflict in Donbas in the absence of other alternatives. This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the sociological group Rating.At the same time, having a choice among the options for the format of negotiations to resolve the conflict in Donbas, 21% of respondents spoke in favour of direct negotiations with Russia. A relative majority of respondents (45%) support the idea of expanding the Normandy format with the involvement of the United States and Great Britain. Some 12% of the respondents are in favour of negotiations with representatives of the so-called "DPR" and "LPR". Preservation of the Normandy format in the current composition, which includes Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany, is supported by 11% of respondents. The involvement of Turkey in the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in Donbas is supported by 46% of the respondents. At the same time, the same number of respondents opposed the idea of Turkish mediation in the negotiations.
15 UKRAINE Country Report January 2022 www.intellinews.com