Ukrainians have a neutral attitude towards their compatriots who went abroad and those who stay in Ukraine. The most favorable attitude is expressed towards those who joined the army and stopped consuming Russian content, while the most negative attitude is towards those who evade military service and consume Russian information products.

This is evidenced by the results of OPORA’s research study “(Dis)connected: polarization in Ukrainian society”.

“The purpose of this research study was to assess the actual level of social polarization in Ukraine as opposed to what our adversaries attribute to us. The resilience of Ukrainian society proved instrumental in preserving the independence of our state at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, but more and more often we hear others say that something is wrong with us, we are aggressive toward each other, and we are capable of destroying ourselves from within. We sought to understand whether goodwill and social cohesion of different groups and individuals were decreasing as a result of the war of attrition. We assumed that Ukrainian society is divided into groups based on their views, experiences, and beliefs (e.g., military personnel – civilians, Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) – Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), Ukrainians abroad – Ukrainians in Ukraine, Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians – Russian-speaking Ukrainians, etc.), but diversity has definitely not turned into a serious split. Ukrainian society has not rechanneled its energy from enemy forces into itself under the influence of war, although we do have something to work on,” said Olha Aivazovska, chair of the board of Civil Network OPORA.

Respondents were asked to evaluate several scenarios, each describing a person with different combinations of characteristics and experiences such as religious affiliation, involvement in military action, language of communication, displacement due to the war and consumption of Russian content.

No specific characteristic elicited strongly negative or positive reactions from the respondents or contributed to significant distancing from the described characters. However, we observed a noticeable deterioration in respondents’ attitudes toward a character if two specific characteristics were combined.

The characters that have not broken their ties with Russian information space (regardless of whether they follow the Russian news, the Russian opposition or consume Russian entertainment content) and evade military service are rated significantly worse than those with a clearly expressed “Ukrainian-centric” stance.

 “We also assessed respondents’ attitudes toward opposing groups of people in terms of social distance, aversion and cruelty. The largest distance was observed between the pair “parishioners of the OCU and UGCC vs. parishioners of the UOC-MP,” while the smallest gap was between the groups “Ukrainians who went abroad” vs. “Ukrainians who stay in Ukraine,” said OPORA’s analyst Anastasia Romaniuk.

Researchers discovered an interesting fact: Ukrainians who went abroad due to the war tend to believe that Ukrainians who remain in Ukraine condemn them for leaving the country, and vice versa. However, according to survey results, these opposing groups view each other rather neutrally and they are willing to interact with each other.

The social distance between Ukrainians who had been living in the temporarily occupied territories or combat zones and those who have not had such experience is small. However, the people who have no experience of living under occupation/in the combat zone are somewhat more distanced and less willing to interact with those who obtained such experience.

The social distance between the military and civilians is small, but the military and their families are somewhat more distanced from civilians. Representatives of these groups do not have a strong aversion to each other, but the military and their families dislike civilians slightly more.

The social distance between Russian and Ukrainian speakers is insignificant, meaning that they are ready to interact with each other. However, Ukrainian speakers are somewhat more distanced from Russian speakers, while Russian speakers are skeptical about making friends with those who speak mostly Ukrainian.

Cruelty is not inherent in representatives of the above-mentioned groups. Only a few of them said that they feel satisfaction when they see the opposing group being put in its proper place.

Parishioners of the OCU and UGCC are notably more distanced from UOC-MP church members (i.e., less willing to interact with them), while the latter express a more positive attitude toward OCU and Greek Catholics. Parishioners of the OCU and UGCC also have a stronger aversion to UOC-MP church members than vice versa.

Background information:

The study “(Dis)connected: Polarization in Ukrainian Society”, which is based on the results of analytical work of All-Ukrainian NGO “Civil Network “OPORА” and the Kyiv School of Economics, was carried out with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The survey was conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology during the period from September 11 to September 30, 2024. Researchers held a total of 2,055 online interviews, including 1,855 interviews with Ukrainians living in the government-controlled territory of Ukraine and 200 interviews with Ukrainians who left the country after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. 

Full version of study report is available here. 

For additional information please refer to: 

Yana Zolotarova, coordinator of the communications department of Civil Network “OPORA” 

Tel: 0634592355