MainNews -

Almost half of Ukrainians support EU entry - poll

Over 41% support NATO entry.

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 NATO entry.

KIIS deputy director Anton Hrushetskyy said this at a news conference entitled "The social and political sentiments of the Ukrainian people: April 2018 (based on the results of the KIIS survey)," an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

According to Hrushetskyy, respondents were asked to select 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 said that Ukraine should focus on joining the European Union, 8.9% on joining the Customs Union, and another 32% picked 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 centre, 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 on 5-19 April. A total of 2,004 respondents aged over 18 years from 110 population centres of Ukraine, except for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, were interviewed.

Read LB.ua news on social networks Facebook, Twitter and Telegram