The majority of Ukrainians (63%) claim they are willing to endure the war for as long as necessary, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from September 20 to October 3.
It is noted that between February and October 2024, there is a first-time decrease in the proportion of those willing to endure for as long as needed (from 73%). Meanwhile, the percentage of those willing to wait for another year has increased from 3% to 6%.
"From the beginning of the invasion until February 2024, the situation remained virtually unchanged: consistently around 71-73% stated that they were prepared to endure the war for as long as necessary (with an additional 2-3% mentioning 1 year). During this same period, 18-21% mentioned a shorter personal endurance (a few months to half a year)... The share of those indicating a shorter period of a few months to half a year has not increased... However, the percentage of those who found it difficult to answer this question has risen from 4% to 12%, which clearly reflects a growing overall uncertainty about the future among Ukrainians," the press release regarding the survey results states.
In western and central Ukraine, there is also a rise in uncertainty; however, in the south and east, the dynamics are much more pronounced. In the south, the percentage of those saying they are ready to endure as long as necessary has decreased from 68% to 50%, while in the east it has dropped from 70% to 38%. At the same time, the share of those willing to wait a year has increased from 3% to 10%, and from 1% to 11% for half a year. Both in the south and east, there has been a significant increase in those who are undecided about their opinions.
The survey results indicate that the willingness to endure the war does not significantly depend on the gender and age of the respondents.
The research was conducted through telephone interviews (CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers across all government-controlled regions of Ukraine, involving 989 respondents aged 18 and older. Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account a design effect of 1.3) did not exceed 4.1% for indicators close to 50% and 1.8% for indicators close to 5%. In wartime conditions, a certain systematic deviation is added, but the results still maintain high representativeness.