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In August 2022, the National Democratic Institute’s research team in Ukraine designed and deployed a national telephone survey to gauge the impact of the full-scale war on the lives of everyday Ukrainians and identify opportunities and challenges on the road to Ukraine’s democratic transition.
In December 1991, 92% of Ukrainians voted for independence from the former Soviet Union, with a voter turnout of 84%. While Moscow saw Ukraine and other former Soviet States as remaining under its sphere of influence, from the outset Ukraine’s people embraced democracy and its government generally oriented itself toward the West rather than Moscow.
NDI Ukraine’s July 2018 public opinion survey showed overwhelming and stable support for a fully functioning democracy (83 percent). The demand remains strong across all regions of Ukraine with equal justice for all and free and fair elections being the most important characteristics of democracy for Ukrainian citizens.
In the face of unprecedented Russian military aggression, Ukrainians are more united than ever in their desire for democracy, with a historic high 95 percent supporting Ukraine becoming a fully functioning democracy - an opinion shared equally across regions. In that same vein, respondents identified freedom of speech, equal justice for all, and free and fair elections as the three most important characteristics of a fully functioning democracy.
Ukraine’s youth have shown incredible bravery and resilience amid Russia’s brutal and unjustified war. Across the country and abroad, young people came together to support each other and their fellow citizens. One example is the Ukrainian members of the European Democracy Youth Network (EDYN), a platform supported by USAID, the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
For those of us who watch with horror Vladimir Putin’s brazen violence against the people of Ukraine, it has been a chilling wake up call. Putin’s war has lifted the veil on his authoritarian agenda — an agenda that did not start and will not end with Ukraine — and his willingness to use brutal tactics against those whose only offense is to choose freedom, independence and democracy.
With the one-year anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked and illegal full-scale war against Ukraine looming this week, Russia continues to launch devastating attacks on Ukrainian territories. Since October, these attacks have focused on critical infrastructure and civilian targets in an ongoing effort to occupy Ukrainian territory and obliterate the very idea of an independent Ukrainian state.