Poll Finds Ukrainians Still Ambivalent About Re-Arming Nuclear Stockpile

In a poll conducted towards the end of November, but released only on Tuesday, Dec. 13, citizens of Ukraine feel there’s is a lot of work to be undertaken, with 52 percent believing that reconstruction should only begin after a ceasing of hostilities, whereas 44 percent said rebuilding should start "as soon as possible."

In the opinion poll, the highest priority target for reconstruction, averaging 64 percent of first responses across all regions of Ukraine, was "communications and energy infrastructure," while 24 percent listed it as the second highest priority.

The next largest category was a mere 17 percent of those polled, who listed "private housing" in their first response - something that 24 percent listed as their second highest priority.

The figures were extremely similar when the interviewer pried deeper to ask about whether it would be a positive if the United Kingdom, U.S., Germany, France, Turkey, or China were enlisted in the reconstruction process.

In all cases roughly 30 percent of respondents thought that foreign countries should be "directly involved in the reconstruction processes"; about 13 percent preferred if foreigners would finance Ukrainian companies to carry out work without supervision; and about 55 percent thought it would be best if foreign companies "provide finance and supervise Ukrainian companies."

When asked what their views were of these various countries participating in the rebuilding of Ukraine, the answers received in the poll were mixed. Britain's involvement was viewed as positive by 90 percent of those polled and neutral by 7 percent; and the figures for the U.S. were 87 percent vs 10 percent; Germany's 85 percent vs 13 percent; France's 81 percent vs 15 percent; 67 percent vs 22 percent; though the figures on the response to China's involvement was 45 percent vs 26 percent.

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According to the poll results, the desire to keep fighting has only grown across Ukraine. In March 2022, 74 percent believed that Ukraine should stay in the war until all its territories are liberated, versus 16 percent who saidUkraine should only fight until the territories that were free prior to Feb. 22 were liberated.

In the new poll that number has risen to 85 percent, who believe the war should not be over until every inch of Ukraine is free, again; versus just 9 percent who are willing to accept the territory that was lost in 2014.

A decade ago, in 2012, 27 percent of Ukrainians supported the return of nuclear weapons to Ukraine, with 56 percent opposing such a move.

According to the new poll, 53 percent support Ukraine rearming itself with nuclear weapons, with 43 percent of those polled disapproving.

Asked about how to best deter future Russian attacks on Ukraine, 61 percent of those polled bet on Ukraine's NATO ascension; 50 percent on the nuclear disarmament of Russia; and 34 percent for both Ukraine joining the EU and for guarantees from the West of weapons for Ukraine.

The poll was conducted on Nov. 20-21, 2022, across all free regions of Ukraine, using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing. The margin of error was > .031 and the confidence interval was 0.95.