Willingness to Resist Russian Invasion: Public Opinion in Ukraine (2021-2022)

In December 2021 and early February 2022, KIIS included the following question in its public opinion polls with the aim of assessing the population's readiness to resist a potential Russian invasion: 'In the event of an armed intervention by Russia in your city or village, would you take any action, and if so, which ones?' The response options included: 'Resist with arms,' 'Resist by participating in civil resistance actions such as demonstrations, protests, marches, boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience,' 'Move to a safer region of Ukraine,' 'Move abroad,' and 'Do nothing.' Each of these two polls was conducted with a sample that is representative of the adult population (aged 18 and older) of Ukraine, comprising approximately 2000 respondents.

The background information includes respondents' socio-demographic profiles (gender, age, education, nationality, occupation, self-assessment of financial situation) and place of residence (oblast, type of settlement). These data enable the assessment of Ukrainians' willingness to resist Russian intervention on the eve of a full-scale invasion. Consistency in methodology and question wording across the surveys allows to track the dynamics of attitudes from the end of 2021 to just before the invasion in February 2022.