The attitude of Ukrainians towards the internally displaced persons
The Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation presented the results of the monitoring of the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine “Ukrainian Society”, which is an annual nationwide population survey that has been highlighting the dynamics of changes in the attitude of the population towards the internally displaced persons since 2015.
The results of the survey confirm the data of international and domestic institutions regarding the directions of forced resettlement: the vast majority of people displaced by the conflict remain in Ukraine. The data also indicate a significant reduction in the number of displaced persons who are staying abroad, including neighbouring countries, compared to 2015.
The regions of Donbas, which border the conflict zone, and the eastern regions (Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhya oblasts), which are controlled by Ukraine, are the priority areas for IDP’s settlement in Ukraine. Therefore, we can state that the inhabitants of these regions are most often involved in personal interaction with IDPs. In the whole of Ukraine, there are slightly less than a third of respondents, who are personally familiar with those who left their homes due to recent events in Crimea and Donbas. The largest number of IDPs (almost twice as high as in other regions) is recorded in the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts controlled by Ukraine.
