Ukrainian youth discover Russia through the contrasting phenomena or events: while some people are affected by communication with relatives in the neighboring country, others are on the front line of the conflict in Donbas, while the rest are influenced by both. Probably, that is the reason why about a third of the respondents chose the neutral or middle options and avoided absolute support or absolute negative attitude when answering most of the questions.

This opinion poll shows how complex the picture of the attitudes of Ukrainian youth is: such simplistic notion as “the East and the South are pro-Russian, while the West is pro-European and pro-American” is not confirmed by our research. There are, certainly, differences between Ukrainians from various regions in certain issues, but they are not dramatic enough to assume any public split in the society. Moreover, some of the questions concerning relations between Ukraine and Russia combine the positions of the East and the West, and the general critical attitude toward Russian aggression and, in particular, to the annexation of Crimea, is the common denominator.

Ten years ago, sociologists stated that Ukrainian society still have not lost the feeling of “belonging to the former Soviet state”. Researchers assumed that the release from this feeling would occur along with the change of generations. Our research may show that young people are increasingly relieved of the burden of nostalgia for the Soviet Union. While nationwide polls show that a significant number of Ukrainians over 35 still regret the collapse of the USSR, surveys conducted among the youth show an opposite trend. For instance, a poll conducted by Sociological Rating Group in 2017 demonstrated that every third respondent from the age group of 36–50 regrets the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the rate of nostalgic respondents among the group of over 50 was even higher, almost a half (49%).

Our poll shows that only 13% of young people have negative feelings about the collapse of the USSR, which is consistent with the results obtained by the Rating Group, where 14% of the age group of 18–35 stated that they regret the collapse of the USSR. There is another, even more interesting trend: the younger the respondent was, the harder it was to express their position in relation to the historical event of 1991.

However, this poll revealed a trend of avoiding the answer, which is especially typical for respondents from the South, and even more for participants from the Eastern region. For example, in the East, almost 60% did not answer the question: “Who is responsible for the current military conflict in the East of Ukraine to the most extent?” This phenomenon has been previously encountered by researchers who conducted a poll among internally displaced persons.

“The displaced persons are silent, since they want to merge with the new environment faster and not to feel their difference. To achieve that, they are ready to suppress their dignity, sacrifice their own views and their system of values. However, this does not mean that people sacrifice it forever. This is a “delayed action” situation,” the sociologists conclude.

It is likely that respondents are afraid to answer due to certain reasons, despite the anonymous nature of the poll. Sociologists who organized the poll noted that the trend of silence in Eastern and Southern regions started manifesting itself long ago. In their opinion, people could really be afraid to talk on political topics (one of the potential reasons is anxiety due to proximity to the front line: “What if there will be an invasion?” or “What if Russia occupies other territories, and my words are recorded somehow?”).