Poll: Record 86% of Ukrainians support joining NATO

According to a new poll by the Rating Group, 86% of Ukrainians currently support joining NATO. This is a record-high number, the group says.

Conducted on Jan. 14-16, the survey showed that if Ukraine held a referendum on joining NATO now, only 3% of Ukrainians would vote against it, while 8% would refrain from voting.

Meanwhile, 87% of Ukrainians are currently in favor of their country's aspiration to join the European Union.

Some 85% support the idea of a military and political union that would include Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Poland. Some 80% have "a positive attitude" toward the idea of founding a union with Poland and Lithuania.

Ukraine applied for EU membership shortly after the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in February. The EU granted Ukraine the candidate status on June 23.

Ukraine requested fast-track membership in NATO in September, but the process hasn't moved further since then.

On Jan. 11, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged NATO to take concrete steps toward Ukraine's membership in the alliance at the July summit, saying that the "open door" rhetoric is not enough.

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Ukraine had “de facto” become a member of the NATO alliance because Ukraine had “weaponry, and the understanding of how to use it” during an interview with the BBC published on Jan. 13.

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The Kyiv Independent