92 percent of Ukrainians would like to see their country among the member states of the European Union by 2030, and 86 percent believe that they will join NATO within seven years, according to a January survey by the National Democratic Institute (NDI ) . The survey by the Ukrainian organization Rating Group reached similar results: 87 percent of those polled were in favor of EU membership, and 86 percent of them were in favor of NATO membership.

Based on the results of public opinion polls, it can be clearly established that the proportion of those who support EU and NATO membership has increased significantly as a result of the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Before December 2021, only 67 percent of the population called for immediate accession, and by October 2013, at least sixty percent of Ukrainians rejected NATO membership. The turning point was the events of 2014: the Euromaidan protests and then Russia's occupation of the Crimean peninsula. In recent years, the proportion of those advocating joining the organization has mostly ranged between forty and fifty percent, and then a significant increase began in August 2021.(...)

The Rating Group's survey also touched on how Ukrainians judge foreign countries: they consider Poland, Lithuania, the United Kingdom and the United States to be their main allies, and they sympathize the least with Russia, Belarus, Hungary and China.

The relations between our country and Ukraine deteriorated between 2004 and 2014 as a result of intensive Ukrainianization efforts, from which the Hungarian community living in Transcarpathia, estimated to number 150,000 people, was no exception. However, the introduction of measures against minorities has not been left behind in recent years: in 2019, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a language law, despite fierce protests, which made the use of the Ukrainian language mandatory practically everywhere, except for private conversations and religious ceremonies.

The full article of Magyar Nemzet can be read here.

Author: Edith Krisztina Dócza

Image: MTI/EPA