After two-and-a-half years of a terrible war, Ukrainians remain deeply patriotic. If one of Vladimir Putin’s goals in launching the war was to sow uncertainty about Ukrainian nationhood and statehood, then he’s failed miserably. Nor is time on his side. The trends point to continued high Ukrainian patriotic feeling.

A public opinion survey conducted last month by the highly respected Democratic Initiatives Fund and the Razumkov Center questioned 2,017 Ukrainian adults in all the provinces that remain unoccupied by Russian forces and are outside of war zones.

Here are some of the key findings (with a 2.3 percent margin of error):

• Eighty-eight percent of Ukrainians are either proud or rather proud of their citizenship. In 2021, before the war, that percentage was 72.4. In 2002, the it was just 41 percent.
• This pride is evenly distributed among Ukraine’s regions: 93 percent in the west, 87 percent in the center, 87 percent in the south and 84 percent in the east.
• This national pride is also high among both rich and poor: 94 percent of the former and 86 percent of the latter.
• In all age groups, between 83 and 87 percent of Ukrainians would vote for independence again if given........
  

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