The Director of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine, corresponding member of the NAS of Ukraine Yevhen Holovakha, in an interview with journalists of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the oldest political foundation in Germany and a platform for exchanging ideas and strategies among politicians and experts, spoke about how public sentiments in Ukraine have changed over three years of full-scale war and what 2025 will be like for Ukrainians.
Some theses from the interview of the famous sociologist:
- “2025 should become a year of emotional dramatism, that is, a shift from predominantly positive emotions that Ukrainians feel about the country's future to rather skeptical assessments.”
- “The resilience of Ukrainians has proven to be very high: for three years now we have been overcoming the difficulties we face.”
- “For 2025, I do not predict a significant deterioration of the situation for Ukraine. But there is one circumstance that can affect all forecasts – external factors. How our partners will behave, how our enemies will act.”
- “Today in Ukraine there is a greatly increased need for psychological services. One of our studies shows that before the full-scale war, 12 percent of people were in a state of distress. Now – 27 percent.”
- “A person in a state of distress loses work capacity and the ability to overcome real difficulties. This social problem must be addressed at the state level.”
- “Psychological services need to be established specifically in the army so that people there can always receive the necessary help.”
- “When we talk about secondary trauma in children, psychological work is also needed – in schools or kindergartens, as well as recommendations for parents so they also take this factor into account.”
- “A very important factor in consolidating Ukrainians was the final choice of the development vector: now our society clearly knows where it needs to go.”
- In 2022, Ukraine began to be perceived as a country capable of very serious social breakthroughs. Ukrainians even started to evaluate our economy higher than before the war, although by that time they had already lost almost a third of it. It turned out that Ukraine is more socially powerful than Ukrainians themselves had previously thought.”
- “There are many potential lines for the country's division. But our studies do not show such a level of tension along these potential lines of division that could lead to social conflicts.”
- “Any success on the fronts significantly changes the psychological state of the population. If there are no such successes, it will be very difficult – although I do not predict a complete loss of resilience and readiness to defend the country.”
- “Research data indicate a significant decline in trust in the Verkhovna Rada, the Government, and the President. However, the level of trust is still higher than it was in all other governments after their five-year term. Despite this, there are still more people who trust the President than those who do not. And this is a rare phenomenon for Ukraine.”
- “Ukrainians want to be far from everything related to the USSR and its successor. Therefore, they do not choose political orientations such as communists, social democrats, socialists. <…> The most popular remains the national-democratic trend – almost a quarter of the country's population adheres to this position.”