Most Ukrainians believe Russia will attack energy facilities in winter: poll

Russia’s attacks on the energy sector in the upcoming winter will have a notable impact on whether Ukrainians are able to work, a new poll by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Razumkov Centre, a consultancy, has shown.

Last year, Russia started targeting Ukrainian energy facilities in an attempt to break the country’s resolve to fight against the full-scale invasion and disrupt its economic activity.

28 percent of Ukrainians surveyed believe that they will not be able to work if the attacks on infrastructure are comparable to last year’s. Meanwhile, 56 percent believe that they will be able to continue performing their job duties.

The attacks on energy infrastructure may have a particularly strong impact on employed people in eastern Ukraine, where 41 percent said they would not be able to continue working.

In addition, 74 percent of Ukrainians said they believed that Russia would resume systematic missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as it did last autumn and winter.

31 percent of those surveyed said they were convinced an attack on the Ukrainian energy system "will definitely happen", and another 43 percent believed this was "highly likely".

Only 14 percent of Ukrainians thought the risk of missile attacks on the Ukrainian power grid was low, and another four percent believed this "will definitely not happen".

The poll was carried out from 9 to 15 August, encompassing a total of 2019 respondents, with the sampling error not exceeding 2.3 percent.