Most Donetsk residents reject separatist activity, support Ukrainian state

More than 65 percent of Donetsk residents want their oblast to remain in the Ukrainian state, according to a poll conducted March 26 to 28 by the Institute of Social Research and Political Analysis, as reported on April 9 by ostro.ua. About 18 percent want the Donetsk Oblast to be annexed by Russia. More than 50 percent support the current unitary state, while about 15.5% support federalism. Only 16 percent support the capture of administration buildings, while 77 percent view such methods as inappropriate, without any positive goals. More than 76 percent of Donetsk residents said they never felt restricted in their use of the Russian language.

Armed Pro-Russian separatists have fortified their barricades surrounding the Donetsk Oblast State Administration, which is the local representative organ of the Presidential Administration, reported on April 10 ostro.org. Donetsk is Ukraine’s fifth-largest city. In Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city, pro-Russian activists fortified their encampment in a central park with sandbags, reported on April 10 the Interfax-Ukrayina news agency. In Luhansk, Ukraine’s 11th-largest city, pro-Russian activists extended their blockade of the local headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and set up about ten tents on an adjacent square, reported the UNIAN news agency on April 9. They are also building a barricade in front of the local offices of the National Bank of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced support on April 9 for pro-Russian activists in Ukraine, declaring his hope that the Ukrainian government “doesn’t cause anything there that couldn’t be corrected,” Interfax reported. Ukraine’s Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov signed a decree on April 9 ordering that the Donetsk State Oblast Administration be taken under state protection.

Zenon Zawada: It’s clear that most residents of southeastern Ukraine have no interest in federalism or annexation by the Russian Federation. The bigger question is whether they’d resist a Russian military invasion and “referenda by gun barrels,” which Crimeans didn’t oppose. It’s a question that remains unanswered.