The Donbas – Two parts, or still one?

A ZOiS survey conducted in the Donbas in December 2016 provides insights into life and attitudes across the frontline between the Kyiv-controlled Donbas and the occupied territories, the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR). The two-part survey reveals the differentiated public opinion in the DNR/LNR and similarities in views shared across the frontline.

The central questions, which this report addresses on the basis of the new ZOIS survey data, are whether the increasing physical and political distance between the two parts of the Donbas is reflected in the local population’s lives, identities and attitudes. Moreover, the survey provides insights into the effects of the war on identitities, as reported by the respondents. By covering the whole Donbas region rather than just the part controlled by Kyiv, the survey provides a rare glimpse of the perceptions of people in the occupied territory and thereby allows for a comparison of the attitudes across the frontline.