Legal protection of victims from the war crimes of Russia (December 23-26, 2022)

 • According to the research conducted by the Sociological Group Rating, 16% of Ukrainians changed their place of residence since February 24; 12% had left, but have already returned home. 72% did not change their place of residence. Half of those who have left plan to return home only after the end of the war. 10% plan to return in the nearest future, 23% are still waiting, 11% do not plan to return home. Among the residents of the territories close to the hostilities (South and East), two-thirds live outside their homes these days.

Legal protection of victims from the war crimes of Russia from Ratinggroup 

 • The vast majority of respondents (87%) have not changed their place of residence due to the shelling of the infrastructure, 8% - have left and live away from home for this reason, 5% - have left and have already returned.

• Every tenth respondent has experienced damage or destruction of housing: 2% noted that their housing was damaged and unfit for living, 6% reported partial damage, 2% - destroyed, but already restored. For the majority (86%), housing has not undergone changes. Among the residents of the hostilities zone, 9% noted that their homes were destroyed, 20% - partially damaged. In the de-occupied territories, 5% of respondents reported destroyed housing, 14% - partially damaged, 5% - damaged but already repaired.

• Among those whose housing has been destroyed or partially damaged, 24% reported their homes’ damage to DIYA, 12% - to law enforcement agencies, and 8% - to state institutions. Almost 70% did not submit any applications.

• Among those who had a job before the war, 40% work as they used to, 17% - remotely or partially, 8% - found a new job. 33% are not working nowadays.

• Since the beginning of the war, the income level of 6% of respondents has increased; 36% noted it has hardly changed, 17% - has decreased somewhat, 30% - has decreased significantly. 10% of respondents lost almost all their income. The income situation is worse among residents of the South and East, middle-aged people, those poor and with low income, as well as those who have lost their jobs or are working part-time.

• 46% noted that during the war the state of their physical health have not changed, 32% said it has rather worsened, and 21% - worsened significantly. Residents of hostilities zone territories, those older and with lower income, women, those who have left their homes, have been injured or have lost loved ones as a result of the war more often reported the deterioration.

• Almost every tenth respondent noted that either they personally or close relatives have been injured as a result of the war. 66% of them have documented the facts of the injury.

• 17% have close relatives with whom they have lost contact and do not know where they are now. 5% have those who died as a result of the war; 3% - forcibly deported to Russia, or to the occupied territories of the East, Crimea.

• 96% of respondents have not contacted law enforcement agencies over the last six months on issues caused by the Russian invasion. The main reason for this is the absence of direct damages/losses or their insignificance (90%).

• 95% of respondents have not contacted public organizations over the last six months on issues caused by the Russian invasion.

• About one-third of the respondents are ready to personally participate in lawsuits to claim compensation for lost property/health in Ukrainian courts, international or special courts with the participation of national and foreign judges.

• In the opinion of 75% of the polled, the priority for justice referring war crimes should be fair punishment of war criminals; 21% name compensation for victims.

• Only 6% know about the legal assistance provided by Ukrainian justice to victims of war crimes, 35% have heard something about it. Almost 60% do not know anything. 60% want to learn more about legal assistance from justice authorities, 37% do not want to.

• 65% of respondents believe the law enforcement system of Ukraine to be effective in terms of the investigation of Russian war crimes, less than 20% share the opposing opinion. The main reasons for inefficiency were cited as following: corruption (59%), citizens' distrust of law enforcement officers (29%), their unprofessionalism (24%), and long proceedings of cases (21%).

• The efficiency of the judicial system of Ukraine referring the investigation of war crimes was assessed in the same way: 60% consider it effective, only about 20% - ineffective. Among the main reasons for the judicial system inefficiency were named such as corruption (65%), citizens' distrust of courts (36%), long proceedings (21%) and unprofessionalism of judges (15%). According to the majority (75%), war crimes’ trials in Ukraine should be started as soon as possible, 23% believe that it should be done after the end of the war.

• Special courts with the participation of national and foreign judges are believed to be the most effective mechanism of trial for Russia’s war crimes (65%). 22% believe that international institutions will be effective in this case, 7% think the same about the courts of Ukraine.

• The absolute majority (96%) support the idea of involving international legal organizations to document Russia's war crimes during the war.

• Considering the initiative to create a special international tribunal referring the aggression crime against Ukraine, 15% of respondents are aware of it, almost 60% have heard something about it. A quarter do not know anything about it. 96% believe that this tribunal should also consider other war crimes - against humanity, genocide. According to 95% of respondents, both Ukrainian and foreign experts should conduct the investigation in the case of the aggression crime against Ukraine.

• Almost 90% support the idea of creating a special judicial system (like an anti-corruption one) to administer justice for crimes committed during Russia's war against Ukraine.

• 34% believe that special judicial bodies should be created for conducting judicial proceedings in the territories of Donbas and Crimea liberated from occupation; 22% are in favor of the creation of such special courts, but on a temporary basis. Almost 40% stand for judicial proceedings in the liberated territories in ordinary courts of Ukraine.

• Only 4% of respondents are well aware of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 30% have heard something about it. More than 60% do not know anything. Instead, about 80% support the idea of Ukraine ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 4% do not support it, 17% have not decided.

• The absolute majority of respondents consider the Russian political authorities to be guilty of committing war crimes against Ukraine (98%), 96% think the same about Russian military personnel. 87% believe Russian citizens are guilty, only 10% think they are not guilty.

• Regarding the issue of applying amnesty to various categories of residents of the occupied territories, in respect of which the facts of collaboration with the enemy were established, a relative majority believes that amnesty is possible for teachers, doctors, social workers (68%), heads of local communal institutions (58%) and heads of local enterprises, banks, and organizations (51%). 38% allow amnesty for local mass media journalists, 57% do not allow it. More than 20% allow amnesty for members of local political parties and members of illegal armed groups, while more than 70% are against it. Less than 20% consider amnesty possible for local government officials and law enforcement officials, and about 80% think it is impossible.

• Almost 40% believe that self-trial in the case of war crimes against Ukraine is justified, 55% share the opposing opinion.

• According to the majority, Russia should compensate Ukraine's economic and infrastructural losses (94%), as well as moral damage to life and health of Ukrainian citizens (92%). 11% and 14% respectively speak about compensation from international organizations, European countries - 6% and 5%, USA - 2% each, Ukraine - 2% and 5% respectively.

• Less than half of the respondents believe that Russia will compensate economic and infrastructure losses. About the same number do not believe in it. Less than 40% believe in compensation for moral damage to life and health of Ukrainian citizens from Russia, about 60% do not believe.

Audience: the population of Ukraine aged 18 and older in all regions, except for the temporarily occupied territories of the Crimea and Donbas, as well as the territories where there was no Ukrainian mobile connection at the time of the survey. The results are weighted using the current data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. The sample is representative in terms of age, gender, and type of settlement. Sample population: 2000 respondents. Survey method: CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing). The margin of error of the study with the confidence interval of 0.95: does not exceed 2.2%. 

Dates of the survey: December 23-26, 2022.

The project is implemented by the NGO " Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group " within the framework of the project "EU Emergency Support 4 Civil Society", which is implemented by ISAR Ednannia  with the financial support of the European Union