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“They never wanted to join NATO.” What’s wrong with the statement made by political scientist Piatrouski about Ukrainians?
A guest on the Azarenok.Napryamuyu stream stated that Ukrainians have always opposed joining the Alliance.
Political analyst Piotr Piatrouski appeared on CTV and stated that Ukrainians never wanted to join NATO. He attributed the surge in support after 2022 to emotional reactions. However, poll data tell a different story. Support for joining the Alliance became the prevailing sentiment even after the annexation of Crimea and the start of the war in Donbas. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion, support rose to over 70%.
Context:A NATO summit was held in Ankara on July 7 and 8, 2026. Experts view the outcome as positive for Ukraine. The allies agreed on a €140 billion military aid package, and Donald Trump said the U.S. might grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot missiles, which Ukraine needs to defend itself against Russian ballistic missiles. However, the summit did not yield any breakthroughs regarding Ukraine’s NATO membership.
On July 2, 2026, during the Azarenok.Napryamuyu stream a project by the CTV television channel, political analyst Piotr Piatrouski stated that the majority of Ukrainians had always opposed joining NATO.
“Ukrainians never wanted to join NATO. According to all the polls, they never wanted to join NATO. The only thing is after 2022, support went up somewhat because of emotions. And now, nobody even conducts such polls anymore,” Piatrouski said.
This does not align with the data from the opinion polls. Until 2014, support for Ukraine’s accession to NATO was relatively low. However, by the end of 2014, following the annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of war in Donbas, a poll by the Rating group revealed that over half of Ukrainians would have voted in favor of joining NATO in a referendum.
Similar results were recorded in 2017 and 2019. More than half of the respondents said that, in a hypothetical referendum, they would vote in favor of Ukraine joining NATO.
Following the outbreak of full-scale war in 2022, support for Ukraine’s accession to NATO increased to over 70%.
Source: Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Results of the survey conducted between 6 and 20 July 2022.
Although the figure has declined slightly in recent months, support has remained high ever since. The most recent poll of this kind, conducted in June 2026, found that 63% of respondents supported joining NATO. Therefore, Piatrouski’s assertion that these types of surveys are not currently being conducted is also incorrect.
