17% of Ukrainians follow Russian media. This was announced during a press conference by Oksana Maidan, Deputy Head of the Media Program in Ukraine, presenting the results of a poll "Attitudes of the population to the media and consumption of various types of media in 2020."

"Regarding using Russian media: the survey asked two questions: do you personally use it and do you know people around you who use the Russian media,” she explained.

Thus, according to the survey, the number of those who personally use these media has increased. "17% in 2020 against 13% in 2019. But the number of people from respondent’s close people who use Russian media has fallen: 28% this year and it was 30% was in 2019," said Maidan.

People were also asked why they use Russian media. "There are leaders, so to speak, of opinion - to find out what the Russian media is saying about Ukraine - 29%; get news from Russia, what is happening there in Russia - 28%. And to get an alternative, some other point of view - 25%," Maidan said.

The main source for Russian media consumption is satellite TV and YouTube.

"Confidence in the Russian media: if you look at it in general, it has grown," Maidan said, adding that print media have the highest trust - 52% against 13% last year; in second place is radio - 43% of confidence against 16% last year; followed by social networks - 35% compared to 19% last year; TV channels - 28% against 24%; news websites - 25% vs. 20%.

The study "Attitudes of the population to the media and consumption of different types of media in 2020" was conducted by the sociological company InMind commissioned by the international non-profit organization Internews, which implements the "Media Program in Ukraine" with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The main purpose of the study is to study the habits of Ukrainians regarding media consumption, as well as their trust in the media, to assess the level of media literacy and public awareness of the implementation of reforms in Ukraine.

In July-August, InMind representatives surveyed 4.000 respondents aged 18 to 65 in 12 regions of Ukraine. The sampling error does not exceed 2.5%.