In the conditions of the collapse of the USSR and the gaining of independence by Ukraine, the Ukrainian public faced a number of challenges regarding national identity, historical memory, national and political consciousness, etc. In this vein, in 1991, the Center for Political Psychology and Communication of the Kyiv Union of Higher School Teachers schools and scientists, together with the editorial board of the «Literary Ukraine» newspaper, conducted a sociological study on the study of public opinion regarding the topical issues of that time, historical memory, and national consciousness. A number of questions were posed to society: «Who are we?», «What are we like?», «What do we want and what must we do?», «What kind of people are we?», «What kind of historical memory do we have?», «Do we believe in the national, spiritual and state revival of Ukraine?». The article shows the national composition of the population of Ukraine. A sociological portrait of survey respondents was made. The affiliation of the respondents to one or another political culture was determined, where the attitude towards the state leader was the main evaluation criterion, when the western political culture is oriented towards the equality of all citizens, including the leader of the state, while the eastern political culture is focused on the charisma of the leader. The ratio of different personality types among carriers of types of political culture is shown in percentages, their behavior in conflicts, which gives us a certain idea about the formation of their genotype, identity. The opinions of representatives of different types of political culture regarding the principles of choosing the president, regarding the forms of cooperation of Ukraine with the subjects of the former USSR, were analyzed, regarding the rating of historical figures, the popularity of political figures of Ukraine, the significance of Ukraine’s entry into the USSR and the proclamation of the Act of Independence of Ukraine. It was concluded that the society was not monolithic, identical, because it was formed under the influence of many different factors, among which a special place is occupied by the valuable and worldview aspect of the behavior of various social groups, which was related to their interaction with the political authorities. In this respect, the issue of entry/secession of Crimea and Donbas was indicative. That is, already at the moment when Ukraine gained independence, the mentioned question began to be raised at the level of separatism.