Key Points and Summary – After more than three years of war, a new survey indicates a significant shift in Ukrainian public opinion, with a majority (56%) now willing to accept a “compromise” involving territorial concessions to end the conflict with Russia.
-The poll, conducted by Kyiv-based pollsters, shows only 12.8% of Ukrainians now believe in fighting until all land is reclaimed.
-This growing desire for peace comes as Russia continues to escalate its attacks, launching what Ukraine called the “largest aerial attack of the war” over the weekend, involving nearly 540 drones and missiles, and as hopes for a decisive intervention from the Trump administration have faded.
Time to End the Ukraine War?
The Russia-Ukraine war, now three years old, continues unabated. The most recent peace talks were almost a month ago, and the war has escalated in the weeks since.
However, a new survey shows that a majority of people in Ukraine, albeit a small one, would agree to a “compromise” to put an end to the conflict.
According to Al Jazeera, the survey was taken by Janus Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts and the SOCIS Center for Social and Marketing Research, both Kyiv-based pollsters. It found that 56 percent of Ukrainians would agree to a “compromise,” which would entail giving up land in exchange for the end of the conflict.
“Another 16.6 percent of those polled would agree to a freeze along the current front lines, and only 12.8 percent want Kyiv to fight until it wins back all the land Russia has seized since 2014,” the report said.
According to a New Voice of Ukraine story about the survey, the “compromise solution” would involve foreign leaders.
In addition, “fewer Ukrainians, 12.8%, believe the war will continue until Ukraine restores its 1991 borders,” per New Voice of Ukraine. “Only 8.6% of respondents consider it most likely that fighting will continue until the line of contact as of Feb. 23, 2022, is restored.”
And the survey also found that a majority of Ukrainians, 57.6 percent, agree that “if negotiations with Russia result in a temporary cessation of hostilities and the end of martial law, elections should be held in Ukraine.”
“Most Ukrainians do support the negotiations through compromise to end the war,” Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta think tank, said in the Al Jazeera story. “We understand that we can’t count only on the military way to end the war.”
Not Coming Home?
The Al Jazeera story about the survey quoted several Ukrainians about how desperate they are for peace.
“I want this nightmare to be over. I don’t want to hear air raid sirens almost every night and read about dead children and people burned alive in their homes almost every morning,” a 35-year-old woman told the news outlet. The woman didn’t use her name because, she said, she “doesn’t want to sound unpatriotic.”
“I want peace, even if it means we can’t ever go back home.”
The same woman also ripped U.S. political leaders.
“Everybody let us down – [former US President Barack] Obama, [current US President Donald] Trump, Europe,” she said. “Trump is the worst of them all… He made so many promises he knew he wouldn’t keep.”
Trump had promised, various times on the campaign trail in 2024, to end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office, but certainly found that a more difficult promise to deliver on than he thought.
The War Continues
Meanwhile, Ukraine said this weekend that Russia has launched its largest aerial attack since the start of the war.
Per the Associated Press, which cited Ukraine’s air force, “Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons at Ukraine, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles.”
“Almost all night long, air raid alerts sounded across Ukraine — 477 drones were in our skies, most of them Russian-Iranian Shaheds, along with 60 missiles of various types. The Russians were targeting everything that sustains life.
A residential building in Smila was also hit, and a child was injured. Emergency services are responding wherever they’re needed,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X after the weekend.
“Moscow will not stop as long as it has the capability to launch massive strikes. Just this week alone, there have been more than 114 missiles, over 1,270 drones, and nearly 1,100 glide bombs. Putin long ago decided he would keep waging war, despite the world’s calls for peace.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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