Public opinion polls in Ukraine show that the vast majority of Ukrainians still consider any territorial concessions to Russia unacceptable.
A number of pro-Kremlin media outlets spread disinformation that Ukrainians allegedly expressed their eagerness to make territorial concessions for the sake of peace with Russia. Russian media writes that public opinion polls show citizens are confident that the Ukrainian authorities must abandon plans to restore the 1991 borders.
The source used for this disinformation is a brief sentence in an article about the war in Ukraine, published on November 24 in Bloomberg. In the article authors wrote nothing about the widespread desire of Ukrainians to trade temporarily occupied territories for peace with Russia. Bloomberg merely reported that “a small but growing minority of Ukrainians are coming to believe that territorial concessions to Russia could be an inevitable price for peace.” However, the authors of the article did not say where they got the data from.
Public opinion polls in Ukraine show that the vast majority of Ukrainians consider any territorial concessions to Russia unacceptable. According to the results of a survey published by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation at the end of August 2023, 90.4% of Ukrainians oppose Ukraine giving away its territories in exchange for peace with Russia. The idea of giving up part of Ukrainian territories to the occupiers in order to end the war is supported by less than 5% of Ukrainians.
The results of an October survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology are slightly different, but, overall illustrate similar sentiments in Ukrainian society. The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians are still unwilling to compromise with the aggressor to end the war, the study says. 80% of Ukrainians remain confident that no territorial concessions are acceptable, even if it prolongs the war.
The Institute reports that the share of those who would be ready to give up territories to Russia to achieve peace and preserve the independence of Ukraine has increased from 10% to 14%. At the same time, the authors of the study separately note that the survey results must be considered exclusively in the context of the harsh methods of warfare by the occupiers.
“Between this and the previous survey, four difficult months have passed with bloody battles and devastating shelling (and, on top of that, internal political tension due to corruption issues and difficulties in relations with foreign partners). Most likely, by the beginning of summer, many Ukrainians had more optimistic expectations comparing to the beginning of autumn 2023. However, despite all these factors, the vast majority of Ukrainians do not lose heart and remain confident in the importance of continuing the fight against the enemy,” the Institute’s study summarizes.
Read the refutation of a similar Russian narrative, based on the results of public opinion polls, in the StopFake story Fake: One Third of Ukrainian Youth Fled to Russia Because of Better Medicine and Working Conditions.
