The results of a poll conducted by KIIS in early December 2023 show not that Ukrainians do not support peace and are ready to fight at any cost for the sake of war, but that Ukrainians are ready not to give up in the face of unjustified Russian aggression.
The Russian media interpreted the results of one of the latest polls conducted among Ukrainians in their own way, claiming that “Ukrainians do not need peace” and that “Ukrainians are rushing to fight” even without the West’s help.
At the same time, the propaganda notes that it is unlikely that such survey results are true, since then “Ukrainians in a single patriotic impulse would storm their territorial recruitment centers (TCCs) every day to enlist as soldiers and go to the front with a song to beat the “damn Muscovites”. Such messages once again repeat the narrative that Ukraine is ready to fight “to the last Ukrainian.”
The primary source for the Kremlin’s manipulation was an all-Ukrainian public opinion poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from November 29 to December 9, 2023, the topic of which was possibility of Ukraine achieving success with adequate support from the West and actions in the event of a significant reduction in aid.
First of all, the survey results showed that the majority of Ukrainians are confident that with the necessary Western assistance to Ukraine in terms of weapons, finance, and sanctions, Ukraine will be able to repel Russia and achieve an acceptable result. 87% of respondents agree with this statement. The researchers also asked respondents about the best strategy for Ukraine in the event of a significant reduction in Western support. Two conditional strategies were formulated:
- Hostilities cease. Ukraine retains control over the territories it currently controls, and the occupied territories are not officially recognized as part of Russia. The West provides Ukraine with serious security guarantees or even membership in NATO. However, the liberation of the occupied territories is postponed for an indefinite future;
- Fighting continues. Ukraine continues to try to put pressure on the Russian occupiers and look for weak points, which prevents them from consolidating their power in the occupied territory. There is also an opportunity to liberate the territories, albeit slowly, little by little. But there is also a threat to the territories currently controlled by Ukraine.
“The majority of respondents – 58% – are currently inclined to the opinion that even in the event of a significant reduction in Western aid, it is still worth continuing hostilities to put pressure on the occupiers, even taking into account the risks to the territories currently controlled by Ukraine. At the same time, every third respondent (32%) believes that it is better to go to the cessation of hostilities under the conditions of really serious security guarantees from the West, even if the liberation of the occupied territories will be delayed indefinitely. The remaining 10% could not decide on their opinion,” KIIS presents.
Thus, the survey results do not show that Ukrainians do not support peace and are ready to fight at any cost for the sake of war, but that Ukrainians are ready not to give up in the face of unjustified Russian aggression. Commenting on the survey Anton Hrushetskyi, executive director of KIIS notes that such answers show that: “the majority, even in such difficult conditions, keep faith in the importance of fighting and putting pressure on the enemy.”
“However, it is very possible that in the case of a really significant restriction of aid and a greater feeling of the consequences of this by citizens, public opinion will quickly change. And in this case, the position of the West also remains fundamentally important – will Ukraine (at least the territories under control) really have serious security guarantees or does the West want to propose another version of the Budapest Memorandum again?” the sociologist writes.
It is worth noting that propaganda deliberately leaves out the fact that it was Russia that started the war, and the aggression was not provoked by Ukraine.
Earlier, StopFake refuted claims that Ukraine wants to give up Western weapons allegedly because of difficulties with supplies, and that Ukraine is allegedly ready to make territorial concessions for the sake of peace with Russia.
