Majority of Ukrainians Support Negotiations With Russia For Peace – Poll

According to a recent nationwide research poll, 57 percent of Ukrainians support negotiations with Russia to try to facilitate peace, though only 35 percent (out of the total population) support ending the war with the new border where the de facto border was on Feb. 23, 2022, ceding lands Moscow had unilaterally taken before its full-scale invasion.

Lands surrendered in the poll’s scenario would include certain parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, an administrative division of Ukraine until illegally and unilaterally annexed on Feb. 27, 2014, following the Revolution of Dignity, that began in late November 2013.

This conclusion was reached by the National Democratic Institute and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, which conducted the survey in May.

In opposition, 38 percent think Ukraine should not enter negotiations, and another 5 percent “don’t know.”

Interestingly, the number of those agreeing to negotiations with Russia increased by 15 percent compared to November 2023 and returned to the survey results of May 2022. At that time, 59 percent of surveyed Ukrainians responded that Ukraine should enter negotiations with Russia to try to achieve peace.

According to the survey, 87 percent of Ukrainians expect Kyiv to join the European Union (EU) by 2030, and 65 percent expect to join NATO. Over 30 percent believe Ukraine will become an EU member within one or two years, 28 percent - less than a year.

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The percentage of respondents who want Ukraine to become a full democracy remains consistently high at 93 percent, while the percentage of those who have experienced the loss of friends due to the conflict increases with each survey and now stands at 77 percent.

At the same time, 67 percent of Ukrainians complain about deteriorating mental health because of Russian aggression against Ukraine, 61 percent report reduced income, and 58 percent report deteriorating physical health.

Nearly every second Ukrainian (47 percent) suffers from separation from their family.

It is worth noting that the study lasted from May 8 to May 25. Using the method of telephone interviews based on random generation of mobile numbers, 2,508 adult residents of Ukraine were surveyed. The sample did not include temporarily occupied territories as of February 23, 2022 (Crimea, occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions). The random error for the national sample does not exceed 2.2 percent.