Ukrainians Are Changing Their Minds on the War

Ukrainians are changing their minds on the Russia-Ukraine war, and just over half now want to negotiate an end to it, according to a new poll by Gallup.

The survey, conducted in August and October, found 52 percent of Ukrainians favor peace talks “as soon as possible,” 38 percent believe they should keep fighting, and nine percent don’t know or refused to answer.

A majority (52 percent) also felt that Ukraine should be open to making some territorial concessions as a part of a peace deal, with 38 percent disagreeing.

After 1,000 days at war with Russia, Ukrainians’ views have changed drastically since 2022, when a previous Gallup poll found 73 percent felt their country should fight until victory. Only 22 percent felt Kyiv should negotiate an end to the war as soon as possible.

Newsweek reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Gallup for comment via email.

Benedict Vigers, a Senior Global Newswriter at Gallup told Newsweek: “Our latest polling from Ukraine shows that after more than two years of war, many Ukrainians now think their country should seek to negotiate an ending to the war as soon as possible.

“Public opinion has changed significantly as the war has progressed, with the percentage who want Ukraine to negotiate a quick ending doubling since 2023 (from 22 percent to 52 percent). Support for continuing to fight until victory has not only fallen in the regions closest to the front line, but across the whole country, dipping below 50 percent in all regions of Ukraine this year.”

The desire to fight until victorious began to noticeably decline in 2023, when 63 percent of Ukrainians wanted to continue fighting, compared to 27 percent who wanted to negotiate an ending.

Support for continued fighting has declined everywhere this year. In previous years, Eastern and Southern Ukraine, where most of the fighting has taken place, were most opposed to the war, while the less affected areas in Northern and Western Ukraine were keen to pursue victory, Gallup found.

The Ukrainians’ concept of victory has also changed since the beginning of the war. In 2022, the vast majority (92 percent) believed that victory meant regaining territory lost since 2014, including Crimea. That dropped to 81 percent this year.

The majority of respondents favored the E.U. as peace brokers, at 70 percent, or the U.K, at 63 percent. The U.S was backed by roughly half the respondents for a role in the negotiations.

President-elect Donald Trump has previously said that he would end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours” of taking office and, since his reelection, details of his advisers’ plans have emerged, including pushing for a ceasefire while freezing borders at the current front lines.

In this scenario, Russia would retain the territory it has seized and aspects of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace plan, notably joining NATO, would not happen.

Newsweek has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment via email.

Zelensky has previously dismissed Trump’s peace plan, and the Ukrainian leader has also spoken defiantly against accepting a compromise.

“We are an independent country. And during this war, both our people and I personally, in negotiations with the United States, with Trump, Biden, and European leaders, have proved that the rhetoric of ‘sit and listen’ does not work with us,” he said in an interview with Ukrainian Radio.

Zelensky is determined to secure a future safe from Russia. He posted on X, formerly Twitter: “1,000 days of war. 1,000 days since Ukrainians kicked Putin in the teeth. We must end this war—and end it justly. But we must do it in a way that ensures Putin, no matter how toothless, never returns to Ukraine. We need to make it certain.”