U.S. poll shows majority of Ukrainians want negotiations to end war

PASCUAL SERRANO

The European Union's rhetoric, from its European Commission to the German, French and Spanish governments, is that we must help the Ukrainians win the war and not allow them to lose territory to the Russian invasion. More or less the same reasoning as the US government and NATO.

The option of sitting down to negotiate with Russia to end the war as soon as possible and, if necessary, make territorial concessions seems to be synonymous with an accusation of complicity with Putin.

Well, Someone seems to have asked Ukrainians what they think. It was the American pollster Gallup. and has discovered that this is precisely what the majority wants: to end the war as soon as possible, even with territorial concessions to Russia.

This is the result of two years of conflict, according to polls conducted between August and October this year. 52% of Ukrainians would like their country to negotiate an end to the war as soon as possible, compared to 38% who believe that they should continue fighting until victory. The latter percentage was 73% at the beginning of the war.

In 2023, the majority was still in favour of fighting, 63%, compared to 27% for a negotiated peace. Today, the majority has already changed.

Opinions have also always depended on the regions of Ukraine. From the very beginning, the regions closest to the front line were less in favour of fighting. However, Gallup notes that over time, support for continuing the war has become a minority in all regions of the country. The biggest declines have been in areas far from the front line. For example, in kyiv, support has dropped by 39 percentage points and in the west of the country by 40 points.

Among Ukrainians living in the east, more than twice as many now want the war to end as soon as possible (63%) rather than continue it (27%).

Unsurprisingly, most of those who favor negotiating a quick end to the war believe Ukraine should be open to giving up some territory in exchange for peace. More than half agree that Ukraine should be open to making some territorial concessions as part of a peace deal to end the war, while 38% disagree and another 10% don't know. Gallup did not ask for further details on the level of territorial concessions people would be open to.

Even among Ukrainians who favor fighting until their country wins the war, there is a shift in what they would consider a “victory.” In 2022 and 2023, the vast majority (92% and 93%, respectively) who advocated continuing to fight said victory meant regaining all the territory lost since 2014, including Crimea. Today, nearly a fifth, 19%, believe that even if Crimea were not regained, it would be a victory.

These opinions once again show that the war between Russia and Ukraine is a proxy war by NATO against Russia. Under the pretext of defending the Ukrainians, NATO is waging a war that is literally bleeding Ukraine and, metaphorically, the European economy dry.

The fact that, contrary to the rhetoric of the European Commission and NATO, the Ukrainians are saying that they want to negotiate in order to end the war as soon as possible, once again shows that those who ask to fight in wars are never those who suffer from them.