Daily life in Kyiv amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
Almost half of Ukrainian civilians are now in favour of beginning peace talks with Russia, according to a survey published by Ukrainian independent news outlet ZN.UA on Monday.
When asked whether the “time had come for official peace talks between Ukraine and Russia”, some 43.9% of respondents said yes, 35% were opposed and 21.1% said they were undecided.
Support for negotiations was highest in southern Ukraine, where 60% of those questioned said they supported peace talks, a number that sank to just 34% in the country’s eastern regions, which are closest to the frontline and subject to the most frequent Russian attacks.
While almost half of those surveyed supported starting talks with Russia, an overwhelming majority of respondents rejected the preconditions for negotiations listed by Vladimir Putin.
Conducted by Kyiv’s Razumkov Centre, a Ukrainian public policy think tank in late June, the survey questioned Ukrainian civilians in all regions of the country except annexed Crimea on a range of issues related to the war. Those serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine were, however, not included in the survey, though ZN.UA stressed that servicemen were entitled to “the most significant, if not decisive, voice in negotiations with Russia”.
While almost half of those surveyed supported starting talks with Russia, an overwhelming majority of respondents rejected the preconditions for negotiations listed by Vladimir Putin, with over three-quarters of respondents saying they were in favour of Kyiv rejecting them out of hand.
Just over half (51.5%) of respondents said that talks should only begin after Russian troops withdrew from occupied eastern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula, while just over a quarter (25.8%) said they would still support talks if Russian forces remained in Crimea and areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions occupied by pro-Russian separatists before February 2022.
Around two-thirds (65.6%) of those surveyed believed Ukraine could defeat Russia on the battlefield, a figure that rose to 82.2% if Kyiv’s Western allies supplied sufficient weapons.
Earlier in July, a similar survey conducted in Russia showed that 58% of Russians favoured starting peace talks with Ukraine, the highest figure since polling on the issue began, while on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian representatives “should be” at a prospective second peace summit planned for November.
