A majority of Ukrainians favour their country engaging in peace negotiations with Russia to end the war in the region, a poll has found.
Data gathered by Gallup in August and October 2024 found 52 per cent of Ukrainians were in favour of talks aimed at ending the conflict “as soon as possible”, compared to 38 per cent who said that “Ukraine should continue fighting until it wins the war.”
Of the group in favour of negotiations, a further 52 per cent said they were open to ceding territory for the sake of peace.
“Ukrainians’ current attitudes toward the war represent a decisive shift from where they stood after it began in late February 2022,” Gallup said.
“Surveyed in the months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukrainians were defiant, with 73 per cent preferring fighting until victory.
“In 2023, support for fighting until victory slipped, but more than twice as many Ukrainians favoured a continued fight (63 per cent) over a negotiated peace (27 per cent). Fatigue has intensified this year, with support for negotiated peace rising to 52 per cent, the first time it has reached a majority,” it added.
The shift in opinion came as the war has entered a difficult phase for the country, with Russian forces consistently making advances despite the onset of winter.
Some Western countries have taken to handing Ukraine more and better weapons in the apparent hope of stemming losses, with outgoing US President Joe Biden giving Kyiv the green light to use long-range ATACMS missiles on November 17.
According to the Washington Post, he has now also approved the delivery of anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine, a contentious move considering 133 countries have signed the Ottowa Convention banning the weapon’s use.
Landmines are particularly controversial due to the harm they can do to civilians long after the conflict they were laid for is over, with hundreds still falling victim to the weapon in places such as Afghanistan.
US officials have insisted this risk would be mitigated in Ukraine’s case, saying that the landmines they were sending to Kyiv were “self-defeating” — deactivating themselves after days or weeks — and that they would not be laid in highly populated areas.
In an extraordinary plenary of the European Parliament, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said, with the right pressure, “we can surely push Russia towards a just peace”. https://t.co/rfL9uE2hmK
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 20, 2024
