An overwhelming share of Ukrainians reject the idea of surrendering Ukrainian territory to Russia, a recent poll suggests.
The results of a Wall Street Journal-NORC poll released on Wednesday found 89% of Ukrainian respondents opposed giving up Ukrainian territory to Russian forces occupying their country to reach a peace deal with the Kremlin.
The data also showed that 78% of Ukrainians approve of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s response to the Russian invasion, with only 7% saying he has conducted the war poorly.
With Russian President Vladimir Putin getting strong support at home over the war, the new Journal-NORC poll illustrates that both leaders are not feeling direct pressure from their citizens to make compromises that could end the conflict.
The survey utilized live pollsters to interview 1,005 adults who use a cellphone with service from one of Ukraine’s mobile providers in regions held by the Ukrainian government, as well as some citizens abroad with Ukrainian roaming service.
It excluded Russian-controlled Crimea and parts of Donbas, where Ukrainian mobile providers are not used. The report states that data were collected in Ukraine with the local agency Info Sapiens.
The survey was conducted June 9-13, just before recent Russian missile attacks on Kyiv and before the Russian military made critical advances toward controlling the Donbas region.
A similarly large percentage of Ukrainians, 81%, said the government should not bargain for an end to the conflict by giving Russia parts of Ukraine it had taken earlier, such as Crimea, the Black Sea, and parts of the Donbas.
The poll additionally reflected Ukrainian optimism about achieving victory in the war. Offered several potential outcomes, 66% of Ukrainians said their nation’s military would likely prevail in forcing the Russian army out of regions it has taken this year. Only 10% stated that the scenario was improbable.
Some 53% of those polled think their military would probably succeed in driving Russia out of all Ukrainian territory it has recently taken, including Crimea and the Donbas.
The poll showed about 20% of Ukrainian think the conflict would drag on as a protracted military standoff, while a mere 6% said the fighting would end in an agreement permitting the Kremlin to keep parts of Ukraine’s south and the Donbas.
NORC Vice President Vadim Volos said the poll showed that Ukrainians are standing together.
“What we see in the poll is practically a united nation in response to the external threat,” he said.
Don’t do it. Vlad and his fellow cellar-dwellers will be back before we know it, demanding more.