The vast majority of Ukrainian citizens are ready to continue the fight against Russia without American support.
This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by Ipsos for the British magazine The Economist.
A February 28 meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and White House Chief of Staff Donald Trump ended in a scuffle. As a result of the talks, the US froze military aid to Kyiv and suspended intelligence sharing. The Economist conducted a poll the week after the meeting.
The poll found that 74% of Ukrainians support fighting Russia even without the help of the United States. The vast majority — 59% of those polled — also believe that Ukraine can defeat Russia on the battlefield (while 21% do not believe in such a victory).
Ukrainians were also asked about possible concessions to end the war. The results show that of all the Russian Federationʼs demands, the majority of Ukrainians are only ready to give up the NATO membership — 38%. In contrast, 37% of respondents are against such a concession. At the same time, only 6% of respondents said that they are ready for territorial concessions from Russia regarding the territories occupied after the full-scale invasion in 2022. At the same time, 11% of respondents are ready to give up Crimea, and 27% — from parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which have been occupied since 2014.
The poll shows that 80% of Ukrainians are against the demilitarization of Ukraine. At the same time, 70% of those polled are against lowering the mobilization age (only 17% are in favour), which, as The Economist notes, seems incompatible with the fact that the majority want to continue the fight. This idea remains unpopular, supported mainly by men of retirement age.
The majority of Ukrainians — 72% — fully or partially approve of the actions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. At the same time, 46% of Americans approve of Trumpʼs work.
Regarding elections, 62% of Ukrainians are against holding them before martial law ends. At the same time, 19% said that elections can be held during a ceasefire, and 14% want elections as soon as possible.
At the same time, if the elections were held now, 46% of those polled would vote for Zelensky, and 31% would vote for the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and current Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK Valeriy Zaluzhnyi. At the same time, the publication noted that politics in Ukraine is on pause due to the war, so these figures are theoretical and will change during the real election campaign.
- The Ipsos poll, commissioned by The Economist, was conducted by telephone among 1 000 Ukrainians from March 5 to 10, before the talks in Saudi Arabia on March 11, after which US-Ukraine relations improved.
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