Ukrainians long for peace, but know that Russia (-> current news from the Ukraine war) does not abide by agreements, says pollster Anton Gruschetskyj. They see Donald Trump’s attacks on Zelensky as an attack on their country.
“People see the attacks on Zelenskyi as attacks on Ukraine,” says Anton Grushetskyi, Managing Director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), one of the largest polling institutes in Ukraine, in an interview with the FAZ.
No one can say better how the “collective soul of Ukrainians” is currently shaping up.
Selenskyj’s popularity ratings even increased
After the meeting in the White House, Ukrainians’ trust in President Volodymyr Zelenskyi rose to 67%. When Trump took office, the figure was only 52 percent.
Trump’s image among Ukrainians, on the other hand, has changed massively: After his election, 54 percent thought that Trump’s victory was rather good for Ukraine. At the same time, only 23% believed that he could bring about a just peace. Now, more than 70 percent say that Trump’s presidency is bad for Ukraine. And almost 60 percent do not believe that a just peace can be expected with him, as Gruschetskyj explains in the FAZ.
For the sake of honesty, it must also be noted: Elon Musk claims that Selenskyj only receives such high approval ratings in KIIS surveys because the institute is funded by the American development aid agency USAID. Gruschetskyj responds to this in the interview by saying that although “many commissions” come from UN institutions or USAID-funded projects, “Musk could also commission us and get the same results as everyone else.”
Under what circumstances can there be peace?
80 percent of Ukrainians say: “We should continue to fight even if the USA stops its support.”
Under what circumstances can Ukrainians imagine a peace agreement with Russia? Gruschetskyj: “For the majority, security guarantees have priority. 60 percent can imagine a peace agreement if Russia de facto controls the occupied territories but Western peacekeeping troops are in the country. 58 percent could imagine this with NATO-membership, and 56 percent with an increase in military aid.”
This naturally raises the question of whether the Ukrainians would be prepared to give up the occupied territories. The answer is: “No!” According to the survey, 90 percent of respondents say that there should be no official recognition of the occupied territories. Under certain circumstances, they could imagine leaving part of the occupied territories temporarily under Russian control and freezing the front line – as long as there are certain security guarantees to prevent Russia from attacking again.
In the latest KIIS survey from mid-March, only 18 percent believed that a possible ceasefire would be a step towards a real end to the war with terms acceptable to Ukraine.
After this survey, the conclusion is clear: There will probably be no peace between Ukraine and Russia any time soon.
