In recent months, Ukraine has seen a noticeable shift in public opinion regarding possible peace talks with Russia, The New York Times reports. Although the majority of Ukrainians are still categorically against the transfer of any territory, including the Crimean peninsula, the number of those who are open to the idea of a peaceful settlement of the conflict through negotiations is noticeably increasing.
But these polls and recent statements by the country's leaders indicate a noticeable shift in the conversation about peace talks - from "no-no-never" to "possible compromise at some point."
In mid-July, a poll by Ukrainian independent media ZN. UA showed that about 44% of Ukrainian citizens are in favor of starting official negotiations with Russia. On July 23, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology published the results of a survey according to which almost a third of Ukrainians would agree to cede part of the territory to Russia in order to end the conflict. This is more than three times more than a year earlier.
28-year-old Nadya Ivashchenko from the Kirovohrad region says that she cannot describe a good peaceful settlement. But her husband has been serving in the army since February 2022, and the couple has a five-year-old son who has not seen his father for several years. "So many people died, and for what? ... But I want it to end, somehow, because I have a son and I don't want him to grow up in a time of war like this," she says.
Russia has so far refused to agree to a second peace summit, but the Kremlin has also signaled in recent weeks that it may open talks even if Kyiv does not meet Putin's June demands. However, many Western officials and analysts doubt that Putin is willing to negotiate anything other than a peace deal on his own terms.
One of Zelenskyi's key advisers said last week that making a deal with Putin now would be like signing a "deal with the devil." And although a survey by the Kyiv Institute showed a threefold increase in the number of people ready to give up land for the sake of peace, 55% of Ukrainians oppose any territorial concessions.
In the south, one of the regions most affected by the conflict, the change in attitude towards what is happening over the past year has been striking, according to a survey by the Kyiv Institute. More than half of the respondents said that they either supported the concession of some territories or were undecided. Only 46% spoke against any concessions. A year ago, 86% of residents of this region, which covers Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kherson and Odesa, declared that they were against the transfer of any territories to Russia.
Mykola, a 33-year-old Odesa resident who did not want to give his last name because he is avoiding conscription, said he might consider ceding the Crimean peninsula, which is already under Russian control, or an area near Luhansk as part of the deal. But he added: "As someone who sits at home and doesn't fight on the battlefield, I don't think I have the moral right to say what that deal should look like."
Freezing the fighting line will lead to the fact that the regions where the relatives of many Ukrainians live will remain under Russian control indefinitely. And the territories liberated by Ukraine have been destroyed by Russian strikes and have a gloomy appearance.
The study by the Kyiv Sociological Institute did not determine how large the concessions should be, whether the territory should be officially handed over or come under the temporary control of Russia.
"The main reason is the unfulfilled expectations of last year, because many people had high hopes," said the executive director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Anton Grushetskyi. He added that many Ukrainians have seen those hopes dashed, especially because of the delay in American military aid.
