Vast majority of Ukrainians see liberating all Ukrainian territory as key to defeating Russia
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More than 83% of Ukrainians think the liberation of all Russian-occupied territories, up to Ukraine’s 1991 borders, would mean Ukraine had defeated Russia in the war, a new poll has found.
The results of the poll, conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology at the request of the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, were released on Aug. 29.
Most of those polled said they didn’t think Ukraine would have defeated Russia if it did not manage to liberate Crimea from Russian military occupation.
The other options got less than 5%.
Four percent of respondents believe that the return of the territories to the borders before Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, would be enough to declare victory over Russia. Another 3.7% consider victory might be achieved without the return of Crimea, and 1.5% said it might be achieved without the return of the Russian-occupied part of Donbas.
Less than 2% would be satisfied with the option of Ukraine declaring victory and simply keeping the territories that are not currently occupied by Russia.
Sociologists also note that the number of respondents who expect a long war with Russia is increasing. Some 42% of Ukrainians believe that the war may last more than a year more, 34% from six months to a year, and almost 10%, for a few more months.
The Ukrainian sociological survey has been conducted annually since 1994. This year it was conducted from June 17-27 by telephone interview in all regions of Ukraine, except for Russian-occupied territories in the Donbas and in Crimea.
Since May 2022, the share of Ukrainians reluctant to make territorial concessions to end the war has remained roughly the same, despite Russia's regular attacks on critical and civilian infrastructure.
In May, a KIIS poll showed that 84% of Ukrainians believe that territorial concessions to Russia are unacceptable, even if the war lasts longer and there are other threats.
In August, U.S. newspaper the New York Times reported that a new phase of Ukraine's counter-offensive had begun, with the main blow coming from the southeast, where Ukrainian forces are gradually advancing through minefields under Russian air attacks.
On Aug. 27, the U.S-based Institute for the Study of War reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are now likely to advance through the most difficult section of the Russian forces' defensive positions and are approaching the next line.
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