Most Ukrainians firmly against land concession to Russia — survey

KYIV, Ukraine — A majority of Ukrainians oppose ceding any land captured by Russia in exchange for peace, even as their army is on the blackfoot against advancing Russian forces, a survey said on Tuesday.

The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology carried out the survey a month before the election of Donald Trump, whose victory rekindled fears Washington may force Ukraine into giving up land.

"As of the beginning of October 2024, despite all the difficult circumstances, the majority of Ukrainians -- 58 per cent -- opposed any territorial concessions," the survey said.

Kyiv, outgunned and outmanned by Moscow, has struggled to hold back steady advances from Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region for weeks.

On the diplomatic front, it has contended with war fatigue from some Western allies, including from its main backer the United States, where the presidential elections revived debates over aid to Ukraine.

President-elect Trump has claimed he would end the fighting within 24 hours, without giving details how, while his running mate JD Vance has advocated freezing combat along current lines.

But the military and diplomatic setbacks had little effect on the polls, which showed that "between May and the beginning of October 2024, the situation actually did not change -- currently 32 per cent are ready for territorial concessions."

That number has tripled since the beginning of the war, when 10 per cent were in favour of giving up some territory.

Moscow has repeated demands that Ukraine cede the territory occupied by Russian as a precondition to peace talks, a demand ruled out by Kyiv.

While a majority of Ukrainians answered 'no' when asked if they would approve generic territorial concessions, the numbers varied when pollsters asked if giving up some regions would be difficult, but acceptable.

Around 46 per cent of Ukrainians would be ready to accept giving up Donbas and Crimea, the poll said, with 39 per cent of them saying that compromise would be difficult.

Donbas is an eastern region encompassing Donetsk and Lugansk, currently mostly occupied by Russian forces, while Crimea is a peninsula that Russia occupied in 2014 and later annexed.

This summer, Ukraine launched an offensive and seized part of Russian territory, which it hopes could improve its position if it was forced to negotiate.