YouGov survey finds negotiated end to war with Russia is preferred option in four out of seven countries
Dec 26, 2024
Readiness to support Ukraine “until it wins” has fallen sharply across western Europe at a critical time for the country, a survey suggests, as Donald Trump’s forthcoming return to the White House raises questions over the future of US military assistance to Kyiv.
December polling by YouGov in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and the UK found public desire to stand by Ukraine until victory – even if that meant prolonging the war – had slumped in all seven countries over the past 12 months.
Support for an alternative resolution to the conflict – a negotiated end to the fighting, even if that left Russia in control of parts of Ukraine – had increased in every country, the survey found, and was the preferred option in four of them.
There was some unhappiness at the idea of an imposed settlement that would involve Ukraine ceding territory to Russia, but also widespread belief that the new US president would abandon Ukraine after his inauguration on 20 January.
Trump has boasted, without providing details, that he can end the war “in 24 hours”, and his Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, is due to travel to European capitals in early January. Analysts have expressed doubts the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will enter talks on terms that are in any way acceptable to Kyiv.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has welcomed Trump’s victory amid exasperation with the incremental policy and strategy of “escalation management” from the outgoing Biden administration.
The data comes almost three years after Putin’s full-scale invasion and at a critical moment for Ukraine. This year Russia has been advancing at its fastest rate since spring 2022, when its columns made an unsuccessful attempt to seize Kyiv.
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