Sentiment in Ukraine: Unwillingness to tolerate war grows as territorial losses increase
As the New York Times writes, In 2024, Ukraine lost about 3367 km² of Ukrainian territory, which is the fastest advance of Russian troops since the first months of the war.
“This has been the most difficult period for Ukraine since the beginning of 2022. Russia has been gaining momentum, seizing more territory every month since August,” Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the newspaper.
According to the publication, the most critical situation is in Donbass, where Russia is slowly but surely moving towards Pokrovsk. The article notes that Despite talk of peace, the war is far from over.
It is not surprising that public opinion in Ukraine is changing significantly. In particular, the number of citizens who are ready to endure the war "as long as it takes" has sharply decreased. The number of such Ukrainians has decreased by 16% in a year. As of December 2024, it amounted to only 57%. Such data are provided by a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
The researchers noted that from the first day of the war until February 2024, the situation remained virtually unchanged: around 71–73% of Ukrainians consistently stated that they were ready to endure the war for as long as necessary.
However, between February and October last year, the share of Ukrainian residents answering this way fell to 63% for the first time. After that, from October to December 2024, it fell to 57%. At the same time, the number of those who found it difficult to answer the question also increased - from 12% in October to 18% in December. Another 3% answered that they were ready to endure for a year, 3% - for six months, and 18% - for several months.
The largest number of those willing to tolerate continued fighting is observed in the relatively safe western and central Ukraine (57–59%). Also, people with high incomes are more prepared for a long conflict (70%) than people with low incomes (51%).
According to KIIS sociologists, the results of the survey were influenced not only by the decrease in the Ukrainians’ margin of safety, but also by the increased uncertainty associated with both internal and external factors, including Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.
The KIIS study was conducted from December 2 to 17 using telephone interviews. In total, about 1 respondents from all regions of Ukraine were interviewed.
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