Polls show more Ukrainians that ever are willing to consider territorial concessions to Russia in return for peace
After more than three years of Russia’s brutal full-scale invasion, the war’s scars stretch far beyond the frontline. Ukrainians are exhausted from the relentless waves of missile and drone attacks, with Kyiv regularly facing massive assaults and cities deep in western Ukraine, including Lviv, no longer spared from deadly air strikes.
Even hundreds of miles from the front lines, civilians see the human cost of war, with young veterans missing limbs navigating train stations, metros and supermarkets.
There’s no question of the intense longing for peace in the country, but there’s an equally strong feeling that conceding territory to Russia for any potential end to the fighting would make the immense sacrifices made by so many meaningless.
Polls conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology at the start of the invasion found around 9 out of 10 Ukrainians said that under no circumstances should the country give up any of its territories. More recent surveys show that roughly half of Ukrainians still outright reject territorial concessions. Around 39% say they are prepared to consider them.
Another poll, conducted by Gallup in July, found that 69% of Ukrainians now favour a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible, compared to just 24% who support continuing to fight until they are victorious. Back in 2022, 73% of respondents backed fighting on and only 22% believed talks were the way forward.
This almost complete shift reflects a growing war fatigue.
Giving up land for peace
Despite the shifting attitudes of some Ukrainians towards territorial concessions, the move is widely viewed as an immense compromise and would be expected to come with strong security mechanisms, including a raft of military financing, weapons supplies and international guarantees.
Even that isn’t enough for most Ukrainians.
Yulia Klymenko, a Ukrainian MP for the Holos Party, calls the idea “political suicide”.
“Any concession, even if we’re talking about one square metre, is impossible,” she told The i Paper. “The only possibility is probably some kind of frozen combat line. That’s the only feasible option you can discuss in Ukrainian society.”
Territorial concessions for Ukraine is both politically toxic and legally unworkable. It’s prohibited to amend the Constitution during martial law, and even in peacetime any constitutional change requires two separate votes in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, within a year, each needing at least 300 votes out of 450 seats.
One option seen as pragmatic for some in Ukraine is an immediate freeze along the current front line, alongside a diplomatic resolution, without ceding any Russian-occupied territory.
“[Ukrainians] see a phased settlement as realistic,” Valentyn Bondarets, a Ukrainian professional poker player, told The i Paper, adding that this would involve freezing the front line, returning each other’s people, legal and financial mechanisms for reparations, and international security guarantees.
“Some also believe that a limited easing of sanctions could temporarily support stability in the region, but this should be linked to the fulfilment of specific conditions – not simply a ‘gift’ to the aggressor,” he said, referring to Russia.
Not worth the paper
There is almost uniform agreement that any deal made with Vladimir Putin is not worth the paper it’s written on.
“He’s a dictator, and dictators don’t respect agreements except when they serve their interests. Any deal signed with him would likely be broken the moment it stops being convenient for Russia,” said Gabriella Kourkov, a Kyiv-based PR manager.
Kourkov doesn’t believe giving up land would end the war. “Russia would almost certainly pause, regroup and return for more,” she told The i Paper. “That doesn’t mean territorial concessions should never be considered, but they would most likely only stop the fighting temporarily. It would be a pause rather than peace.”
US President Donald Trump has previously told Ukraine it would have to give up some territory as part of an agreement to end the war. However, last month he posted on Truth Social platform that Kyiv can “win all of Ukraine back in its original form”.
A few days later, JD Vance, his vice president, said the US was considering supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles that could hit deep inside Russia, including threatening Moscow.
“Parity has almost been reached along the front line, but it does not exist in missile capabilities to strike military targets deep inside Russia,” Volodymyr Horbach, executive director of the Kyiv-based Institute for Northern Eurasia Transformation, told The i Paper.
“If we can achieve parity there as well, continuing the war will truly become pointless for the aggressor,” he said.
“The most important thing to understand about this war is that it is not being fought over territory – it’s existential,” Horbach added. “Russians deny Ukrainian identity as something distinct from Russian identity… Ukraine and Europe have only one way to coexist with Russia – keep them within firing range.”
