87% of Ukrainians not ready to make territorial concessions, even if war continues – poll
The Ukrainian military continues to maintain defense along the entire front line (Photo:Alex Babenko/Reuters)
Some 87% of Ukrainians are not ready to make territorial concessions in the fight against Russia, even if the hostilities continue, according to the results of the survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
The vast majority of respondents consider territorial concessions unacceptable, a press release about the survey issued on Feb. 23 reads.
At the same time, only 9% were prepared to consider giving up some territories to achieve peace and preserve Ukraine’s independence.
In December 2022, a total of 85% of Ukrainians considered concessions to be unacceptable, but the difference with the current indicator is within statistical error, i.e. no changes have actually occurred.
The survey was conducted from Feb. 14 to Feb. 22. Some 2,002 people were interviewed by phone in all regions of Ukraine, with the exception of the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea. Those who went abroad after Feb. 24 were also not interviewed. The statistical error does not exceed 2.4%.
Russia attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Invading Russian forces initially tried to advance from the north, east and south, attacking peaceful cities throughout Ukraine. Civilian targets across Ukrainian cities remain under sporadic Russian air strikes, while settlements along the Russian border are regularly shelled. Since October, Russia has also been hitting Ukrainian cities with Iranian-made kamikaze drones.
During this time, the Kremlin has changed the war goals in Ukraine several times. After the failed operation to seize Kyiv, Russian troops retreated from Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy oblasts to concentrate on fighting for the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts that were under Ukrainian control before the full-scale invasion.
Currently, Russian invasion forces have seized parts of Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, and Kharkiv oblasts.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched counter-offensives in the south and east of Ukraine, striking at Russian ammunition depots and manpower clusters.
Shortly after the beginning of the Kherson counter-offensive in the south, the Ukrainian army launched another counter-offensive in Kharkiv Oblast in the northeast of the country. Most of the oblast was liberated from Russian occupation in just a few days.
On Nov. 11, the Ukrainian military also liberated the city Kherson and drove the occupying troops from the part of Kherson Oblast on the west bank of the Dnipro River.
After Russian troops fled Kherson, there was an upsurge in fighting in Donetsk Oblast, in particular, near the towns of Bakhmut and Vuhledar.
The Ukrainian army is preparing for a new counter-offensive to liberate more Russian-occupied territories.
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