The Ukrainians are exhausted. They call for an end to the war, but not under any conditions, not at the price of unacceptable and unconstitutional sacrifices. Most of them welcome a peace agreement that includes clear and solid security guarantees for the country, but not a plan that would force the cession of the entire Donetsk region. In the days in which diplomacy is at work to discuss the peace plan proposed by the USA, President Zelensky with the delegation from Kyiv held talks in Berlin like the delegations of the United States and European countries and the Kremlin continues to affirm that the Donbas is Russian and as such Moscow must take it back, a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, published on December 15, questions Ukrainians on what they think about the possibility of ceding territories to Russia, the most thorny, controversial and difficult to resolve point of the peace plan.
The survey, based on interviews with 547 citizens from November 26 to December 13 in all regions of Ukraine, excluding the territories occupied by Russian forces, sheds light on the will of Ukrainians (and compares the data with the previous survey from last September). It turns out that 72% of Ukrainians are in favor of a peace plan that includes freezing the situation on the current front line along with security guarantees for Ukraine, and without officially recognizing the occupied territories as part of Russia; 75% (the same figure as in September) reject a plan that provides for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbas, limitations on the capacity of the Ukrainian army and that does not establish specific security guarantees.
Despite the huge corruption scandal in the energy sector that recently hit the Ukrainian political world, forcing Zelensky’s powerful right-hand man Andryi Yermak to resign (replaced by former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov at the head of the diplomatic delegation for talks on the end of the war), according to the survey, 61% of Ukrainians interviewed continue to trust President Zelensky (60% in September). Just under half of those interviewed have confidence in the European Union. While confidence in the United States collapses, going from 41 to 21% from December 2025 to December 2025. Only 9% of Ukrainians want elections as soon as possible.
Faced with Trump’s pressure for Kyiv to renounce the territories claimed by Moscow, last week Zelensky raised the possibility of a referendum to leave the decision to the Ukrainian people on an issue that concerns the country’s constitutional structure. As he remembers Kyiv independent – which reports the survey of the International Institute of Sociology and confirms its results through the opinions of numerous Ukrainians collected by the newspaper -, the referendum as well as any other election are not allowed under martial law. Zelensky knows this perfectly. And the Ukrainians know it too: a vote in wartime, in addition to being prohibited, would be unrealistic from a practical and logistical point of view, starting from the problems related to security and the actual possibility of participation (soldiers engaged at the front, for example, would not be able to go to the polls).
63% of survey respondents (up from 62% in September) are ready to bear the brunt of war as long as necessary, despite the very harsh situation, with a large part of the energy infrastructure destroyed by the bombings, the electricity, water and heating blackouts in the middle of winter, the massive pressure from the Russians on the front line. An advance, among other things, heralded by Moscow, but scaled down by evidence on the ground and, in any case, much slower and more tiring than the Kremlin would like us to believe. The Russians currently control two-thirds of Donetsk Oblast. The so-called fortified belt, which includes Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostyantynivka, still remain under Ukrainian control.
Meanwhile today, in Holland, the Council of Europe conference announced the creation of an international compensation claims commission for Kyiv. «This is a concrete tool of justice to ensure that the aggressor is held accountable. Because responsibility is not an option, it is inevitable”, declared the President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen. «Victims of Russian brutality have the right to compensation. And we will pursue this objective, in a further example of Europe’s unwavering support for Ukraine.”
