‘Peace, not surrender’: Ukrainians no longer believe Putin can be beaten

 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.