Ukrainians Won’t Despair Unless US Cuts Off Support, Top Kyiv Sociologist Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Jan. 9 – The share of Ukrainians confident that their country will defeat Russia has declined from more than 90 percent in November 2022 to 67 percent in November 2024, while the share of those who think that the future of their country overall is “rather hopeless” has risen from “only two percent” to 15 percent in a survey last fall, Yevhen Holovakha says.
    The director of the Institute of Sociology at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences says that he doesn’t expect “widespread despair” in the next year unless Trump tells Kyiv to “’accept Putin’s demands or we’ll cut off your lifeline’” (pravda.com.ua/rus/articles/2025/01/9/7492626/ and https://meduza.io/feature/2025/01/09/kak-menyaetsya-otnoshenie-ukraintsev-k-voyne-i-peregovoram-s-rossiey-k-ishodu-tretiego-goda-vtorzheniya).
    Were such a message to be delivered, Holovakha continues, it “could significantly impact public sentiment.”
    As far as a negotiated settlement is concerned, he says, in May 2022, only 10 percent of Ukrainians were ready to give up some territory for peace, while 82 percent were opposed. A month ago, those ready to make territorial concessions had risen to 38 percent, but 51 percent remained against any such agreement.
    “In my opinion,” Holovakha says, Ukrainian “reliance will hold through 2025,” adding that he also “believes it will last into 2026 when Russia will begin to crumble because it won’t be able to sustain itself with enough weapons and manpower.”