Almost 40 Percent of Russians Now have Relative who has Served in Ukraine, Survey Data Show

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 25 – It is a commonplace now to say that Ukraine’s drone attacks have brought Putin’s war in Ukraine home to Russians; but in fact, given the rotation of men through the Russian invasion force, it is now the case that 37 percent of the Russian people have a relative who has served there, Elena Konyeva of Extreme Scan says polls show.

            Given that even in the cases of families without such a veteran of the war in Ukraine, the likelihood is increasingly great that they too know someone who fought and perhaps died in that conflict and thus the war has come home to Russia in this most affecting way, the director of ExtremeScan says (re-russia.net/expertise/0465/).

            The share of Russians reporting that they or their relatives have served in Ukraine has continued to rise in Extreme Scan surveys. In May 2022, only 15 percent said that was the case; in February 2023, 23 percent did; and in a more recent survey, 38 percent did, with an increasing fraction reporting that they had more than one relative who was a veteran.

            Konyeva says that the experience of having a relative serve in Ukraine has made those with it more ready to discuss the war, in some cases making them more supportive of continuing to fight until some kind of Russian victory is won but in far more leading them to declare that they would like to see the war over.