Overwhelming Majority of Russians Now Want To End Ukraine War

Most Russians now support ending President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, according to a poll published by Russia's Levada Center, an independent research organization based in Moscow.

The survey, conducted from October 19 to October 25, found that 70 percent of Russians would support Putin should he decide to end the conflict this week.

However, if ending the war would include Russia returning the territories that it has occupied and annexed throughout the conflict, only a third (34 percent) of respondents said they would support that decision.

Levada's latest poll comes months into Ukraine's slow-moving counteroffensive to reclaim the territories Russia has seized throughout the war, and as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday floated the prospect of peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.

In its latest poll, the Levada Center surveyed 1,608 people across Russia. The results suggest that 20 months into Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, public support for the conflict has dropped significantly.

The results are significant given that stringent laws passed in Russia in March 2022 made criticizing the Russian military and the war in Ukraine illegal. Many are believed to answer public opinion polls on the topic dishonestly, fearing retribution.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment.

An August poll by the Levada Center showed that just 38 percent of respondents "definitely" support the actions of Russia's armed forces in Ukraine.

That is in contrast to results from a February 2022 survey from the research organization, conducted when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Results from that poll, which asked the same question, showed 48 percent of respondents said they "definitely" supported the army's actions in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said on multiple occasions that he will not comply with the Kremlin's non-negotiable conditions for peace talks, including that Kyiv must accept the September 2022 annexation of four of its regions—Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia—following referendums called by Putin that were deemed illegal by the international community.

Ukraine has said that any peace deal must make void Russia's annexations of its territory, and that the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Putin annexed in 2014, must be reversed.

Zelensky has pushed a 10-step "peace formula," which includes radiation and nuclear safety; food security; energy security; the release of all prisoners and deported persons; implementation of the U.N. Charter and restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity and the world order; withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities; restoration of justice; countering ecocide; preventing escalation; and finally, confirmation of the end of the war.

Russia has maintained that any peace deal must include "the entry of four [Ukrainian] regions into Russia," something that Kyiv is unlikely to budge on.

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