Russia must participate in peace talks – Zelensky – DW – 07/15/2024

A poll published by the Ukrainian weekly Dzerkalo Teznya showed that a relative majority of Ukrainians support the start of peace negotiations with Russia.

The survey did not include people living in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, or other areas in the east and south of the country under Russian control.

The poll found that 43.9% of Ukrainians in Kyiv-controlled areas believe that “it is time to start formal peace talks between Ukraine and Russia,” compared to 35% who oppose starting negotiations and 21% who are undecided.

Ukraine’s southern regions showed the greatest support for starting peace talks, at about 60 percent, while nearly half of those in the central regions supported the negotiations.

In the west of the country – seen as a stronghold of Ukrainian-speaking people who have traditionally voted for Ukrainian nationalist and pro-Western parties – only 35% of the population supported starting peace talks with Moscow.

The lowest level of support for negotiations was recorded in the eastern regions of Ukraine, where 34% supported holding the talks.

Ukrainian officials say the front line in the eastern Donetsk region has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

A large majority of respondents to the poll rejected demands made by Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war.

In June, Putin said Russia would agree to a ceasefire and peace talks if Ukraine withdrew its forces from four regions in the south and east that Moscow claims to have annexed. Of the four, Russian forces largely control only Luhansk.

About 83% of respondents to the survey opposed Ukrainian withdrawal from areas claimed by Russia.

The Russian president demanded that Kiev abandon any ambitions to join the NATO military alliance. According to the poll, nearly 59% of the population opposes the inclusion of the principle of military non-alignment in the Ukrainian constitution.