According to Interfax-Ukraine, most Ukrainians are open to territorial concessions to achieve long-term peace, provided there are security guarantees from the U.S. and European partners, and 57% support a ceasefire and seeking a compromise through negotiations, according to the results of a poll by the Rating Group conducted October 3–5.
“Most Ukrainians are ready for a ceasefire and support negotiations as a way to achieve peace. However, this does not mean peace under any conditions. The overwhelming majority believes that neither Ukraine nor Russia is winning the war at this time (62%). A quarter indicate that Ukraine has the upper hand (26%), while 6% say Russia does,” the report states.
Half of the respondents (50%) believe that peace is more important than any victory, while 41% hold the opposite view. Another 9% were undecided. The survey notes that, against the backdrop of intensified shelling in recent months, the proportion of those who consider victory more important has increased.
At the same time, 57% of those surveyed support a ceasefire and seeking a compromise through negotiations. Thirteen percent advocate continuing hostilities until a return to the line of control as of February 23, 2022, while another 21% believe it is necessary to continue hostilities until the territories of Donbas and Crimea are recovered.
The majority of respondents support negotiations as a path to ending the war: 57% view reaching a compromise with the involvement of other countries as the way forward, while another 26% favor direct negotiations.
“Territorial concessions are acceptable, but only with security guarantees, and the decision must be made in a nationwide referendum.” One-third of those surveyed support territorial concessions as a step toward long-term peace. At the same time, 56% believe that territorial concessions can be made for the sake of long-term peace, but only on the condition of security guarantees from the U.S. and European partners, which would include funding for the Armed Forces and military equipment. Only 3% support concessions without preconditions, while 6% answered “difficult to say,” according to the survey results.
If territorial concessions are considered a condition for peace, 68% of respondents believe that the final decision on this issue should be made by the people in a nationwide referendum. Meanwhile, 17% believe the decision should be made by the President of Ukraine, and 9% by the Verkhovna Rada. According to the study, this position has remained virtually unchanged over the past year.
As noted, the “Rating” Sociological Group conducted the survey October 3–5, 2026, using the CATI method among 1,000 respondents aged 18 and older in all regions of Ukraine, except for the ATO zone, as well as in areas where Ukrainian mobile service was unavailable at the time of the survey. The sample was formed by randomly selecting mobile phone numbers, and the results were weighted according to current data from the State Statistics Service. The sample is representative in terms of age, gender, and type of settlement; the statistical margin of error does not exceed 3.1 percentage points with a confidence level of 0.95.
