60% of Ukrainians surveyed consider it unacceptable to hand all of Donbas over to Russian control in exchange for security guarantees from the United States and Europe. 33% of respondents are ready to accept such a concession, although most of them described it as a difficult condition. Another 7% were unable to decide, according to the results of a KIIS poll.
Compared with April, the share of Ukrainians willing to trade the free territory of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions for guarantees has decreased: at that time, 57% were categorically against it, while 36% were ready to approve it. In all regions, a majority of respondents reject the proposal to withdraw Ukrainian troops in exchange for security guarantees.
Compared with April, rejection of such a proposal increased in Kyiv, as well as in the central, eastern, and northern regions.
“And only in the West did the number of those ready to approve the proposal increase slightly (although a majority are still against it). We would separately draw attention to the city of Kyiv. Despite a relentless campaign of bombing Kyiv with ballistic missiles and other means, residents’ willingness to approve the proposal actually fell—from 34% to 26%. Meanwhile, the share of those categorically against it rose from 62% to 69%... The trend remains that younger Ukrainians are more willing to approve the withdrawal of troops from Donetsk Region. If among respondents aged 60+ 22% are ready to approve it, the figure then rises to 34% among those aged 45–59, then to 39% among those aged 30–44, and to 42% among those aged 18–29,” the study says.
Among the youngest Ukrainians, there is a tendency for the figure to decline compared with April (then 54% were ready to approve it, now 42%).
The survey also covered a second scenario—ending the war along the current front line, without international recognition of the occupied territories and with financial and military support for Ukrainians. Under such conditions, 59% are ready to approve a “freeze,” though mostly reluctantly. 31% of participants in the sociological study were categorically against it.
“In all regions, a majority are ready to approve this scenario, with the highest support in the city of Kyiv (73%, compared with 53–59% in other regions),” KIIS reported.
Among respondents aged 18–59, 62–64% are ready to approve such a scenario. Only among those aged 60+ is the figure 49% (however, those ready to approve it outnumber those categorically against it—35%). “Only 21% of Ukrainians expect the war to end at least by the end of this year. And only another 15% expect the war to end at least in the first half of 2027. Meanwhile, 45% expect the war to end either in the second half of 2027 or later. As before, a noticeable share (19%) do not have a definite opinion on this issue,” the poll added. Thus, Ukrainians are mostly inclined to believe the war will continue for a long time.
Since the beginning of the year, the share of those ready to endure the war for as long as necessary fell—from 65% in January to 48% in April. At the same time, between April and July–August the figure returned to nearly its previous level. Now 61% said they are ready to endure it for as long as necessary. At the same time, 20% of respondents now cite a shorter period (a few months to half a year) (it was 29% in April).
“At the same time, compared with April, in all regions there is a trend toward an increase in the share of those ready to endure it for as long as necessary. In particular, in the city of Kyiv the figure rose from 61% in April to 69% now (and this is against the backdrop of an intensive campaign of strikes on the capital),” the study concluded.
An absolute majority of respondents—77%—share the view that although Russia is advancing, it is doing so slowly and with heavy losses, and that Ukraine is capable of continuing effective resistance.
“A more pessimistic view, according to which Russia has made significant advances and victories and Ukraine’s resistance is hopeless, is shared by 12%. Another 11% were unable to decide on their opinion. We previously asked a similar question in January 2026, and the results were completely identical then,” KIIS reported.
The survey was conducted on 20 July–3 August using telephone interviews (computer-assisted telephone interviews, CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting). In all regions of Ukraine (territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine), 974 respondents were interviewed. The survey was conducted among adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived in territory of Ukraine controlled by the Government of Ukraine. The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities (at the same time, some respondents were IDPs who moved from occupied territories), and the survey was also not conducted among citizens who left abroad after 24 February, 2022.
Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical margin of error for such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account a design effect of 1.3) did not exceed 4.1% for indicators close to 50%, 3.5% for indicators close to 25%, 2.5% for indicators close to 10%, and 1.8% for indicators close to 5%.
Under wartime conditions, in addition to the stated formal margin of error, a certain systematic deviation is added.