Russian support for peace with Ukraine hits new high, poll shows

A record number of Russians favor peace negotiations over continuing the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine, even as support for the military action remains high, according to an opinion poll.

The share of people who back the talks ticked up to 67%, while support for continuing the full-scale invasion fell to 24%, the lowest since the start of the February 2022 war, in a survey from the independent Levada Center in Moscow.

At the same time, Russians are increasingly tuning out the war, now in its fifth year, with the number of people who said they don’t follow news about it or pay little attention to it reaching a record 56%.

“On one hand, this shows growing fatigue from the war and that people just want this war to end,” Denis Volkov, the director of the Levada Center, said Wednesday in a phone interview. “On the other hand, they want this to end on Russia’s terms,” he said, adding that while the conflict drags on people continue to worry about the potential for a new mobilization.

The poll’s findings underscore that many Russians now treat the ongoing war as background noise, while also suggesting they’d welcome an end to the conflict that has continued to drag on despite US President Donald Trump’s efforts to drive negotiations aimed at ending it.

Russia and Ukraine are planning for another round of US-led peace talks scheduled to take place this week, though the Middle East conflict means Abu Dhabi is likely to be ruled out as a venue after hosting two previous meetings.

That would be the fourth meeting between the sides this year. Russian demands for Ukraine to cede territory in the eastern Donetsk region, which Moscow’s troops have failed to capture in fighting since 2014, is a key unresolved issue in the negotiations.

Russians still broadly back the campaign, with 72% of those polled saying they support what the military is doing in Ukraine, while 57% think strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure are justified.

More broadly, the number of Russians who believe the country is heading in the right direction fell to 64% from 70% in September, according to the poll. President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating also slightly dropped over the same period but remains very high at 82%.

The survey of 1,625 people across 50 Russian regions was conducted Feb. 18-25, and the statistical error doesn’t exceed 3.4%.