Poll: Most Ukrainians Favor Talks Over Fighting to Victory

More than two-thirds of Ukrainians (69%) support ending the war as soon as possible through negotiations, according to a poll conducted by the American research institute Gallup between July 1-14.

Only 24% of respondents said they support continuing the fight until victory. Gallup emphasizes that this marks a shift in public opinion compared to 2022 – when 73% of Ukrainians favored fighting until victory, and just 22% supported pursuing negotiations to end the war.

Most respondents remain skeptical about a quick end to active hostilities. Only 25% consider it likely that the active phase of the war will end within the next 12 months, and just 5% believe it is “very likely.” In contrast, 68% of Ukrainians believe active fighting is unlikely to end within the next year.

Ukrainians’ views of their most prominent military ally have shifted decisively since the early months of the war. In 2025, 16% of Ukrainians approve of US leadership, while 73% express disapproval, a record high. All of the goodwill that Washington built up in 2022, when 66% approved of US leadership, has evaporated, Gallup reports.

Tensions between Kyiv and Washington have risen in 2025 after Trump’s return to office. A tense meeting between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office in late February coincided with temporary pauses in US military assistance.

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On Wednesday Kyiv Post reported that trust in President Zelensky among Ukrainians declined from 65% in June to 58% in July 2025.

The survey began the day after the high-profile vote in the Verkhovna Rada’s draft law number 12414 – which placed authority of two anti-corruption agencies: the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) under the Prosecutor General’s office, undermining their independence.

Pollsters said that the decline in trust toward Zelensky had begun even before the adoption of the controversial law which spawned protests in Ukraine and brought scrutiny from allied leaders, but the vote itself became a significant factor in shaping public sentiment. The law was later reversed by the president and the legislature on July 31 after public outcry, but this vote took place outside the Gallup polling period.

“When analyzing the dynamics of trust in the context of the events surrounding Law No. 12414, it is important to note that we already observed a downward trend in early June. Therefore, not all of the seven-percentage point drop in trust can be attributed to the adoption of the law. However, this event undoubtedly had an impact, as some respondents specifically cited the vote as the reason for their distrust of the President,” according to the survey’s commentary.

It is also reported that 35% of respondents now do not trust the President – a 5% increase from early June.

According to sociologists, trust in Zelensky continues to decline: the trust-distrust balance dropped from +35% in June to +23% in early August. But, current indicators are higher than the lowest levels recorded in December 2024 after almost three years of full-scale war.