Two-thirds of Americans oppose giving Russia Ukrainian land
Photo: Americans consider Ukraine an ally (Getty Images)
Most Americans do not support the idea of transferring Ukrainian territories to Russia after the war. The survey was conducted against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump's proposals for possible territorial exchanges involving Ukraine as part of a peace agreement, The Hill reports.
In a survey by The Economist/YouGov, when asked How much of Ukraine's territory are you willing to transfer to Russia after the war?, 68% of respondents answered none.
Another 21% of respondents were undecided, 5% were in favor of transferring part of Ukrainian territory, 2% were in favor of half, and 1% were in favor of most.
At the same time, 27% of Americans consider Ukraine an ally, and 38% consider it a friendly country. Only 12% consider Ukraine an unfriendly country, and 4% consider it hostile.
Conversely, 2% of respondents consider Russia an ally, 9% consider it a friendly country. Meanwhile, 28% consider Russia an unfriendly country, and 46% consider it hostile.
In the war, 66% of Americans are on Ukraine's side and 3% are on Russia's side.
Political context
Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin in the US during the week. Putin reportedly wants to include most of eastern Donbas in the agreement, while Ukraine rejects the transfer of territories.
The US president insists on a face-to-face meeting between Zelensky and Putin, but the sides remain far apart on the terms of peace. Ukraine is demanding a ceasefire before official negotiations, a request that Trump previously supported but withdrew after meeting with Putin in Alaska last week.
Signals from Russia
This week, Moscow made it clear that it is in no hurry to organize a meeting between Putin and Zelensky. The Russian authorities also stated that negotiations between NATO allies and Ukraine on post-war security guarantees are meaningless without Russia's participation.
"We cannot agree with the current proposal to resolve collective security issues without Russia. It will not work," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference.
Survey methodology
The Economist/YouGov survey was conducted between August 15 and 18 among 1,568 respondents. The margin of error was 3.5 percentage points.
According to KIIS, among the conditional plans to end the war, the proposals of the European Union are the most acceptable to Ukrainians. Ukrainians reject Russia's demands to surrender and are cool to Donald Trump's intentions.
