News from the War: Public Opinion and the Future Price of Peace

On June 14, the London School of Economics hosted the final event of the DINAM Ukraine discussion series, where renowned experts discuss their views on the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine. The discussion, titled "News from the War: Public Opinion and the Future Price of Peace", focused on how public opinion in Ukraine has changed on war-related issues after 15 months of full-scale war.

Petro Burkovskyi, Executive Director at the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Tamila Tasheva, Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (since 2022), Olga Aivazovska, Head of the Board of the Civil Network OPORA NGO, discussed Ukrainian public mood about possible models of conflict resolution.
The series was hosted by Maria Zolkina, a Ukrainian researcher and political analyst at the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, a researcher at the DYNAM International Relations Department.

Petro Burkovskyy presented some trends for British colleagues from London School of Economics.Here are some basic ideas, illustrated by trends of the public opinion in Ukraine:

There is no space for compromises, 64% think the war will end only in case of victory.
If the West stops military aid, the fighting will continue.

Ukrainians are getting more and radical about vision of the end of the war. More than 31% believe that victory demands elimination of Russian army and disintegration of Russia.

The panelists also discussed legal, human rights and humanitarian arguments in support of Ukraine's strategy to de-occupy its entire territory, why Crimea is still perceived as a "red line" for Russia, and how to combat this approach.

You can watch the entire discussion on YouTube.