Half of Ukrainians say they are prepared to take to the streets if the country’s leadership agrees to what they regard as unacceptable concessions to Russia during peace talks, a new nationwide survey has found.
According to polling company Info Sapiens, commissioned by the New Europe Centre, 51.4% of respondents said they would be ready to participate in protests if Kyiv accepted such compromises, while 44.3% said they would not, and 4.4% were undecided.
The survey, carried out between 5 and 26 November 2025 among 1,000 respondents, comes as diplomatic activity around a possible US-brokered peace plan intensifies. On 2 December, US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held nearly five hours of talks with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on possible ways to end the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he plans to speak with the American negotiators following their Moscow visit.
Shifting red lines on territory
The research tracks how Ukrainian attitudes to specific concessions have evolved over the last three years.
A temporary renunciation of the occupied territories remains broadly unacceptable, but the share of those who regard this option as “absolutely unacceptable” has declined. In the latest survey, 40.2% of respondents took this view, down from 53.2% a year earlier and 76.2% two years ago. Only 5.1% now see such a step as entirely acceptable.
Support for the legal recognition of the occupied territories as Russian is extremely low. Just 2% of Ukrainians say they are ready to accept formal recognition of Russian sovereignty over these areas, while 76.6% are categorically opposed.
NATO and EU membership
Attitudes towards possible trade-offs involving Ukraine’s Western integration show a more nuanced picture.
The share of respondents who consider a renunciation of NATO membership “absolutely unacceptable” has gradually decreased over the last two years. In the new poll, 41.1% hold this position, compared with 48.7% a year ago and 56.9% two years ago.
By contrast, EU membership appears to have become even more central in the public mind. A refusal to join the European Union is now described as absolutely unacceptable by 51% of respondents, slightly up from 50.7% in the previous year.
Security, language and the army
The survey indicates hardened views on issues seen as directly linked to Ukraine’s security and statehood.
The proportion of Ukrainians who regard a reduction in the size of the armed forces as absolutely impermissible has risen over the past year, from 74.5% to 77.9%. Opposition to granting Russian the status of a second state language has also increased: 73% now see this as absolutely unacceptable, up from 70.9%.
These trends suggest that, while some flexibility is emerging around certain diplomatic formulae, there is growing resistance to measures that might be interpreted as weakening the country’s defence capability or diluting its national identity.
Reparations, justice and sanctions
On issues related to accountability and compensation, the data point to a modest softening.
The share of respondents who see any reduction in the amount of Russian reparations as absolutely unacceptable has fallen from 62.2% to 58.7%. The proportion who say that dropping criminal prosecutions of Russian leaders and war criminals is absolutely impermissible has also declined, from 68.4% to 65%. Opposition to lifting sanctions on Russia has edged down slightly, from 64.8% to 64.1%.
Although these changes are relatively small, they indicate that a segment of the population may be more open than before to limited compromises on financial and legal questions, provided other core interests are safeguarded.
Domestic opinion and external pressure
The poll is published against the backdrop of concern in Kyiv and European capitals that international efforts to negotiate an end to the war could come at Ukraine’s expense.
Following the disclosure of the US peace initiative and reports of its first draft, European officials warned Washington not to press Ukraine into accepting terms regarded as one-sided. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas has publicly criticised approaches that focus primarily on Ukrainian concessions while placing few binding obligations on Russia, arguing that such frameworks risk undermining long-term security.
The new findings from Info Sapiens suggest that any peace deal perceived inside Ukraine as conceding too much on territory, EU integration, security guarantees or the status of the Russian language would face not only political resistance, but also the prospect of large-scale street mobilisation. At the same time, the gradual changes on other questions – such as temporary arrangements over occupied areas or the level of reparations – indicate areas where public opinion has become somewhat more flexible over time.
As diplomatic contacts intensify, including the expected follow-up between Zelenskyy and the US envoys after their talks in Moscow, the survey underlines the domestic constraints within which Ukrainian decision-makers are operating. Any agreement is likely to be judged not only in international forums, but also by a society that, according to this latest research, remains ready to challenge compromises it regards as going too far.
