KYIV, Ukraine — Battered by 3 1/2 years of war, incensed by high-level government corruption, exhausted by nightly drone and missile attacks from Russia, and facing a long, cold winter without reliable heat or electricity, much of Ukraine’s public wants the war over, while half of the population still rejects any peace that cedes territory to Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has fallen from his 2022 heights as a worldwide hero of democracy, reportedly welcomed the Trump administration’s proposed 28-point peace plan as a fair starting point he can work with.
At the same time, many Ukrainians reject the idea of any deal that cedes land to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moreso, they don’t believe that Putin will abide by any ceasefire.
UKRAINE PROTESTS SHOW DEMOCRACY IS ALIVE
The peace proposal from Washington would cede all or part of five Ukrainian provinces, or “oblasts,” to Russian control, bar Ukrainian membership in NATO, reduce the Ukrainian armed forces by a third, and begin lifting sanctions on Russia. In exchange, Russia would stop its air attacks on Ukraine, pledge not to attack again, give up most of its frozen assets, and return all prisoners and hostages. The United States would give Ukraine an explicit security guarantee, responding with direct force to any Russian attack on Ukraine, for which Ukraine would compensate the U.S.
These would be large concessions from Zelensky. Ukrainian leaders and America’s most hawkish allies of Ukraine have long demanded that any peace involve returning all occupied territories to Ukraine.
“It’s a wish list from Russia,” said Ivanna Klympush, a Ukrainian member of Parliament in the opposition. “If he approves this, I pity him.”
Many of the provisions in the deal are provisions most Ukrainians oppose, but on the streets of Kyiv, the dominant mood is war exhaustion. Many simply want peace.
“I want to stop this war. I don’t want to win. I don’t want to lose. I want to stop,” Taras, a man in his 30s, told me on the streets of Kyiv Monday evening.
“I don’t want to give my life for the people who sit there,” he said as he pointed toward Bankova, the hill where Zelensky’s administration sits. “I don’t trust them.”
Konstantin, a father of three in Kyiv, sounded the same note: “We don’t want to win. We want peace.”
“Returning lost territories is good, but human life is more precious than beloved lands,” explained Maksym, a 22-year-old agronomist drinking at the Negroni bar on Yaroslaviv Street Wednesday night.
The more hawkish view, though, is not uncommon.
“We need to push them back to the border,” said Artem Zakharov, a veteran of the Ukrainian military who now works on drone technology. “We need to think of something to make Russia never think of doing this again.”
“There is no peace without Donestsk,” says Natalia Chernyshova, a spokeswoman for the government of Dnipro, a battered city in the Western half of Ukraine, referring to the neighboring province.
Polls consistently show that Ukrainians do not want to cede land to Russia in exchange for peace, but a significant portion would tolerate de facto Russian control of the territories they now occupy. Half of the country, in one survey over the summer, said that they would only accept peace upon the return of all the territory seized by Russia in this war.
These complicated views present a political thicket for Zelensky.
Ukrainian patriotism is high, and hatred for Russia is at all-time levels, but spirits are falling as conditions deteriorate on multiple fronts. Less than 40% of Ukrainians said in a recent poll that things are generally going in the right direction. Seventy percent of Ukrainians said they distrust the Zelensky administration, with 30% saying they “don’t trust it at all.”
Electricity is unreliable at best and scarce in many cases. Russian destruction of electric infrastructure forces Ukraine to ration electricity, and so in many places, planned outages take up most of the day.
Temperatures regularly get below zero in winter in Ukraine, and Ukrainians depend on Soviet-created central heating, which is very vulnerable.
Militarily, Ukraine is also lagging. A massive manpower shortage plagues every unit. Infighting in the military has escalated — for instance, Oleksandr Shyrshyn, the commander of the 47th Brigade, resigned in protest, objecting to “Moronic tasks” leading to pointless deaths. Military experts say Zelensky replaced the vaunted Valerii Zaluzhnyi because he was getting too popular, and replaced him with Oleksandr Syrskyi, chosen more for his loyalty than his ability.
Part of the reason for the manpower shortage: Young men are avoiding conscription or fleeing the country before their 25th birthday, when they become eligible.
RUSSIAN DRONES ATTACK UKRAINE PUBLIC BROADCASTER
Meanwhile, Russia, by purchasing and upgrading Iranian Shahed drones, has increased its ability to strike targets anywhere in Ukraine and evade Ukrainian air defenses. These air attacks destroy homes, disrupt life, especially sleep, and send Ukrainians into bomb shelters.
Facing a cold winter in dark, unheated homes and bomb shelters, the Ukrainian public may come to support a deal it hates in exchange for a peace it desperately wants.
