Almost half of Ukrainians believe Trump's victory brings peace closer
A poll has revealed that 45% of Ukrainians believe that the victory of Republican Donald Trump in the US election brings peace in the Russo-Ukrainian war closer, while almost 14% believe peace is becoming more distant.
"Almost half – 45% – believe that D. Trump’s victory brings peace closer. However, 15% of those believe that peace is getting significantly closer, and the remaining 30% say that peace is getting only slightly closer.
On the other hand, 14% say that peace is becoming more distant (5% say it is becoming significantly distant, 9% say it is slightly distant). The remaining 40% either believe that nothing will change or are undecided," the poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), conducted on 2-17 December, stated.
Sociologists also raised the question of whether Ukraine can count on a fair peace under Trump.
Only 7% of respondents are convinced peace can be entirely fair for Ukraine, while only 11% believe peace will be completely unfair for Ukraine.
"The majority of Ukrainians are between these extreme opinions and the question is more about the proportion – whether there will be more fulfilment of Ukraine's demands or, conversely, more fulfilment of Russia's demands," the sociologists say.
Overall, 23% of Ukrainians feel that peace under Trump will be mostly or completely fair to Ukraine, while 31% say it would be mostly or wholly unjust.
An additional 29% predict a balance between Ukrainian demands and Russian concessions, though it is unclear which would prevail.
The remaining 18% are undecided.
The survey was conducted from 2 to 17 December, with 985 respondents aged 18 and over from government-controlled territories of Ukraine interviewed via telephone.
Under normal circumstances, the margin of error for such a sample (with a 0.95 confidence level and a design effect of 1.3) did not exceed 4.1% for indicators near 50%, 3.5% for those near 25%, 2.5% for those near 10%, and 1.8% for those near 5%.
During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly boasted of his good relationship with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. He also repeatedly pledged to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours if elected.
Last week, during his annual press conference, Putin said he was "ready" for potential talks with Trump.
On 23 December, Trump announced that the Russian leader had expressed a desire to meet with him as soon as possible to discuss the war in Ukraine.