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Russia Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Ukrainians' mood shifts toward peace
A majority of Ukrainians now support ending the conflict with Russia through peace negotiations as soon as possible, according to a new survey by American pollster Gallup. Gallup reported on Thursday that around 69% of respondents favor a negotiated settlement – a 'nearly complete reversal' from the situation when the conflict escalated in 2022. At that time, 73% supported 'fighting until victory.' 'Support for the war effort has declined steadily across all segments of the Ukrainian population, regardless of region or demographic group,' the report stated. Despite the shift in opinion, few Ukrainians believe the fighting will end soon. Only 25% of respondents said they think active hostilities are likely to stop within the next 12 months, and just 5% consider such an outcome 'very likely.' In contrast, 68% believe it is unlikely that the conflict will end within a year. The findings come amid growing public fatigue in Ukraine, driven by mounting casualties, economic hardship, and an increasingly unpopular draft. The government introduced general mobilization in 2022 and later lowered the conscription age. Last month, Vladimir Zelensky signed a law allowing men over 60 to enlist on a contract basis. Reports of harsh enforcement, desertion, and corruption have further eroded public trust. Zelensky, who once held a 90% approval rating, is now supported by just 52% of the population, with a majority saying he should not seek another term. The decline in trust appears to reflect a broader shift in public sentiment toward diplomacy. According to Gallup, the change comes as peace efforts are beginning to gain new momentum. An in-person meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, Donald Trump, could take place as early as next week, according to the Kremlin. Putin named the UAE as one possible location. The poll also showed growing disillusionment with Ukraine's Western backers, particularly the United States. Approval of American leadership has dropped to 16%, while disapproval has climbed to 73%. Still, 70% of respondents want Washington involved in peace talks, alongside the EU and the UK, which received 75% and 71% support, respectively. Belief in Ukraine's accession to NATO has halved since 2022, and hopes for joining the EU have also declined.
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Ukrainian 'draft dodgers' reveal how they avoided going to war
Three years and hundreds of thousands of casualties into Russia 's full-scale invasion, Ukraine's war-weary population still sees no end in sight. With Kyiv desperate for manpower and violent press-gangers roaming the streets, many fighting-age men are willing to do almost anything to dodge the draft. They fake diseases they don't have, bribe doctors for medical exemptions and even marry disabled women to secure a coveted carer's permit, all in hopes of stopping conscription officers from darkening their doors. Some go further still, slipping across rivers in dinghies and sneaking through forests to cross borders, only to wind up in Western Europe living off benefits meant for genuine refugees. MailOnline spoke to several Ukrainian men who openly confessed how, and why, they've managed to avoid being called up to serve - m en who, by their own admission, might well have fought and died on the front lines by now had they not done so. We also spoke to a lawyer building a new career as an 'anti-draft adviser', schooling clients on the myriad ways they can beat the military recruiters without stepping outside the confines of the law. Levko, 41, is the proud owner of an ID card which shows he is disabled - only it's not his. He claims to have found it in 2023 at a second-hand market and bought it for a few hundred hryvnia, less than five pounds. The original owner, whose portrait is on the card, bears little resemblance to Levko. But with a bit of effort that includes regularly dyeing his hair, he says that the permit is enough to fool conscription officers, and grants him a medical exemption from military service. Levko (pictured) lives each day in fear that one day, the conscription office will dig through their records and realise his fraud. If that happens, he will not only be shipped off to war, but will be slapped with a hefty fine - another fate he is keen to avoid. The 41-year-old, who works as a matchmaker, owns a marriage agency and enjoyed tidy profits before the war, arranging dates and marriages between Western men and Ukrainian women. But Russia's invasion has greatly hampered his business, not least because many women fled the country. 'I hate the Ukrainian government,' he said flatly. 'My ex-girl is now in Britain. I hate all the girls who went abroad. 'I'll join (the military) when they make women join… since they are more patriotic than men,' he quipped sarcastically. Besides his distaste for Zelensky's government, Levko wanted to avoid military service after hearing stories from friends who had been sent to fight. 'I know some people who have died in the military training,' he claims. 'One had epilepsy, but nobody knew how to care for him, so he was left to die.' He added that many prospective conscripts fear the treatment from their own military almost as much as the enemy. Watching a relative endure disease, illness, or old age can be a trying ordeal. But for Ukrainian fighting-age men, it is also a blessing. Artem (pictured), 48, is unemployed, but looks after his elderly mother at home in Kyiv. As a registered carer for his 85-year-old parent, he is exempt from service. Every few months, officials drop by to verify that he still lives with her, and a yearly trip to the hospital confirms that the old woman needs care. But when Russian helicopters soared over Ukrainian skies and tanks rolled across the border some 40 months ago, Artem was not sitting at his infirm mother's bedside - his brother was responsible for caring for the matriarch, meaning Artem himself was in line to be drafted. So, the family hatched a cunning plan to safeguard the fate of both sons. Fighting-age males were restricted from leaving the country, but as a registered carer, Artem's brother was briefly permitted to accompany his mother abroad. 'My brother's family were in Poland, and he travelled there with my mother,' Artem explained. 'The next day, my mother left him in Poland and travelled back to Ukraine alone.' As soon as she stepped foot back on Ukrainian soil, Artem collected her, drove to Kyiv and immediately registered himself as her responsible carer, thus exempting him from being called up. Artem said that fears for his personal safety and his poor physical condition were paramount to his decision to avoid the draft. 'I have some problems with my back and so on, but I could serve. Now I'm safe.' Although his method for avoiding the draft is technically legal, he made it clear that many go to great lengths to obtain a golden 'carer' permit - and said he is all too happy to help them. 'You can do anything to get a deferment… find a disabled woman, psychologically problematic, get married and you're her carer,' he laughed. 'I am also trying to help those who don't know the legal processes or how to deal with the police. When they approach me, I ask them to give me their name and ID card number, which they are obliged to do under Article 32 (of the Ukrainian Law on National Police). 'If not, police can misinform you, lie to you about your rights.' Weeks after speaking with MailOnline, Artem was arrested by conscription officers and sent to military training despite his status as a carer. His associates plan to lodge a legal challenge, but we no longer know where Artem is. Andriy (pictured), 38, was previously a journalist but at the outbreak of war quickly switched careers and now works as a mathematics teacher. Teachers at schools and universities are included in the list of occupations that are partially exempt from the draft. Other key industries whose employees are 'booked', meaning non-liable to serve, include the railways, energy sector, civil service and firefighters. For schoolteachers, a one-year deferral from mobilisation is easy to attain, but they are not guaranteed permanent exemption from service. Becoming a teacher, however, remains one of the most popular methods for men looking to legally avoid conscription. Andriy said that a violent run-in with a conscription officer encouraged him not to take any risks. 'They smashed my phone when I tried to record and called me rude names,' he said. This reflects a common mood amongst those avoiding military service - often they are supportive of the cause yet dislike the conscription officers and police. 'Often I make videos of the police when they do document checks - often the police aren't checking the documents properly, they can just seize you.' But the guilt of not serving has driven Andriy to support Ukraine's efforts elsewhere. 'It is morally difficult […] from the first days of the war, I helped the armed forces of Ukraine. I travelled to the newly liberated territories, bringing humanitarian aid to people.' Ihor (pictured), 35, was not content with any of the aforementioned approaches to avoid the military call-up. Instead, he resorted to the most secure option, but one that comes with the greatest risk - fleeing the country altogether. He explained how he left his home to track west, crossing the Dniester river in a rubber dinghy before slipping across the border into Moldova. Ihor refused to give specifics of his journey, only to say that he eventually managed to reach Ireland. He now claims to be living off benefit payments in state-supported accommodation, though it is unclear how long he will manage to continue doing so as the Irish government declared it was shuttering some housing facilities over the summer. When asked to explain his reasons for leaving, he became jittery and refused to give details answers. 'War makes you weird psychologically, I would like to be normal,' he said, adding that he did not want 'to fight for oligarchs and US money'. When we pressed further, he refused to speak, declaring that journalists should 'focus on Zelensky and reasons for the war' and rolled back his earlier claims. 'I am here legally because I came here on a deferment from the military,' he said. Under the EU-wide Temporary Protection Status, all Ukrainians who have left the country have a right to housing support, work, healthcare and social benefits. But individual countries' support for Ukrainian refugees varies, with Poland no longer providing welfare to men of fighting age. 'There should be no financial incentives for avoiding the draft in Ukraine,' Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski urged last year. In April 2024, Ukraine also stopped offering consular support to fighting age men.
Russia Today
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Most Ukrainians will tolerate conflict ‘as long as necessary'
A majority of Ukrainians are prepared to endure the conflict with Russia for 'as long as necessary,' a survey released on Thursday by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) shows. Past KIIS surveys had indicated a steady decline in support for an open-ended conflict – from a peak of 73% in 2022 to a low of 54% in March 2025 – suggesting growing war fatigue. Recent data, however, shows a reversal of the trend. The latest poll, conducted between May 15 and June 3, indicates that 60% of respondents are ready to endure the war indefinitely. Another 6% said they are prepared to continue for one more year, while 20% are willing to tolerate it for several more months or up to half a year. The survey was carried out by telephone and included 1,011 respondents who were selected through a random sample of mobile phone numbers. KIIS stated that such surveys typically have a margin of error of up to 4.1% under normal conditions. However, it admitted that additional deviations are also likely due to certain wartime factors, such as response bias – where participants may provide answers they believe are expected or acceptable rather than their true opinions. The sudden rise in support for an open-ended conflict with Russia comes against a backdrop of wartime restrictions introduced by Vladimir Zelensky, who has banned opposition parties, centralized media under a unified information policy, and implemented increasingly draconian mobilization measures to sustain the armed forces. The KIIS survey results also contrast with ongoing efforts to find a political settlement to the conflict. Earlier this week, Russian and Ukrainian delegations held their second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul, agreeing to a record prisoner swap and exchanging draft memorandums on reaching a peace deal. Both sides indicated that direct contacts would continue. At the same time, Russian officials have repeatedly claimed that Kiev is not truly prepared to end the conflict. The Kremlin has pointed to ongoing Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory and sabotage operations as evidence that Kiev is committed to a military solution and is willing to engage in 'terrorist acts.' Russian President Vladimir Putin has also stated that the 'illegitimate regime in Kiev' is 'gradually turning into a terrorist organization.'
