{"id":653514,"date":"2025-12-25T05:24:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T05:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/653514\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T05:24:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T05:24:23","slug":"majority-of-russians-expect-ukraine-war-to-end-in-2026-state-survey-finds-russia-ukraine-war-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/653514\/","title":{"rendered":"Majority of Russians expect Ukraine war to end in 2026, state survey finds | Russia-Ukraine war News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Main reason for optimism\u2019 is a belief that war in Ukraine will end in 2026 with Moscow\u2019s \u2018objectives\u2019 achieved,\u2019 pollster says.<\/p>\n

Published On 25 Dec 202525 Dec 2025<\/p>\n

Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n

share2<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

A majority of Russians expect the war in Ukraine to end in 2026, a state-owned research centre said, as Russian forces make advances<\/a> on the battlefield and efforts intensify to reach a ceasefire deal<\/a> between Kyiv and Moscow.<\/p>\n

VTsIOM, Russia\u2019s leading public opinion research centre, said on Wednesday that its annual survey of sentiment around the outgoing year and expectations for the coming year found Russians are viewing 2026 with \u201cgrowing optimism\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

\u201cExpectations for next year traditionally look much more optimistic \u2026 In other words, while the negative perception of the current situation persists, Russians have become more likely to accept (or believe, hope?) future improvements this year, but they still do so with caution,\u201d the organisation said in a review of its survey findings released online.<\/p>\n

In a year-end presentation, VTsIOM deputy head Mikhail Mamonov said 70 percent of 1,600 people surveyed \u200bviewed 2026 as being a more \u201csuccessful\u201d year for Russia than this year, with 55 percent of respondents linking hope for a better year \u200dto a possible end to what Russia officially calls its \u201cspecial military operation\u201d in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main reason for optimism is the possible completion of the special military operation and the achievement of the stated objectives, in line with the national interests outlined by the president,\u201d Mamonov \u200dsaid at the \u2060presentation.<\/p>\n

Mamonov pointed to the Russian military\u2019s ongoing offensive in Ukraine<\/a>, Washington\u2019s reluctance to finance the Ukraine war and the European Union\u2019s inability to fully replace the \u200cUnited States\u2019 role in Ukraine \u2013 financially and militarily \u2013 as key factors behind the prospects for an eventual deal to end the fighting.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the conflict, reintegration of Russian military veterans into society and the reconstruction of Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine, as well as Russian border areas, will be the main priorities, Mamonov added.<\/p>\n

While the actual level of Russian public fatigue with the war is difficult to measure due to strict state controls on the media, expressions of public dissent as well as the prosecution of those who criticise Moscow\u2019s war on its neighbour, approximately two-thirds of Russians support peace talks, according to independent pollster Levada, the highest number since the start of the war in 2022.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in comments released on Wednesday that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine\u2019s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Moscow reciprocated by also pulling back its forces and allowed the area to become a demilitarised zone monitored by international forces.<\/p>\n

In comments to reporters about an overarching 20-point plan that negotiators from Ukraine and the US had hammered out in Florida in recent days, Zelenskyy also said that a similar arrangement could be possible for the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is currently under Russian control.<\/p>\n

Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized in Ukraine and has long insisted that Kyiv must give up the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas industrial area before any discussions on the cessation of fighting.<\/p>\n

Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70 percent of Donetsk \u2013 the two regions that make up the Donbas.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy also said that figuring out the future control of the Donbas as part of the plan was \u201cthe most difficult point\u201d, and creating a demilitarised economic zone in the region would require difficult discussions on how far troops would be required to move back and where international forces would be stationed.<\/p>\n

Such discussions should be held at the leaders\u2019 level, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Main reason for optimism\u2019 is a belief that war in Ukraine will end in 2026 with Moscow\u2019s \u2018objectives\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[6178,32,299,2597,12,332,7661,657,333],"class_list":{"0":"post-653514","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-conflict","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-military","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-russia","14":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","15":"tag-ukraine","16":"tag-vladimir-putin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115778542776567234","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}