Polls have shown the attitude of residents of European countries to the victory of Ukraine.
While the majority of Ukrainians believe that Kyiv will win war with Russian troops, Europeans are more skeptical.
As Politico reports, this is evidenced by a study by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), published on Wednesday – a few days before the NATO summit in Washington.
Europeans from 14 EU countries were asked what their opinion was on the war in Ukraine.
As it turned out, Europeans tend to believe that Ukraine will not defeat Russia on the battlefield – from a third to a half of respondents believe that the war will end in a negotiated settlement, and 31% of respondents see a Russian victory as likely. Of the EU countries surveyed, only in Estonia was the prevailing opinion about Ukraine’s victory – 38%.
However, a majority of Ukrainians (58%) remain confident that their troops can win and that they can continue to count on the support of their international allies. Only 1% of Ukrainians believe Russia will win the war, while 30% see a negotiated settlement as the most likely outcome.
NATO leaders are “unlikely to find domestic support for troop deployment” among the populations of member countries. Results in favor of this range from 4% to 22% in different countries.
On defense spending, the data showed that most countries are against increasing their contributions, with the exception of Poland (where 53% support increasing defense spending), Estonia (45%), Sweden (41%) and Germany ( 40%).
However, most Europeans still support participation in the war in other ways – for example, by providing technical assistance and increasing the supply of weapons and ammunition.
Only in Bulgaria, Greece and Italy, the majority of the population – 63%, 54% and 53% respectively – consider increasing the supply of ammunition and weapons to Ukraine a “bad idea”.
Europeans are also divided on the benefits of Ukraine joining the EU. The most supportive countries are Portugal, Estonia, Sweden, Spain and Poland, while the most skeptical are Germany, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and France.
Among Ukrainians, almost two-thirds (64%) believe that EU membership is as crucial as NATO membership for the future of their country.
Recall that the survey results showed how Ukrainians feel about holding national elections before the end of the war.
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