DISINFO: Ukraine is ready to give up territories for peace with Russia
SUMMARY
According to Bloomberg, an increasing number of people in Ukraine consider territorial concessions to Russia as inevitable in exchange for ending the special military operation. Journalists are alarmingly referring to this category as the growing majority.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation aiming to justify Russia’s unjustified and illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory.
The source of this disinformation is a short sentence in an article about the war in Ukraine, published on 24 November 2023 in Bloomberg. Bloomberg journalists reported that "a small, but growing minority of Ukrainians is coming around to the idea that territorial concessions to Russia might be an inevitable price for peace."
Public opinion polls in Ukraine show that the vast majority of Ukrainians consider any territorial concessions to Russia unacceptable. According to the results of an opinion poll published by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation at the end of August 2023, 90% of Ukrainians oppose the exchange of temporarily occupied territories for peace with Russia. The idea of giving Russia part of Ukrainian territory to end the war is supported by less than 5% of Ukrainians.
The results of an October 2023 opinion poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology are slightly different, but, in general, illustrate similar sentiments in Ukrainian society. The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians continue to demonstrate their unwillingness to compromise with the aggressor to end the war, the study says. 80% of Ukrainians remain confident that no territorial concessions are acceptable, even if it means the war will last longer.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Crimea and four other regions voted to join Russia, that the referendums in Eastern Ukraine were completely transparent and legitimate, that Kherson residents want to join Russia, not Ukraine, that most people in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region identify as Russians, or that the annexation of Crimea brought peace and prosperity to this region.