In late December, the results of two interesting surveys have been published on how Ukrainians living abroad generally see the future of Ukraine and their own future. In one of the polls, the main question was whether Ukrainians are ready to continue the war. Another survey focused on whether Ukrainians are ready for remote voting.
The first poll which asked Ukrainians about their willingness to support Ukraine until victory was conducted in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and the UK. The survey found that the public’s willingness to support Ukraine until victory has declined sharply in all seven countries over the past 12 months. Over the same period, the percentage of those who prefer a negotiated peace has increased in each countries.
The same survey also showed that most Ukrainian refugees in Western Europe felt Ukraine’s allies have not done enough to prevent Russia from winning the war, both in terms of economic sanctions and military and other forms of assistance to Kyiv.
Another survey was aimed at answering the question ’Do Ukrainians who have moved abroad have the same right to determine the government in Ukraine as citizens who have stayed in the country?’
Given the large number of Ukrainian refugees worldwide, especially in Europe, this is a really relevant question.
(According to the current Ukrainian legislation, Ukrainian citizens abroad can vote in person on election day at embassies and consulates.)
The results of this poll have suggested that nearly 70% of Ukrainians believe that Ukrainian citizens abroad should be able to take part in elections in Ukraine, because those people remain citizens of Ukraine. Meanwhile, 28.2% said no, because people who have left the country do not have the right to influence the election of the government in Ukraine. 67%
The research has also shown that Ukrainians are divided over the idea of remote voting by post or via Internet: 44.2% respondents support the idea, while 48.6% oppose it. Their major concern of those opposing is the risk of falsification.
It is important to note that, according to sociologists, Ukrainians understand the complexity of the challenges and are ready to look for different solutions. This readiness and understanding can and should be employed. But this is definitely not a story about spring elections, at least not the spring of 2025, experts add.
What can be concluded from the results of these surveys?
The shift in the attitute of Ukrainians towards the questions of war and victory may reflect a growing fatigue, which should be taken into account by both Kyiv and its Western European allies, on the one hand.
On the other, and this is also something that should be considered by both the leadership in Kyiv and foreign supporters, Ukrainians who have fled the war abroad are ready to vote.
The question is whether Kyiv and those European countries with the largest numbers of Ukrainian refugees, such as Germany, Poland, Czechia, Spain and others, are ready for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to go vote, not to mention that those votes will unlikely to go for the West’s favored candidate…
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