The press release was prepared by Anton Grushetskyi, executive director of KIIS

From May 15 to June 3, 2025, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey “Omnibus”, to which, on its own initiative, added a question about how much more Ukrainians are ready to endure war. By the method of telephone interviews (computer-assisted telephone interviews, CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting) in all regions of Ukraine (the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine), 1,011 respondents were surveyed. The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived in the territory of Ukraine controlled by the Government of Ukraine. The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities (at the same time, some of the respondents are IDPs who moved from the occupied territories), and the survey was not conducted with citizens who left abroad after February 24, 2022.

Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.3) did not exceed 4.1% for indicators close to 50%, 3.5% for indicators close to 25%, 2.5% for indicators close to 10%, 1.8% for indicators close to 5%.

Under the conditions of war, in addition to the specified formal error, a certain systematic deviation is added. Factors that may affect the quality of results in "wartime" conditions were previously cited by KIIS.

In general, we believe that the obtained results are still highly representative and allow a fairly reliable analysis of the public moods of the population.

KIIS regularly asks the question “How much longer are you ready to endure the war?”, and we can assess the dynamics of public sentiment, particularly over the recent period.

From the beginning of the invasion until May 2024, the situation remained practically unchanged: around 71-73% consistently answered that they were ready to endure the war as long as necessary (and another 2-5% said about 1 year). During the same period, 12-21% said that they had a shorter margin of safety (several months to half a year). At the same time, between May and October 2024, we recorded for the first time a decrease in the share of those who are ready to endure as long as necessary – to 63%. The figure continued to decrease and reached 54% in March 2025.

At the same time, between March and May-early June 2025, the figure increased and now 60% of Ukrainians claim that they are “ready to endure as long as necessary.” Another 6% are ready to endure for 1 year, which is a relatively long period.

At the same time, 20% say they are ready to endure a shorter period (several months or half a year) (in March 2025 it was 24%). The remaining 14% could not decide on their answer.   

Graph 1. How much longer are you ready to endure the war?

The graph below shows the situation by region [1] and changes since 2024 (it should be taken into account that there are not very many respondents in each region, so the dynamics may partly be due to a higher margin of error).

In all regions, compared to the beginning of 2024, there were fewer people who answered that they were “ready to endure as much as necessary.” At the same time, in all regions, compared to March 2025, the figure increased.

Currently, the situation between the regions does not differ very significantly. Only the East stands out somewhat against the background of the others, where 51% are ready to endure as much as necessary. In other regions – 60-62%. At the same time, firstly, even in the East, a significant part of the population (despite objective circumstances) remains resilient and is ready for long-term resistance. Secondly, in the East there is also a trend that the figure is now higher than it was in March 2025.

Graph2. How long are ready to endure war in the regional dimension

Now we can hear the opinion that the perception of issues of war and peace depends on age. For example, one version is that older people can more persistently support military actions, and younger ones – less, because they bear more of the burden (and the possibility of mobilizing themselves / loved ones, and the issue of personal income and expenses, etc.). Some refer to the situation in Russia, where there is a clear correlation between age and attitude to war (older Russians are more in favor of military actions against Ukraine[2]).

Therefore, below we present our data on how much respondents are ready to endure war, with disaggregation by age. Thus, as you can see, regardless of age, more than half in all age categories are ready to endure war as long as necessary. Of course, this indicator is not the only one for understanding the age factor in the context of war / peace, but it is still important. In addition to regional consolidation regarding the need to endure as long as necessary, we see that Ukrainians of all ages are also set on long-term resistance to the aggressor. 

Graph3. How long are ready to endure war in the age dimension

A. Grushetskyi, comments on the survey results:

The full-scale invasion has been going on for over three years. The intensity of both direct hostilities and air terror is not only not decreasing, but is actually getting tougher. At the same time, since the beginning of 2025, the United States, Ukraine’s strategic partner, has had a new administration, whose statements and actions have caused surprise and often disapproval among a significant part of Ukrainians.

Some might have expected that under the pressure of these circumstances, the resilience of Ukrainians might falter. However, we see that Ukrainians continue to demonstrate extraordinary resilience and retain the will to continue their resistance. Our allies and enemies should realize that although Ukrainians want peace, Ukrainians will not surrender.

Annex 1. Formulation of questions from questionnaire

How much longer are you ready to endure the war?