Nearly 90% of Ukrainians believe freezing front line will not stop Russia from attacking
Ukrainian society almost unanimously predicts that a possible freeze on the front line will not stop Russia from attacking after a short pause.
These are the findings of a survey entitled “Foreign Policy and Security: The Mood of Ukrainian Society in 2025,” commissioned by the New Europe Center and presented by the center's director, Serhiy Solodkyi, according to Ukrinform.
In particular, 86.7% of respondents believe that after a short pause, Russia will attack Ukraine again. Only 9.5% of respondents believe that a freeze could ensure a longer period of peace.
In other words, the “freeze” scenario is not perceived by society as a realistic path to lasting peace, the authors of the study note.
The position of Ukrainians regarding negotiations with Russia remains unchanged: almost two-thirds of respondents (64.9%) believe that Ukraine should not enter into negotiations unless it receives security guarantees from the West. This figure has remained virtually unchanged since 2024 (64.1%). Almost a third of respondents (30.7%) are in favor of negotiations even without security guarantees. Overall, Ukrainians continue to be skeptical about “negotiations for the sake of negotiations.”
Commenting during an online broadcast during the presentation of the research data on the forecast of Russia's behavior in the event of a freeze on the front line, Ukraine's Ambassador to NATO Alona Hetmanchuk noted that this shows how traumatized Ukrainian society is by the Budapest Memorandum and the Minsk negotiation process, and provides additional arguments in the discussion on the importance of reliable security guarantees.
The study was conducted by Info Sapience LLC on behalf of the New Europe Center between November 5 and 26, 2025. The study sample consisted of 1,000 respondents. The survey was conducted using the CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviews) method based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers. The sample is representative of the population of Ukraine aged 16+ by gender, age, region, and size of the settlement of residence prior to the full-scale invasion. The theoretical sampling error does not exceed 3.1% with a confidence level of 0.95%. The survey was not conducted in the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, Donetsk and Luhansk regions and others under occupation, as well as in territories where Ukrainian mobile communications are unavailable.