Kiev’s refusal to consider territorial concessions is strongly supported by Berlin
A slight majority of Germans believe Ukraine should make territorial concessions to Russia in exchange for peace, according to a new opinion poll cited by German media.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has rejected ceding land, maintaining Kiev’s claim over five former regions that voted to join Russia since a 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev.
The survey, conducted by pollster Forsa on August 18-19, found that 52% of the 1,002 respondents favored Ukraine relinquishing its claims to facilitate peace.
Support was particularly strong among backers of the Ukraine-skeptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, with 72% in favor. Significant portions of mainstream voters also expressed support: 43% of Christian Conservatives and 48% of Social Democrats said Kiev should accept such a compromise.
The German government has firmly rejected the idea, even as senior US officials have stated that a land transfer would be necessary to resolve the conflict. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a Christian Democrat, reiterated Berlin’s stance last week when he and other EU leaders accompanied Zelensky to the White House, days after US President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Moscow has made reversing Ukraine’s discriminatory policies toward ethnic Russians one of its key aims in the conflict. Kiev has passed laws mandating the use of the Ukrainian language in education and media and cracked down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the nation’s largest religious denomination, which retains spiritual ties with Moscow.
The Merz government is planning to cut social spending and take on large loans to fund military expansion and sustain weapons deliveries to Ukraine. Berlin argues those measures are necessary to deter Russia, while Moscow insists it poses no threat to Germany and accuses the government of using Russia as a scapegoat to distract from domestic problems.
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