Germans Call on the West to Convince Ukraine to Give Up Territories

More than 50 percent of Germans believe that Western countries should persuade Ukraine to give up territories in order to end the conflict. This is reported by the Politbarometer survey data presented by the German ZDF television channel.

Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky stated in an interview with Sky News that the "hot phase" of the conflict in Ukraine could be stopped by accepting areas under Kyiv's control under NATO's umbrella. Bloomberg characterized this as the strongest signal of Zelensky's willingness to end the conflict without returning all territories.

According to the survey, 52 percent of Germans support the idea that Western countries should exert pressure on Ukraine to recognize territorial losses if it can help end the war, while 34 percent of respondents hold the opposite opinion.

Moreover, only 22 percent of respondents believe that negotiations by Western politicians with Russian President Vladimir Putin will significantly help to bring the conflict to an end; meanwhile, 75 percent think it will not help at all.

The survey was conducted by the Wahlen research team from December 3 to 5 via phone and the internet, involving 1,433 German citizens. The margin of error is between 2 to 3 percent.

It is worth noting that Putin had proposed initiatives for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine in June. Moscow would immediately cease fire and declare readiness for negotiations after the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from newly annexed territories.

Additionally, the Russian leader stated that Kyiv must declare its intention to abandon NATO membership, carry out demilitarization and denazification, as well as adopt a neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear status. He also mentioned the cancellation of sanctions against Russia in this context.

Following a terrorist attack by Ukrainian armed forces in the Kursk region, Putin deemed it impossible to negotiate with those who indiscriminately strike peaceful citizens, civilian infrastructure, or attempt to create threats to nuclear energy facilities.

Russia's presidential aide, Yuri Ushakov, later stated that Moscow's peaceful proposals regarding the Ukrainian settlement, previously voiced by the Russian state leader, have not been revoked; however, at this stage, given this provocation, Russia will not speak with Ukraine.