The number of Ukrainian citizens advocating peace talks with Russia has doubled in a year. The corresponding data was published by the Japanese NHK TV channel, which conducted a survey of thousands of Ukrainians.

«24% of the respondents said they want to stop the fighting and start peace talks. This figure has doubled compared to a year earlier,» the journalists’ article says.

Slightly more than half of Ukrainians (51%) believe that the state is «approaching victory step by step,» and only 3% of respondents believe that victory is close.

In addition, 55% of citizens want the state to return to the borders of 1991, but 13% agree to end the conflict on the condition that Crimea and Donbass remain part of Russia.

It is clarified that the survey was conducted among Ukrainians throughout the country, except in those regions where mobile communication failures are observed.

Also on this day, the TV company reported on a rally of Ukrainians in Tokyo. One of the participants, a doctor who came from Ukraine, also expressed hope that the conflict would end with peaceful negotiations.

On February 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s readiness for dialogue with Ukraine. The Head of State has also repeatedly stated that Russia has never refused peace talks on Ukraine. The Russian leader also stressed that any military action is always a tragedy, and pointed out that «we must think about how to stop this tragedy.»

However, then, on February 23, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that Kiev did not want to conclude agreements like the Minsk ones. He stressed that Ukraine does not believe in frozen conflicts.

In November last year, Zelensky, in an interview with the British newspaper The Sun, also opposed holding peace talks with Russia, despite the difficult situation of the Ukrainian army. He stressed that he excludes friendship with the Russian Federation.

The last round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul on March 29, 2022. They lasted about three hours. Later, Kiev officially refused to contact Moscow. On October 4 of the same year, Zelensky put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of the country on the impossibility of holding negotiations with Putin.

The special operation to protect Donbass, which the Russian Federation announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.