World News | Poll shows 85% of Ukrainians oppose ceding territory to Russia

Kyiv [Ukraine]Jan. 4 (ANI): 85 percent of Ukrainians oppose any territorial concessions to Russia, according to the latest opinion poll released by the Kyiv pollster, NHK World reports.

The poll was conducted by the International Institute of Sociology in Kyiv between December 4 and 27, involving 2,005 residents of all regions of Ukraine, except Russian-occupied areas. Respondents reiterated that Ukraine should not cede any of its territory to Russia, even if it would lead to a longer war.

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According to the Kyiv Independent newspaper, only 8 percent of respondents believed that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia in order to “achieve peace and maintain independence”.

KIIS said the language used by the respondents did not appear to affect the results, as 89 percent of Ukrainian-speaking respondents, 76 percent of Russian-speaking respondents and 86 percent of bilingual respondents opposed the concession to Russia.

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The institute has conducted a total of four surveys since May 2022, NHK World reported. Each time, more than 80 percent of respondents opposed ceding Ukrainian territories to Russia.

“After 10 months of hard and brutal war, Ukrainians remain steadfast in their rejection of the notion that ‘territorial concessions are needed to appease the aggressor’,” said KIIS Deputy Director Anton Hrushetskyi.

A poll conducted by the International Institute of Sociology in Kyiv from September 7 to 13 showed that 87 percent of respondents favored Ukraine not making concessions to Russia, Kiev Independent reported.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military claimed around 400 Russian soldiers were killed and another 300 were wounded, before saying the exact number was “in the process of being clarified”.

However, the Russian Defense Ministry said 89 service members were killed in an airstrike in eastern Ukraine on New Year’s Day.

Among them was Lieutenant Colonel Bachurin, the regiment’s deputy commander, the ministry said in a statement.

According to Ukrainian and pro-Russian accounts, the apparent Ukrainian strike took place just after midnight on Sunday at a vocational school for Russian recruits in Markivka in the Donetsk region, according to CNN.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed that Russia is planning a protracted strike using Iranian-made drones to drain Ukraine of its strength. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)