Poll: 74% of Ukrainians support the idea of a 30-day ceasefire

Meeting of Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 May 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Arda Kucukkaya/Turkish Foreign Ministry

The majority of Ukrainians (74% of respondents) support the initiative of a 30-day ceasefire without any conditions.

This is according to a survey conducted by the sociological group «Rating» on 16 May.

In addition, 53% of respondents positively assessed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's recent visit to Turkey. The level of trust in the head of state is now 70%, which is higher than at the beginning of the year, when it ranged from 53-58%.

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Despite this, only 25% of respondents believe that the talks in Turkey will actually bring the end of the war closer. At the same time, 47% of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine should remain open to dialogue, and that the president can participate in the talks even if Vladimir Putin is not present.

According to the majority of respondents, the main reasons for Putin's absence at the talks are his unwillingness to end the war (54%) and fear (22%).

The survey was conducted by telephone interviews (CATI) among 1,000 respondents aged 18 and older from all regions of Ukraine, except for the temporarily occupied territories and areas without Ukrainian mobile coverage. The sample is representative in terms of age, gender and type of settlement. The theoretical error does not exceed 3.1% with a confidence level of 95%.

Russia and Ukraine's talks in Turkey

On 11 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his desire to resume direct talks with Ukraine, which were suspended at the end of 2022. He also said that he planned to address Turkish President Recep Erdogan with a proposal to organise the talks.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for direct talks, calling it a «good sign». However, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that a ceasefire was needed first to really start a dialogue with Russia. He later stressed that he was looking forward to direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkey.

In addition, Turkish President Recep Erdogan accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer to hold talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul on 15 May.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that he had no information on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would attend the talks. At the same time, he did not rule out the possibility of his own participation in the event.

Late in the evening of 14 May, the Kremlin approved the official list of Russian representatives to participate in peace talks with Ukraine, but Russian President Vladimir Putin is not among the delegates.

On the day of the talks, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Ukrainian delegation had arrived in Ankara in full force and was ready for real solutions to achieve a just peace. The composition of the Russian delegation is still unknown and, according to the head of state, resembles «a prop level».

After the talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the negotiation process with Russia, saying that Ukraine was ready to take all steps to end the war and urged Vladimir Putin to give the Russian delegation decision-making powers.

Later, it became known that Ukraine and Russia discussed a ceasefire and the exchange of prisoners of war in the format of «thousand for thousand» during the talks in Istanbul.

However, the Ukrainian and Russian sides agreed to meet again during the talks in Istanbul on 16 May.