The sleeping giant of public opinion could become the biggest threat yet to Vladimir Putin‘s war in Ukraine as a shock new poll reveals half of Russians want their soldiers home.
The results of the survey come after a difficult few weeks for Putin who has been humiliated by Ukrainian forces staging a series of daring attacks on targets inside Russia, including an audacious counter-offensive into the Kursk region last month.
Despite the Kremlin churning out pro-war propaganda on state-controlled TV and in newspapers, and enforcing restrictions on the internet, a new poll suggests ordinary Russians are starting to doubt the success of the war in Ukraine.
According to Newsweek, Independent Russian pollster Chronicles has found that Ukraine‘s incursion into Russian territory in August has dented public morale.
Aleksei Miniailo, a Russian opposition politician and co-founder of Chronicles told the outlet: “The longer the war drags on, the less people have faith that it will end in a beneficial way for them and for Russia.
“The Ukrainian invasion into the Kursk region was a shocking thing for many and decreased the number of those who want to fight till the goals (of the war) are reached.”
The US news site says a new poll conducted with ExtremeScan, which quizzed 800 people between September 10 and 17, found 49 percent of Russians supported withdrawing soldiers from Ukraine and starting peace talks.
Newsweek said this is an increase of nine percentage points from the 40 percent who were in favour of such a move in January 2024. In the same time, the number still wanting Russian troops on the ground Ukraine has dropped from 39 percent to 33 percent.
The results come after analysis by the BBC of Russian data estimated around 70,000 Russian soldiers had died in the Ukraine war, and separate Ministry of Defence figures said at least 600,000 troops had been wounded.
The war began in February 2022 when Russian forces launched a surprise unsuccessful attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, having previously already annexed the region of Crimea in 2014.
But despite the surprise attack, Putin’s army was repulsed by Ukrainian forces who have mounted a fierce defence of their homeland led by Volodymyr Zelensky.
Initially led by leaders such as Britain’s former PM, Boris Johnson, Western nations and NATO have rallied around the Ukrainian cause, ploughing billions of pounds worth of aid, military training, and weapons into the nation to help fight Putin.
Next week, President Zelensky travels to Washington to meet US President Biden with what he calls a “victory plan” proposal as he seeks to life Western restrictions on using longe-range missiles to attack Russia.