War fatigue among the population is growing in Europe – Le Monde

Signs of public fatigue with the war in Ukraine are intensifying in European countries.

This is reported by Le Monde, citing recent polls on support for Ukraine among citizens of the European Union.

According to the Eurobarometer-105 survey, 76% of Europeans believe that the European Union should continue to provide assistance to Ukraine. At the same time, according to a YouGov poll, residents of major European countries generally believe that a peace agreement would be the best outcome, even if Ukraine loses territory as a result.

Experts on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict link the poll results to general dissatisfaction with the war. They see the protests of French youth as a manifestation of this, as a generation affected by geopolitical events, and believe that they are part of a broader trend.

“We are entering a typical ‘guns versus butter’ debate. At the start of the war, in 2022, Ukraine enjoyed very strong support. The first cracks appeared closer to the end of the following year. At that point people began to think: ‘All right, I support Ukraine, but the money we send seems to be going into a black hole, because there are no real prospects for victory,'” said Benjamin Martill, a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Edinburgh.

In this connection, politicians opposed to aid for Ukraine are gaining support in states where opinion on the matter is wavering.

“At this stage, what is at issue is rather a weakening of European support for military spending than a general rejection by the European public of support for Ukraine. However, this support could weaken in the absence of a convincing diplomatic prospect,” said Grégory Roos of Chatham House.

Other experts say that public opinion is also influenced by corruption scandals within the Ukrainian authorities and the growing socio-economic problems in the EU — rising prices and declining purchasing power of households.

In October we wrote that 50% of participants in a recent sociological study in Ukraine believe that peace is more important than victory, while 41% believe that victory is more important than peace. Sociologists also recorded a decline in Ukrainians’ confidence in victory in the war.