Shitty headline. That is ONLY if Russia gets to keep the annexed territories:
However, if ending the war would include Russia returning the territories that it has occupied and annexed throughout the conflict, only a third (34 percent) of respondents said they would support that decision.
LOL if the question is like that ("would you stop the war as a winner keeping all the lands and cease the sanctions") then what the other 30% of people is thinking?
"Keep fighting because I enjoy watching it on the news?"
To those of us with access to media that isn't pure Russian propaganda, anyway. I suspect Russians without VPN access, (which I believe they recently outlawed,) have a very distorted view of the state of the world.
The fact that the frontline hasn't significantly moved for over a year, aside from Kherson, should be obvious even from Russian propaganda. (Btw, this also shows that something major needs to happen if Ukraine is to get its territory back)
I really wish Ukrainian allies had given them jets and long-range missiles sooner. Were I in their shoes, I'd give Ukraine the capability of damaging Russian infrastructure and fuck up the supply lines all the way to their source if need be. Make it clear to the average Russian that going with the plan is more dangerous for them than resisting their autocrat. Time is of the essence, every second of delay can be measured in lives.
You cannot ask direct questions like: Do you want to overthrow the dictator? And expect a realistic answer in a dictatorship.
You also cannot ask a question like: Should Russia keep it's territories? Because if you are in a dictatorship, you can go to prison for the wrong answer.
You can lose your job if what you say can be taken from the wrong context.
Merely the fear that such reprisal exists, means that the overwhelming population cannot answer truthfully, even if they wanted to.
I don't think the war will end until Putin dies. Whether that be next week or in 20 years.
There's no way for Putin to retreat and save face. The world can't afford to allow Russia to win. It will be a horrible stalemate of slaughter until Putin dies and can be blamed by both sides, to be able to negotiate a way out.
I don't think that scenario has such an optimistic outlook in store. The people in the best position to inherit the seats of power in the Russian state are Putin's closest clique, who are, for the most part, ultranationalists, who would not only see their newfound power deligitimazed if they immediately signed peace, but would also be acting against their own ideology. Even if there are powerful people in Russia who would prefer to transition towards a different kind of country, they don't have a clear route to reach power.
lol I knew I saw the exact opposite headline somewhere. "Majority of russians dont want an end to ukraine war if needed to release territories" or something like that