Ukraine should hand territory to PUTIN, Germans say in poll with doubts over West's arms

Since Vladimir Putin announced his “special military operation”, many Western leaders have insisted Kyiv can – and will – succeed in defeating invading forces. Some commentators claim that, because of this, there has been a reluctance to put much focus into negotiations for peace.

Polling suggests, however, that most Germans do not believe Ukrainian forces are capable of succeeding in pushing their Russian counterparts out of the occupied territories.

Sixty-nine percent said that even if the West continues to increase its level of arms support for Ukraine, a full victory is not possible.

As a result of this, close to half of those polled said Ukraine should be ready to make territorial concessions in negotiations.

Forty-seven percent told RTL/ntv’s latest Trendbarometer that Kyiv should prepare for this possibility, while only 12 percent said they were not sure either way.

Forty-one percent said no such concessions should be made.

More than half (56 percent) of those polled suggested it was right that the German Government, and other Western nations, supply Ukraine with heavy arms, but many more than this argued that doing so would not, however, lead Ukraine to victory.

An intelligence report by Ukrainian and Western officials, seen by the Independent, last month drew attention to some significant Ukrainian deficiencies in its efforts against Russia.

Kyiv’s army, it said, was outgunned 20 to one compared to Russia in artillery and 40 to one in ammunition.

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The artillery it did have its hands on, it added, could fire at 12 times less the range than that held by Putin’s forces.

This situation, the report noted, was prompting increasing numbers of defections.

The training programme offered by Boris Johnson last month, which he said could prepare up to 10,000 troops every 120 days, did not make up for the number of losses ever 120 days in the Donbas alone.

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But Russia also finds itself in a weaker position than the Kremlin might hope, with every new gain costing enormous amounts of ammunition and artillery.

One Western official last month told the Washington Post: “There will come a time when the tiny advances Russia is making become unsustainable in light go the costs and they will need a significant pause to regenerate capability.”

Perhaps because of this, 26 percent of those German citizens polled said they believed Ukraine can push Russia out of the occupied territories.

The point of least contention related to the German Government’s response to the war, with 73 percent of respondents insisting this does not have well-thought strategies when it comes to the conflict.

Polling was conducted between July 1-4 and took into account the views of just over 1,000 German adults.

Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg.