Survey reveals slump in support for Ukraine among western Europeans

Readiness to support Ukraine "until it wins" has fallen sharply across western Europe at a critical time for the country, a survey suggests, weeks before Donald Trump's return to the White House raises questions over US military assistance to Kyiv.

- Jon Henley Luke Harding

The December YouGov polling, of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and the UK, found public desire to stand by Ukraine until victory - even if that meant prolonging the war - had slumped in all seven countries in the past 12 months.

Meanwhile, support for the alternative resolution to the conflict - a negotiated end to the fighting, even if that left Russia in control of parts of Ukraine - had increased in every country, the survey found, and was now the preferred option in four of them. There was some unhappiness at the idea of an imposed settlement that would require Ukraine to cede territory to Russia, but also widespread belief that the new US president would abandon Ukraine after his inauguration on 20 January.

Trump has boasted that he can end the war "in 24 hours", without providing details, and his Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, is due to travel to European capitals in early January as the next US administration tries to bring an end to the war. Analysts have expressed doubt that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will enter talks on terms that are in any way acceptable to Kyiv.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has welcomed Trump's victory amid exasperation with the incremental policy and strategy of "escalation management" from a cautious outgoing Biden administration.