About two-thirds of Czechs would support a fast end to the war in Ukraine, even at the cost of territorial losses to Russia, according to a survey conducted by the STEM agency in March and presented yesterday to MPs from the lower house defence committee.
However, the share of people in favour of this scenario has dropped slightly compared to January.
In addition, over half the population supported Ukrainian war refugees staying in the Czech Republic.
65% of respondents agreed that the Czech Republic should seek a quick end to the war in Ukraine, even if it means that Russia will be left with some occupied territories, down 4 percentage points from January. In September 2023, the proportion of people supporting a fast compromise to end the war was 62%, and in June 2023 it was 64%.
In March, 55% of respondents supported the Ukrainian refugees remaining in the Czech Republic, down 2 percentage points from January. While fluctuating, this share has remained continuously above half of the population; in September 2023, 51% of Czechs supported the refugees staying, and last June it was 56%.
Of the possible types of assistance to Ukraine, Czechs most often favour humanitarian aid and various types of reconstruction of Ukrainian territory, according to the poll.
In March, 74% of people agreed with the provision of humanitarian aid, and 65% with infrastructure reconstruction. Anti-Russian sanctions had the support of 64% of those polled, and 51% supported the reduction of Russian gas and oil imports to the European Union.
On the other hand, 54% of Czechs disapproved of the supply of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine, according to the March poll, rising by 3 percentage points in the case of combat aircraft. 61% of respondents opposed negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
The pollsters also asked about the role of NATO forces in the war in Ukraine.
An overwhelming majority of Czechs support intelligence sharing (62%) and the readiness of NATO forces at the border of member countries with Ukraine (58%) and Russia (57%).
On the other hand, Czech society was split exactly 50-50 on the training of Ukrainian soldiers, while 82% opposed the direct involvement of NATO forces in the fighting against Russia in Ukraine.
In March, 38% of the respondents said they had no information about the Czech initiative to purchase artillery ammunition for Ukraine, according to the survey. The initiative was supported by 36% of Czechs, while 47% said the opposite.
STEM also surveyed the public’s willingness to assist NATO allies in case of an attack.
The respondents were overwhelmingly in favour of it, but their willingness decreased with distance from the country in question. While 82% of respondents would send Czech troops to help neighbouring Poland, this fell to 65% in the case of the Baltic states.
