In February, representatives of the USA and Russia met in Riyadh to discuss the terms of peace in Ukraine. The lack of participation in these talks of Ukraine and of European countries caused great controversy. On this occasion, the Polish media often discussed who should actually participate in the peace negotiations that will decide the future of our region. CBOS surveyed what ordinary Poles thought about this. When asked who should sit at the negotiating table, the vast majority of respondents indicated the attacked Ukraine (77%), which was omitted from the Riyadh summit. Next, they most often mentioned Russia, the aggressor (68%). In third place was the USA, Ukraine's strongest ally (61%). The participation of these three countries in the peace talks seemed obvious to most Poles, but high percentages also indicated the need to include large international organizations involved on Ukraine's side: the EU (49%) and NATO (43%). Poland itself came in sixth place (38%), and the UN in seventh (33%). The three most powerful countries of Western Europe, which are also engaged in helping Ukrainians, had similar results: Great Britain (29%), France (28%) and Germany (27%). Less than one in ten respondents mentioned Turkey, which has the second strongest NATO army (9%), and China (7%), the only ally of Russia mentioned in responses, which significantly supported it during the war.

Which countries or international organizations should be involved in establishing the terms of peace in Ukraine?

There is an increasing discussion about what awaits us after the conclusion of peace in Ukraine, and what should be done to ensure its durability. In this context, some European countries – such as Great Britain and France – have declared that they would be ready to send their soldiers to Ukraine as part of a peace mission. The Polish government has so far clearly rejected the possibility of involving Polish troops, arguing that as a country bordering Russia, we would risk entering into a direct conflict with it. Regarding the opinions on this subject in Polish society, the vast majority of Poles share the government's position and would be against the participation of Polish soldiers in a peace mission in Ukraine (68%). Only slightly more than one-fifth would support such actions (22%).

Do you agree that Poland and other European countries should send their troops to Ukraine after a possible peace agreement in Ukraine in order to ensure its durability?

In Poland, many people had hopes for Donald Trump's presidency to resolve the conflict in our region in a way that would be beneficial to our region, so we decided to ask respondents how they assessed his actions towards the war in Ukraine two months after taking office. A little over half considered them as bad (52%), in which a quarter chose the answer "very bad" (26%), and only a little less than one-third saw them as good (30%). Almost one-fifth could not assess them (18%).

How do you assess Donald Trump's actions towards the war in Ukraine?

Interestingly, among those who believe that the war in Ukraine must be ended as soon as possible, even at the cost of Ukraine giving up part of its territory or independence – and thus sharing Trump's general goals – critical assessments of his actions in this matter predominate (47% negative, compared to 37% positive). Of course, such voices dominate even more among those convinced of the need to continue fighting and opposed to any concessions to Russia (68% compared to 20%).

In response to Donald Trump's conciliatory declarations towards Russia, many European commentators and leading politicians, such as Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz, suggested that American aid should no longer be relied on and that Europe should accelerate armament and prepare to support Ukrainian defence on its own. There are also reports that the United States is considering resigning from command of NATO forces in Europe, which could be a prelude to leaving the Alliance altogether and would further deepen the isolation of Europeans in the face of the Russian threat. But would Europe be able to support Ukraine on its own, without US support, to such an extent as to enable its further, effective defence? Our respondents were rather sceptical about this possibility. The majority (60%) gave a negative answer and only slightly more than a quarter (28%) believed that Europe would be capable of this.

Do you agree that Europe would be able to support Ukraine on its own, without the participation of the United States, to such an extent as to enable its further effective defence?