In January 2026, less than half of the respondents followed the situation around Ukraine – the minimum indicator during the observation period. The level of support for the Russian army’s actions remains high. The majority of respondents believe it is necessary to move to peace negotiations, while the share of supporters of continuing military actions has grown to a third of respondents. More than half of the respondents believe that if peace cannot be achieved yet, Russia should intensify strikes on Ukraine, including using new types of weapons. The majority of respondents still believe that military actions will last a long time, only a third say they will end within a year. The opinion that military actions will end in Russia’s victory is shared by three quarters of respondents, this share is quite stable.
In January 2026, the level of attention to events around Ukraine dropped to minimum values – 45% (down 14 p.p. from May 2025): 13% followed the events “very closely” and 32% – “quite carefully”. One third of respondents followed the events not too carefully (36%), and 18% did not follow at all.
Men (47%), older respondents (59% among those aged 55 and older), respondents with professional and higher education (47%), those who believe the country is going in the right direction (46%), those who approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (46%), those for whom television is a source of information (55%) followed the events most carefully.
Women (44%), youth under 25 (21%), those who believe the country is going the wrong way (41%), those who do not approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (34%), those for whom social networks are a source of information (41%) followed the situation with less attention.
[1]The level of support for the Russian Armed Forces’ actions in Ukraine remains high, and in January 2026, there is a slight increase of 3 p.p. – to 76% (including 43% – definitely support, and 33% – rather support). Do not support the Russian armed forces’ actions in Ukraine – 18% (7% – definitely do not support, 9% – rather do not support).
The level of support for the Russian armed forces’ actions in Ukraine is higher among the following groups: men (82%), older respondents (81% among those aged 55 and older), residents of Moscow and cities with population up to 100 thousand (80%), those who believe the country is going in the right direction (86%), those who approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (82%), those for whom television is a source of information (83%).
The level of support for the Russian armed forces’ actions in Ukraine is lower among the following groups: women (71%), youth under 25 (62%), those who believe the country is going the wrong way (55%), those who do not approve of the current president’s activities (40%), those for whom YouTube channels are a source of information (62%).
[2]Most Russians believe that it is necessary to move to peace negotiations now – 61%, however, over the past month their share has decreased by 5 p.p. At the same time, the share of those who think it is necessary to continue military actions has increased – to a third of respondents (31%, growth by 6 p.p.).
The share of supporters of peace negotiations is higher among women (68%), respondents aged 18-24 (78%), respondents with secondary education and below (67%), residents of cities up to 100 thousand and 100 to 500 thousand (65% and 64% respectively), those who believe the country is going the wrong way (82%), those who do not approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (79%), those for whom social networks and YouTube channels are sources of information (67% each).
The share of supporters of continuing military actions is higher among men (39%), older respondents (41% aged 55 and older), respondents with higher education (33%), Moscow residents (52%), those who believe the country is going in the right direction (40%), those who approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (34%), those for whom television is a source of information (36%).
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[4]Most respondents (59%) believe that if peace with Ukraine cannot be achieved yet, Russia should intensify strikes on Ukraine, including using new types of weapons. Every fifth (21%) believes that Russia should make additional concessions to Ukraine and the West.
More often than others, men (67%), older respondents (68% among those aged 55 and older), Moscow residents (73%), those who believe the country is going in the right direction (66%), those who approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (63%), those for whom television is a source of information (65%) believe that Russia should intensify strikes on Ukraine, including using new types of weapons.
More often than others, women (23%), youth under 25 (34%), residents of cities with population from 100 to 500 thousand (26%), those who believe the country is going the wrong way (39%), those who do not approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (42%), those for whom YouTube channels are a source of information (33%) believe that Russia should make additional concessions to Ukraine and the West.
[5]Optimism in assessments of the duration of military actions in Ukraine continues to decline since winter 2025, and the share of those who believe the conflict will last less than a year returns to the level of late 2023 – early 2024. In January 2026, 1% of respondents believe military actions will last no more than a month, from one to two months – 3%, from two months to six months – 12%, from six months to a year – 20% (down 7 p.p. from January 2025), more than a year – 39% (up 7 p.p. from January 2025).
Those who think military actions in Ukraine will last more than a year are more often men (42%), youth aged 18-24 (49%), respondents with higher education (41%), those who believe the country is going the wrong way (52%), those who do not approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (52%), those for whom YouTube channels are a source of information (46%).
Those who think military actions will last no more than a year are more often youth under 25 (26%), those who believe the country is going in the right direction (37%), those who approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (34%), those for whom television is a source of information (35%).
[6]In the opinion of most respondents, military actions in Ukraine will end in Russia’s victory – 74%, less than 1% of respondents believe that military actions will end in Ukraine’s victory. 17% of respondents think that neither side will prevail.
The opinion that military actions will end in Russia’s victory is more common among older age groups (79% of those aged 55 and older), respondents with higher education (77%), Moscow residents (80%), those who believe the country is going in the right direction (82%), those who approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (81%), those for whom television is a source of information (81%).
The opinion that neither side will prevail is more common among respondents under 40 (20%), respondents with higher education (21%), residents of cities with population over 500 thousand (20%), those who believe the country is going the wrong way (37%), those who do not approve of V. Putin’s activities as president (51%), those for whom YouTube channels are a source of information (25%).
[7]METHODOLOGY
The survey by the Levada Center was conducted January 15 – January 23, 2026, among a representative sample of all Russian urban and rural residents. The sample consisted of 1617 people aged 18 or older in 137 municipalities of 50 regions of the Russian Federation. The survey was conducted as a personal interview in respondents’ homes. The distribution of responses is given as a percentage of the total number. The data set is weighted by gender, age, level of education for each type of settlement (large cities, medium cities, small towns, villages) within each Federal district independently, in accordance with Rosstat data.
The statistical error of these studies for a sample of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed:
3.4% for indicators around 50%
2.9% for indicators around 25%/75%
2.0% for indicators around 10%/90%
1.5% for indicators around 5%/95%
Learn more [8] about the methodology