Europeans are split on whether to send troops to Ukraine, with polls showing most citizens in the U.K, Denmark and Germany favor sending in peacekeepers, but elsewhere, the idea of troops getting sucked into the war is very unpopular.
Newsweek reached out to the European Council for comment via email.
Why It Matters
The question of sending troops to Ukraine has become a hot topic as the war has escalated in recent months and the new Trump administration has begun peace talks. Whether it was for NATO's forces to intervene earlier in the war, or for the soldiers to act as peacekeepers after a ceasefire, the debate surrounding deploying troops has continued in Europe.
The U.K. and France have been the leading countries to voice their support for deploying peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, once a ceasefire has been achieved. Whether or not countries will agree to join them may influence the timeline of peace negotiations, and that could depend on how voters across Europe feel about getting involved.
What To Know
In a YouGov poll conducted on January 16, the majority of British respondents said they would support deploying the U.K.'s troops as peacekeepers alongside soldiers from other European countries. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they would support such a move, while 21 percent were opposed, and 21 percent said they didn't know.
Reuters reported Germans responding similarly, as a poll conducted by Forsa for the German outlet Stern magazine from February 13 through 14 found that 49 percent of Germans favored deploying troops to Ukraine, while 44 percent opposed it, and 7 percent did not answer. The poll also showed that 83 percent of voters for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right political party gaining popularity in the country, rejected the idea.
In Denmark, a poll by Voxmeter for Ritzau, Copenhagen's news agency, from February 18 through 20, found that 53 percent of respondents were in favor of deploying peacekeepers after a ceasefire, whereas 15 percent were against it, and 32 percent were undecided, as reported by Bloomberg.
Studies taken in other parts of Europe, before President Trump took power with a mandate to end the war and a critical attitude towards Ukraine's leadership, paint another picture.
At the time these surveys were taken, respondents were asked in general how they felt about sending troops into the war zone to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's illegal full-scale invasion, which has lasted nearly three years.
A French study from June to December 2023, cited by Le Parisien, found 31 percent of respondents aged 18 to 25 supported sending French troops to Ukraine, while 17 percent of those aged 50 and over supported the idea. And a 2022 Spanish study published by Statista showed Spaniards were torn on the subject, with 52 percent of respondents against Spain joining a NATO intervention in Ukraine, and 48 percent in favor.
The majority of Italians also did not agree with the idea of sending troops to Ukraine. A survey from May 2024, published by the European Council on Foreign Relations, found 80 percent of respondents opposed sending troops to Ukraine, seven percent in favor, and 13 percent undecided.
An April 2024 survey by Statistics Poland (CBOS) found 74.8 percent of Polish respondents were against sending troops to Ukraine or any other NATO country getting involved in the conflict, whereas 10.2 percent responded in favor, according to the European news outlet Euractiv.
As for one of the Baltic nations, the majority of Lithuanians were opposed to deploying troops to Ukraine. A poll conducted by Vilmorus published April, 2024, showed 56 percent of respondents were against deployment, while 15 percent were in favor, but only if other allies did so as well, according to LRT News.
Across Western Europe, overall support for Ukraine "until it wins" has declined, as a YouGov poll conducted in December 2024 found that public desire to continue backing Ukraine until victory in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and the U.K. dropped in the last year, according to the Guardian.
What People Are Saying
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk recently spoke about the idea of sending troops to Ukraine and according to Reuters, he said: "Poland will support Ukraine as it has done so far: organizationally, in accordance with our financial capabilities, in terms of humanitarian and military aid. We do not plan to send Polish soldiers to the territory of Ukraine. We will ... give logistical and political support to the countries that will possibly want to provide such guarantees in the future, such physical guarantees."
On the idea of sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares recently said: "It is too early at this time to speak about deploying troops to Ukraine as there is no peace at the moment."
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also spoke out against sending troops to Ukraine to act as peacekeepers, and according to the German newspaper Welt, he said: "[It is] completely premature and the completely wrong time to have this discussion now. Here, people are talking over Ukraine's head about the outcome of peace talks that never took place, to which Ukraine did not say yes and was not at the table, about possible outcomes. That is highly inappropriate. We don't even know what the outcome will be."
What Happens Next
A senior commander in NATO's British-led rapid-response force has said that it is "ready" to be deployed if needed, following the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's statement that he was "ready and willing" to deploy British peacekeepers.
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