The defence intelligence of the United Kingdom revealed on Sunday that recent polls in Russia suggested that support for Russia's 'special operation' over Ukraine is reducing among the Russian public.
“Recent polling suggests that Russian public support for the ‘special military operation’ is falling significantly,” UK's defence intelligence reported. It added, “An independent Russian media outlet has claimed access to data collected by Russia’s Federal Protective Service for internal use. The data indicated 55 per cent of Russians favour peace talks with Ukraine, with only 25 per cent claiming to support continuing the conflict.”
The defence report suggested that the results of the polls were consistent with a separate October 2022 survey where 57 per cent of respondents reported being in favour of talks. In April 2022, around 80 per cent of Russians claimed to support the operation, the report said.
The UK intelligence reported, “With Russia unlikely to achieve major battlefield successes in the next several months, maintaining even tacit approval of the war amongst the population is likely to be increasingly difficult for the Kremlin.”
The US intelligence on Sunday said the tempo of the ongoing war has reduced and Ukrainian forces may have brighter prospects in upcoming months. Avril Haines said, “Looking ahead, honestly we are seeing a kind of a reduced tempo already of the conflict.” Haines said her team expects that both sides will look to refit, resupply, and reconstitute for a possible Ukrainian counter-offensive in the spring, AP reported.
