Russians are showing increasing interest in the prospect of an end to the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine – ISW
This is stated in a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Analysts cited yesterday’s article by Meduza as an example. A source at the publication said that, according to Yandex’s Wordstat service (Russia’s main search engine), between 22 and 28 June, over 137,000 search queries for “when will Russia end the war against Ukraine” were recorded. This is a record figure since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
According to Meduza, Yandex recorded a significant proportion of the queries in the Moscow and Leningrad regions – areas where the Kremlin had prioritised the deployment of air defence systems, but which it has largely failed to protect from long-range strikes by Ukraine.
Moreover, it is noted that the number of searches asking when Russia will end the war has been rising for the second week running. The previous peak was recorded between 1 and 7 June, when Ukrainian drones attacked St Petersburg on the day of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
In addition, polls conducted by the Kremlin-linked Public Opinion Forum (FOM) from 19 to 21 June showed that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s approval rating had fallen by five percentage points – from 74% to 69% – between 12 and 21 June. This came shortly after Ukraine’s largest strike on the Moscow region.
FOM’s weekly polls show that Putin’s approval rating has been falling steadily since February 2026.
The ISW believes that the Kremlin likely continues to exert political influence over the results of polls conducted by Russian state organisations. However, it is noteworthy that FOM acknowledges domestic dissatisfaction with Putin following more than four years of war.
“Putin has made significant efforts to shield major cities such as Moscow and St Petersburg from the consequences of the war in Ukraine, but recent statistics suggest that the Russian public appears to have grown weary of Russia’s military actions, likely because the Kremlin has largely failed to shield its citizens from the consequences of the war,” the analysts concluded.
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