Understanding Territory & Sovereignty in Wartime Ukraine: A Longitudinal Cross-Survey Analysis

This project will build on Dr Howlett’s three John Fell Fund grants to investigate whether and how Ukrainians' attitudes towards their state’s territory and sovereignty have changed over the course of the war from Russia’s invasion of their country on 24 February 2022.

The study will poll approximately 2,000 Ukrainians to investigate their attitudes towards their state's territorial integrity and political autonomy. This experimental project will comparatively analyse the views of citizens in different regions of Ukraine with those of the same survey conducted by Dr Howlett, Professor Janina Dill (Blavatnik), and Dr Carl Müller-Crepon (LSE) in July 2022 and in December 2024/January 2025. The study is immensely valuable for uncovering, documenting, and elevating the most current views of Ukrainians, which have been noticeably absent from the international discourses around the Russia-Ukraine war. As questions about peace negotiations and possible territorial concessions to end the conflict remain critical within policy circles, the empirical data produced in this project will strategically aid both academics and policymakers in better understanding the political dynamics in Ukraine, as well as possible scenarios for achieving a sustainable peace in the region in both the short- and long-term.