Over 50% of Ukrainians trust Pope as mediator in talks with Russia – survey

A total of 54% of Ukrainians trust Pope Leo XIV as a possible mediator in the next peace talks on the Russo-Ukrainian war. Over 70% of citizens support holding them in the Vatican.

Source: results of a nationwide opinion poll conducted by SOCIS Centre in June 2025

Details: Overall, 71% of respondents supported that the next round of negotiations with Russia should be held in the Vatican. 12.2% of respondents opposed the idea, while 16.7% found it difficult to answer this question.

A total of 11.1% of Ukrainians expressed their full confidence in Pope Leo XIV as a possible mediator in these negotiations. Another 42.9% of respondents said they trusted him rather than distrusted him.

However, 14% of respondents said they would rather distrust the pontiff than trust him, and 8.5% said they had no trust. 23.6% of people left this question unanswered.

Attitude of Ukrainians towards the Pope and the Vatican

Sociologists asked Ukrainians whether they knew anything about the activities of the Vatican as the centre of world Catholicism in relation to Ukraine during the full-scale war. The majority, 56.1%, of respondents said they did not. Only 39.9% said they knew about such work.

42.8% of Ukrainians believe that the previous Pope Francis took a neutral position on the war in Ukraine. Another 18% believe that the deceased pontiff supported our country, and almost the same number of respondents - 18.4% - are convinced that he supported Russia.

More than a third (36.4%) of Ukrainians believe that after the election of a new pope, the Vatican's position on Ukraine will remain unchanged. Almost the same number of citizens believe that Leo XIV will improve the position, while 3.6% of respondents expect it to worsen.

A total of 78.6% of respondents have a positive attitude to Pope Leo XIV's possible visit to Ukraine, 7.2% are negative, and 14.2% couldn't answer this question.

The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews from 6 to 11 June 2025. It involved 2,000 respondents aged 18 and older living on territory controlled by the Ukrainian government. The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities.

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