Vladislav Grigoriev20:01, 25.02.26

On average, 47.61% of surveyed prisoners of war believe Russian propaganda.

Almost 70% of Russian prisoners of war believe that the Russian Federation’s full-scale war against Ukraine is justified and necessary at least in part. This is evidenced by the results of a sociological survey conducted by the public organization Lingva Lexa, writes “Ukrainska Pravda” .

Sociologists said that the average level of perception of the legitimacy of the war against Ukraine among those surveyed was 35.81%. A total of 68.29% of Russian prisoners of war surveyed said that the so-called “SVO” is “necessary and justified to a certain extent.”

Sociologists have noted that the most supportive of the war are Russian prisoners of war who believe Russian propaganda. 88% of such individuals said that the war was justified and necessary to some extent. Among those who do not believe Russian propaganda, 51% called the war justified.

Sociologists also shared that about 13% of surveyed Russian prisoners of war who believe Russian propaganda said that the war against Ukraine is “absolutely justified and necessary.” At the same time, only 2% of those surveyed who do not believe Russian propaganda fully support the war.

“This means that soldiers who completely believed the propaganda were 6 times more likely to consider the war completely legitimate – a difference that is psychologically significant,” the sociologists emphasized.

In addition, the study showed that on average 47.61% of prisoners believe in Russian propaganda. Moreover, 76.95% of those surveyed believe in at least one Kremlin propaganda narrative.

Sociologists also found that 42.94% of respondents believe that the average Ukrainian is not a full-fledged person. On average, Russian prisoners of war estimate that “Ukrainians are only 88% developed compared to other people.”

Interestingly, 32.71% of those surveyed expressed a desire to rejoin the Russian Armed Forces after being released from captivity. Another 28.92% said they were ready to return to the army, but not in combat roles, and 22.29% said they were somewhat willing to go to war again.Read also:

Sociologists noted that among those who strongly believe in Kremlin propaganda, there were twice as many who were ready to go to war against Ukraine again (33%), compared to the 17% of prisoners of war who “weakly believe” in propaganda.

Note: The study was conducted with the support of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and in partnership with the European Association of Military Social Psychology, the Kyiv School of Economics, and the Mitrax Bar Association. 1,060 Russian prisoners of war, with an average age of 39, were interviewed using standardized printed questionnaires.

Every sixth Russian prisoner of war is a citizen of Ukraine

Earlier, Brigadier General, Secretary of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War Dmitry Usov reported that since the beginning of the full-scale war, 46,327 Ukrainian citizens from temporarily occupied territories have been mobilized into the ranks of the Russian army. He emphasized that in Ukraine, 16% of prisoners of war camps are Ukrainian citizens .

Usov added that the Russian Federation also mobilized former Ukrainian servicemen. Two battalions and two detachments were created from them under the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

(C)UNIAN 2026