In Ukraine, low hopes for the liberation of lands occupied by Russia

As Kyiv’s forces struggle, fewer than half of Ukrainians believe the country could return to its pre-2014 borders.

Kyiv, Ukraine – Natalya Brovko doesn’t believe that Ukraine will be whole again.

In recent months, Ukrainian forces have been slowly retreating in the eastern Donbas region amid excruciating losses, and top brass warn that the front line may burst open because of dire shortages of ammunition and manpower.

“With all these retreats, I don’t see how we can even get back what we lost,” the 37-year-old mother of two told Al Jazeera.

“I was scared two years ago and now I am scared again,” she said, remembering when Russian forces tried to seize Kyiv and occupied sizeable chunks of four regions in Ukraine’s east and south.

For the first time since the war began in February 2022, fewer than half – 45 percent – of Ukrainians believe that their nation could return to its borders before the 2014 annexation of Crimea, according to a survey by Rating, an independent pollster, released in early April.