
On Monday, February 24th, it will be three years since the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine. In connection with the commemoration of this event, we are issuing a thematic report, the so-called CEDMO Special Brief. The document focuses on the development of Central Europeans’ attitudes towards the conflict and summarizes the most common disinformation narratives related to the war in Ukraine in the information space of Central Europe, namely in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
According to the CEDMO[1] survey conducted in the last quarter of 2024 in the Czech Republic by the research agency Median and in Slovakia and Poland by the agency IPSOS, people in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland predominantly support Ukraine in its defense. The highest support among the three countries is shown by respondents in Poland, where 68% support Ukraine. The Czech Republic follows with 44%, and Slovakia with 32%.
Conversely, a Russian victory is most desired by citizens of Slovakia (17%) and least by residents of Poland (4%). In the Czech Republic, 7% of respondents expressed support for Russia. In both the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the majority of respondents would prefer the conflict to end with a temporary peace without either side winning. This preference is held by 39% of respondents in the Czech Republic and 33% in Slovakia. In Poland, 20% of respondents preferred this option.
Preferred end to the conflict in Ukraine

“In terms of age, in the Czech Republic, the victory of Ukraine is especially desired by young people aged 16-24 (62%),” explains CEDMO data analyst Lukáš Kutil, adding: “Similarly, in Slovakia, the youngest respondents aged 16-24 (56%) are the most inclined towards Ukraine’s victory compared to other age groups. Among Polish respondents, on the other hand, the oldest respondents aged 65 and over (79%) are the most inclined towards Ukraine’s victory.”
Concerns about the scenarios of the conflict’s development in Ukraine
In terms of concerns about the scenarios of the conflict’s development, respondents in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where the question was asked[2], were most worried that the war in Ukraine would last for many years (67% of Czechs and 71% of Slovaks). Additionally, people expressed fear of the possible expansion of the conflict into an open war between Russia and NATO (55% of Czechs, 61% of Slovaks), the fighting moving closer to the territory of the Czech or Slovak Republic (52% of Czechs, 58% of Slovaks), the possibility that NATO would allow Ukraine to use Western weapons on Russian territory[3] (51% of Czechs, 54% of Slovaks), or that Russia would use a nuclear weapon (48% of Czechs, 52% of Slovaks).
Main disinformation narratives related to the war in Ukraine
The main disinformation narratives that have circulated in the digital media landscape of Central Europe over the past three years in connection with the Russian war against Ukraine have been identified by CEDMO fact-checkers. These narratives continuously reappear in various forms. In the Czech Republic, they mainly involve attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his family, questioning Ukrainian statehood and territorial integrity, narratives about rampant Nazism in Ukraine, and rewriting modern Czech history in the context of the Russian war against Ukraine. Similarly, in Slovakia, false claims often target Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, depict Ukraine as a fascist state, highlight the ineffectiveness of sanctions against Russia, or blame Ukraine for the increase in energy prices following the ‘arbitrary’ and unexpected cut-off of Slovakia from Russian gas. In Poland, conspiracy theories about human and organ trafficking and disinformation aimed at damaging Polish-Ukrainian relations also frequently recur.
According to CEDMO findings, which also investigate the reach and credibility of selected disinformation, the most credible false claim in the Czech Republic during the three-year conflict in Ukraine was the assertion that Ukrainian refugees brought whooping cough into the country. This false statement was credible to 53% of the Czech population and 38% of the Slovak population. Additionally, a large portion of the Czech population, specifically 40% of respondents, had encountered this claim. In Slovakia, it was only 23%.
For a large portion of respondents, a periodically recurring disinformation[4] was also credible, claiming that among the eight members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), who decided in 1968 to send Warsaw Pact troops to the territory of then-Czechoslovakia[5], five were Ukrainians. This misleading report was credible to 48% of Poles, 46% of Czechs, and 34% of Slovaks. More than a third of Poles were also inclined to believe the information that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was booed by the public during his official state visit to the Czech Republic in July 2023[6].
The thematic report is available in the following versions:
- CEDMO Special Brief (data Czech Republic, Slovakia) – in Czech
- CEDMO Special Brief (data Czech Republic, Slovakia) – in Slovak
- CEDMO Special Brief (data Czech Republic, Slovakia) – in English
[1] The data were collected during the fourth quarter of 2024. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, it was part of one of the monthly waves of the longitudinal CEDMO Trends research (Czech Republic: 20th wave – data collection in December 2024, Slovakia: 15th wave – data collection in November 2024). In Poland, it was a comparative study for selected questions from the CEDMO Trends in the Czech Republic and Slovakia from October 2024.
[2] In Poland, the question about concerns regarding the scenarios of the conflict’s development in Ukraine was not asked to the respondents.
[3] The investigation of attitudes towards this scenario took place at a time when such use of Western weapons by Ukrainians had not yet been permitted.
[4] Verified by CEDMO fact-checkers: August 2022, August 2023a, August 2023b, August 2023c.
[5] Surveyed by researchers in October 2024 in all three countries.
[6] Pískot a volání „hanba“ patřilo Miloši Zemanovi, ne Zelenskému s Pavlem – CEDMO
*The data collection in the Czech republic was made possible due to financial support from National Recovery Plan. The data collection in Slovakia and Poland was made possible due to financial support by Google. The brief covering Poland was prepared within CEDMO 2.0, project number 101158609.