Ulf Gabrielsson: Pål Jonson goes against Ukrainians' will for peace

In the recent interpellation debate with Elsa Widding, Defence Minister Pål Jonson said that ”over 80% of the Ukrainian people want to continue this fight according to the polls available”, But a July 2025 Gallup poll shows that only 24% of the population want the war to continue. A full 67 % want a negotiated peace.

In other words, this means that the Minister of Defence is riding roughshod over the Ukrainian people when he advocates continuing the war effort.

European leaders have reached a deadlock

Mr Jonson also supports the European leaders' negotiating proposal based on the return of all occupied territory to Ukraine, which after the end of the war will have a military force of 800,000 troops and the opportunity to become part of NATO.

Russia's goal with its military operation has been from the beginning that Ukraine should remain neutral and only be allowed to have a military force that cannot threaten Russia. You can say what you like about this, but I am only referring to what Russian representatives have said.

Does Mr Jonson really think that Russia, which has fought a very costly war for almost four years and lost hundreds of thousands of men, should just pack up and go home?

Such preconditions for a peace negotiation indicate only one thing. Mr Jonson and the government do not want to see an end to the war and one really has to wonder why at this time when the overwhelming majority of the Ukrainian people want a negotiated peace as soon as possible.

This is not hard to understand when Ukraine has lost more than 1.5 million soldiers in dead and missing. In the last exchange of bodies, there were 40 Ukrainian for every Russian.

Elsa Widding and Pål Jonson | Photos: T. Sassersson and Riksdagen

Pål Jonson calls for continued war effort

In this terribly pressurised situation for Ukraine, Pål Jonson wants to see a continuation of the war motivated by a lie about popular support. Pål Jonson says that Sweden will continue to support Ukraine's war effort as long as the Ukrainian people want it, but now the Ukrainian people no longer want it.

Will Mr Jonson bow to the will of the people or will he, like other European leaders, urge Mr Zelensky to continue sending his men into the Russian ”meat grinder”?

Ukrainian blood - Swedish security?

On support to Ukraine, the Minister of Defence says:

”It's support that we pay for in dollars and cents, the Ukrainian soldiers pay for it in blood and we should be grateful for that”.

Now, however, the Ukrainian people no longer want to pay with their blood, they want peace.

What is Pål Jonson missing here?

Sweden has not crossed its fingers that the Ukrainian people's explicit desire for a negotiated peace will be realised.

Mr Jonson says that aid to Ukraine is an investment in our own security! How can it be morally justifiable to encourage a war-weary and haemorrhaging people to continue bleeding for the sake of our security?

The whole argument is based on an intensive propaganda effort that has instilled such hatred of Russia in the Swedish people that they are prepared to sacrifice every fourth tax krona (5% of GDP) on weapons for an imaginary war against Russia that cannot be won. The people have been led to believe that after peace in Ukraine, Russia would immediately attack Sweden and other EU countries. A scenario that is completely unsupported in reality.

The war industry is always the winner

Those who benefit from this description of reality are of course the defence industry and its owners.

Trump and the US are seeking a negotiated settlement because their war industry does not need to rely on selling its weapons in Ukraine, they have made sure to sell lots of weapons to the EU which then donates them to Ukraine.

Trump who is a deal-maker has also managed to extract a promise from EU countries to spend 5% of their GDP on arms, equivalent to 23% of Sweden's annual budget. EU countries have also signed an agreement to buy US weapons worth €750 billion. Weapons that will make the EU ready for a war against Russia in 2030.

War against Russia - a project out of touch with reality

If Russia had any intention of occupying countries in Europe, it would have done so long ago, before we had time to build up our military forces. What do we need all these weapons for, anyway?

A war against Russia is impossible to win because Russia is a leading nuclear power with the world's most sophisticated nuclear weapons and a defence doctrine that says nuclear weapons will be used if the motherland is threatened. Does Pål Jonson want a nuclear war?

Everyone who has tried to defeat Russia in the past has failed, and that was before the nuclear era. To take a few examples, Sweden, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, France and Germany have all lost wars to Russia. Time for reflection?

In addition to nuclear weapons, Russia also has a whole arsenal of hypersonic missiles that no known air defence systems can combat today. The entire reasoning of Pål Jonson and the government is so crazy and out of touch with reality that it makes you scratch your head.

Foreign policy failure

Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Maria Malmer Stenergard, recently expressed her views on the peace negotiations and the proposed 28 points. Her proposal is instead a two-point programme: 1, Strengthen Ukraine. 2, Weaken Russia. Why is it that Sweden's foreign policy has now degraded to the point of weakening other countries? Isn't foreign policy about creating good relations with other countries?

We must hope that our responsible ministers sober up soon, otherwise Sweden risks sinking deeper into the swamp of misjudgements and lies they have created for our poor, battered country.

Time for a referendum?

The Ukrainian people want peace. When will the Swedish people have their say? Would it not be appropriate to hold a referendum on continued economic and military aid to Ukraine?

Ulf Gabrielsson, Spokesperson Defence and Security for Ambition Sverige (A) | Photo: Torbjörn Sassersson, 18 Nov 2025, Spain