Nearly half of Dutch voters back sending troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force if Russia agrees a ceasefire with the United States, according to a new poll.

Altogether 47% of participants in a panel survey by EenVandaag were in favour of deploying troops, while 41% opposed the idea and 12% were undecided.

Supporters of three of the four parties in the right-wing coalition backed the idea, but there was strong opposition among people who voted for Geert Wilders’ PVV party at the last election.

Only one in four PVV voters were in favour of sending troops, while two-thirds were against. Wilders last week said he would not support Dutch participation in a peacekeeping operation, but prime minister Dick Schoof and defence minister Ruben Brekelmans insist it should not be ruled out.

VVD voters were the most supportive of the coalition parties, with 66% in favour, while 57% of NSC voters also backed the idea.

The farmers’ party BBB was divided on the issue: 41% supported sending troops, 37% were against and 22% were undecided.

Volt most supportive

The strongest support came from the pro-European opposition party Volt, 86% of whose voters were in favour, while D66 and PvdA-GroenLinks had 82% support.

At the other end of the spectrum, 96% of those who voted for the pro-Russian Forum voor Democratie were against a Dutch military presence in Ukraine.

Seven in 10 voters were in favour of raising defence spending above the current level of 2% of GDP, which is the Nato threshold, with nearly a quarter saying far more money should be spent.

Nearly half of those polled doubted whether Europe could stand up to threats from Russia without American support, while two-thirds said they were concerned about Europe’s future security.

Some 62% feared that Russia would attack more European countries if Ukraine gave up any of its territory with the approval of western nations.