ANKARA

More than half of the Spanish public consider there is a risk that a World War III may break out as a result of Russia's war on Ukraine, a survey said Tuesday.

According to the latest survey by the Center for Sociological Research (CIS), 55% of Spaniards think the world may face a worldwide large-scale military conflict due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

The concern of Spanish people on the matter was raised by five points compared to March.

The number of respondents who believe that there is no risk of a global conflict has decreased from 41.5% to 36.5%.

To confront future threats, 45.3% believe that Madrid should raise military spending, while 47% believe that it should not increase the spending or that it should even reduce it, similar to percentages in the previous survey.

Half of the Spaniards believe that the Russian army during the war is using weapons of mass destruction banned by the international community, while the vast majority of them say Moscow is committing war crimes against humanity (90%), the Russian army is deliberately attacking the civilian population (85.2%), and President Vladimir Putin should be tried in an international court (88%).

Meanwhile, Spain continues to be listed in fifth place among those best valued by citizens for their position during the Russia-Ukraine war, while Ukraine tops the list.

Kyiv is followed by France, the EU, Germany, Spain, and the US.

Regarding the repercussion that this conflict may have in Spain, the majority (57.1%) think it will affect the supply of food and other essential products, and 50.7% believe that the Spanish government would have to adopt "strong measures."

The survey also showed that 40.1% of Spanish people assess Spain's receipt of refugees from Ukraine "very positively," with 51% of them "quite positively."

Oscar Lopez, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said Monday that 130,000 Ukrainians have so far taken refuge in Spain, including 5,400 children.

The CIS survey was conducted on April 11-18 with 2,518 respondents aged 18 and above from 932 municipalities and 50 provinces.

At least 2,729 civilians have been killed and 3,111 injured in Ukraine since Russia launched a war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to UN estimates, with the true figure feared to be much higher.

More than 5.2 million Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries, according to the UN refugee agency.