Ukrainians’ attitude toward Serbia in August 2026 remains predominantly neutral: 53.4% of respondents hold this view. 22.7% of those surveyed view the country positively, while 20.3% view it negatively. Compared to March, the figures have changed only slightly; however, on a year-over-year basis, perceptions of Serbia have improved noticeably, according to the Experts Club Information and Analytical Center.
According to the results of the August survey, 5.5% of Ukrainians view Serbia entirely positively, while 17.2% view it mostly positively. A neutral response was chosen by 53.4%. The country is viewed mostly negatively by 17.6%, entirely negatively by 2.7%, and another 3.5% were undecided.
According to the rounded data in the table, the balance between positive and negative attitudes is approximately plus 2.4 percentage points. Thus, positive assessments already slightly outweigh negative ones, although the difference remains small, and more than half of Ukrainians continue to hold a neutral position.
In March 2026, 21.7% of respondents viewed Serbia positively: 5.6% viewed it entirely positively and 16.1% viewed it mostly positively. Fifty-five percent held a neutral position, 19.6% viewed the country negatively, and another 3.7% were undecided.
Thus, over the course of five months, the positive segment grew by approximately 1 percentage point—to 22.7%—while the negative segment also increased slightly—by about 0.7 percentage points—and the share of neutral responses decreased by 1.6 percentage points. In fact, following a noticeable improvement recorded in the spring, attitudes have stabilized.
The annual trend is much more pronounced. In August 2025, only 13.7% of Ukrainians had a positive attitude toward Serbia, while 26% had a negative one. By March 2026, the positive figure had risen to 21.7%, while the negative figure had fallen to 19.6%. Thus, compared to August of last year, positive attitudes are now approximately 9 percentage points higher, while negative attitudes are nearly 6 percentage points lower.
Maksym Urakin, founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center and a candidate of economic sciences, attributed this positive trend, in particular, to the more active work of Serbia’s diplomatic mission in Ukraine, headed by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Andon Sapundži. The Serbian Embassy resumed operations in Kyiv in 2025, and Sapundži publicly emphasized the need to restore active cooperation between the two countries.
“The results regarding Serbia show that Ukrainian society reacts quite sensitively to the foreign policy behavior of other countries. The increase in positive assessments indicates a certain softening of perceptions, but the high level of neutrality means that the country’s image remains ambiguous. In such cases, consistency in actions and signals that build trust at the societal level plays a key role. “The active involvement of the Serbian diplomatic mission, led by the new ambassador, in humanitarian and economic initiatives and in establishing intergovernmental dialogue has undoubtedly had a positive impact on Ukrainians’ attitudes toward this Balkan country,” Urakin noted.
According to Maksym Urakin, an additional factor in 2026 was the noticeable revival of political and economic contacts between Kyiv and Belgrade. In May, a Serbian-Ukrainian business forum was held in Belgrade, attended by more than 40 representatives of companies from both countries. The forum discussed the resumption of negotiations on a free trade zone, the expansion of trade, and the possibility of using Serbia as one of the logistics and business hubs for Ukrainian companies in the Balkans.
In addition, in July, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić traveled to Kyiv for the Ukraine–Southeast Europe Summit, and in September he visited Ukraine again to participate in the Carpathian Summit.
In the first half of 2026, Ukraine’s trade turnover with Serbia totaled approximately $345.9 million, of which $102.7 million came from Ukrainian exports and $243.2 million from imports of Serbian goods. The trade deficit for Ukraine amounted to approximately $140.5 million.
Current results indicate that the long-term trend in attitudes toward Serbia is more positive than it was a year ago, but a significant neutral group—more than half of those surveyed—leaves considerable potential for further shaping the country’s image through diplomatic, humanitarian, cultural, and economic contacts.
ACTIVE GROUP, Andon Sapundži, EXPERTS CLUB, international relations, PUBLIC OPINION, SERBIA, SOCIOLOGY, the Balkans, UKRAINE, URAKIN
