The results of the latest sociological survey conducted by Active Group in collaboration with the Experts Club analytical center and the SunFlower Sociology platform show that Ukrainians generally have a cautious or wary attitude toward Arab and Muslim countries. The survey covered 800 respondents in April 2025.
The most positive attitude among those surveyed was toward Turkey — 6% of Ukrainians expressed a completely positive attitude, and another 40.4% — mostly positive. The overall positive balance is 34.4%. Israel was the second most popular country among Ukrainians, with 9% of respondents expressing a completely positive attitude and 33.1% expressing a mostly positive attitude, although the positive balance here is slightly lower at 28.2%.
Next in terms of favorability are the United Arab Emirates (with a total positive rating of 24.9%) and Saudi Arabia (15.7%). It should be noted that almost 69% of Ukrainians took a neutral position on Saudi Arabia, which is one of the highest figures among all countries surveyed.
As for Egypt, Qatar, Tunisia, Jordan, Algeria, and Kuwait, neutral or indifferent assessments dominate, with a positive balance ranging from 6.5% to -3.6%. Attitudes toward Syria, Palestine, Iraq, and Iran are even more critical, with negative views outweighing positive ones by tens of percentage points. For example, Iran has the lowest score, with only 2.2% of responses being entirely positive, 7.2% mostly positive, and a full 30.1% negative, giving a net balance of -55.9%. The situation is similar for Iraq (-34.2%) and Palestine (-32.1%).
“Mass neutrality, and in some cases open negativity, towards many Muslim countries indicates a lack of information links, as well as an ambiguous perception of the role of these states in global politics. Against this backdrop, Turkey and Israel have the opportunity to strengthen humanitarian and economic ties with Ukraine,” comments Maxim Urakin, PhD in Economics and founder of Experts Club.
Thus, the data emphasizes that the depth of ties and real actions of countries in times of trial determine the level of public trust in Ukraine — even in geographically remote regions.
Ukrainian citizens demonstrate the highest level of sympathy toward Canada, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands. These are the results of a study conducted by Active Group in collaboration with the Experts Club think tank and the SunFlower Sociology platform in April 2025. Canada came out on top in terms of positive image: 40.6% of Ukrainians expressed a completely positive attitude, with another 35.7% expressing a mostly positive attitude. The overall positive balance was a record 73.5%.
The United Kingdom ranks second with a total positive rating of 68.6%. Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands are also at the top of the ranking with similarly high levels of positive perception — over 68% of the total positive rating.
France and Germany remain strong, but their positions are less clear-cut. In France, the share of “mostly positive” attitudes is particularly high at 47.7%, although only 26.4% view it as “completely positive.” In Germany, 23.7% of respondents indicated a completely positive attitude, but the level of distrust has increased, with 7.9% of Ukrainians assessing it negatively.
The US elicited a mixed reaction: only 6.7% of Ukrainians rated this country completely positively, while 26.5% expressed a negative attitude. The image balance in the US is one of the lowest among Western partners — only 5.3%. Ukrainians showed a similar level of disappointment with Central European countries: Hungary has the worst image of all, with only 4.1% of completely positive responses and as many as 47.7% negative, giving a net image balance of -43.6%. Slovakia also has a negative rating of -14.8%.
“These results are not only a reflection of public opinion, but also a benchmark for diplomatic activity. Countries with high levels of support have the best conditions for strengthening bilateral ties with Ukraine in the humanitarian, security, and economic spheres,” comments Maxim Urakin, PhD in Economics and founder of Experts Club.
Overall, the survey results clearly demonstrate that international support for Ukraine in difficult times directly shapes citizens’ trust. Ukrainians’ attitudes are not only based on historical or cultural ties, but also depend to a large extent on the specific actions of foreign states during the war.
Iran has become the country with the highest level of negative attitudes among Ukrainians, according to a sociological survey conducted by Active Group and the Experts Club analytical center in April 2025.
According to the results, 60.9% of respondents rated Iran negatively (32.9% — mostly negative, 28.0% — completely negative). At the same time, only 5.0% of respondents expressed a positive attitude (2.8% — mostly positive, 2.2% — completely positive). Another 27.9% indicated a neutral attitude, and 6.2% abstained from answering.
“The high level of negativity towards Iran is explained by its foreign policy and alliance with Russia. These results reflect the geopolitical reality,” said Oleksandr Pozniy, co-founder of Active Group.
The presentation of the study is available at the link.
ACTIVE GROUP, DIPLOMACY, EXPERTS CLUB, Pozniy, SOCIOLOGY, URAKIN
According to the results of a survey conducted by Active Group in collaboration with the information and analytical center Experts Club, the vast majority of Ukrainians do not have a formed opinion about Guyana — 71.8% chose the neutral option.
A positive attitude was expressed by 8.8% of respondents: 6.2% said “mostly positive” and 2.6% said “completely positive.” In contrast, only 3.9% expressed a negative attitude (of which 3.2% said “mostly negative” and 0.7% said “completely negative”). At the same time, 15.5% of respondents were unable to answer this question at all.
“Such a high percentage of neutrality and ‘difficult to say’ responses indicates that Ukrainians are very poorly informed about Guyana. This country is almost absent from the Ukrainian information field and is therefore perceived without strong emotions,” comments Oleksandr Pozniy, co-founder of Active Group.
Ukrainians’ attitude toward Guyana remains largely neutral due to the country’s lack of media presence. This is a typical example of a “blank spot” on the geopolitical map in the mass consciousness.
The presentation of the study is available at the link.
ACTIVE GROUP, DIPLOMACY, EXPERTS CLUB, Pozniy, SOCIOLOGY, URAKIN
The results of a sociological survey conducted by Active Group in collaboration with Experts Club show that Ukrainians’ attitude toward Venezuela is generally more negative than positive.
19.6% of respondents rated their attitude as negative, of which 15.1% said it was “mostly negative” and 4.5% said it was “completely negative.” At the same time, 17.6% of respondents expressed a positive attitude, including 13.1% who said it was “mostly positive” and 4.5% who said it was “completely positive.” The largest share, 55.7%, took a neutral position, while another 7.1% abstained from answering.
“Negative associations with Venezuela are mainly related to the economic and political crisis in the country. It often appears in the news as an example of a country where the socio-economic situation has deteriorated due to populist decisions. This creates a wary attitude among Ukrainians,” says Maksim Urakin, PhD in Economics and founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center.
Ukrainians perceive Venezuela mainly through the prism of problems that have become known from international news. Although a significant proportion of respondents take a neutral position, the negative image prevails over the positive.
ACTIVE GROUP, DIPLOMACY, EXPERTS CLUB, Pozniy, SOCIOLOGY, URAKIN
According to the results of a joint survey conducted by Active Group and the Experts Club analytical center, most Ukrainians have a neutral or positive attitude towards Thailand.
Thus, 54.8% of respondents rated their attitude as neutral, while 36.4% responded positively (of which 28.4% said “mostly positive” and 8.0% said “completely positive”). Only 3.2% of respondents expressed a negative attitude, while 5.6% were unable to answer the question.
“Thailand has long been one of the favorite destinations for Ukrainian tourists, especially in winter. Tourism shapes a positive image of the country in the Ukrainian public consciousness,” comments Maxim Urakin, PhD in Economics and founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center.
Overall, more than a third of Ukrainians have a favorable attitude toward Thailand, and more than half are neutral. These data indicate a positive tourist image of the country among Ukrainians, which creates potential for further development of cultural and economic ties.
The presentation of the study is available at the link.
ACTIVE GROUP, DIPLOMACY, EXPERTS CLUB, Pozniy, SOCIOLOGY, URAKIN
