A neutral stance continues to dominate Ukrainians’ attitudes toward Egypt: in August 2026, 61.3% of respondents expressed this view. 28.1% of those surveyed view the country positively, while 6.9% view it negatively. Compared to March, the share of positive assessments has decreased, while the share of negative ones has increased, according to the Experts Club Information and Analytical Center.
According to the results of the August survey, 7.2% of Ukrainians have a completely positive attitude toward Egypt, while 20.9% have a mostly positive attitude. A neutral stance is held by 61.3% of respondents. 6.3% view the country mostly negatively, 0.6% view it entirely negatively, and another 3.7% were undecided.
The balance of positive and negative assessments based on these indicators is +21.2 percentage points. Thus, positive attitudes toward Egypt are roughly four times more prevalent than negative ones; however, the high proportion of neutral responses remains the defining characteristic of how the country is perceived.
Compared to March 2026, attitudes have deteriorated slightly. In the previous survey wave, 10.5% of respondents rated Egypt entirely positively, and 21.9% rated it mostly positively—meaning the overall positive rating stood at 32.4%. 62.5% of respondents were neutral, and the share of negative ratings in the aggregated results was about 3.7%.
Thus, over the course of five months, the share of positive responses decreased by 4.3 percentage points—from 32.4% to 28.1%—while the share of negative responses increased by approximately 3.2 percentage points—to 6.9%. The share of neutral assessments changed only slightly—from 62.5% to 61.3%. The balance between positive and negative attitudes decreased from approximately plus 28.7 to plus 21.2 percentage points, respectively.
Maksym Urakin, founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center and a candidate of economic sciences, believes that the case of Egypt clearly illustrates the difference between a country’s economic importance to Ukraine and the extent of its presence in the public consciousness.
“Egypt is a very important export market for Ukraine, primarily for agricultural and food products. At the same time, for most Ukrainians, this country remains more of a tourist destination than an economic partner. That is precisely why we see such a high proportion of neutral assessments: economic ties are significant, but they are not always visible to the general public,” Urakin noted.
According to him, the positive trade balance with Egypt makes this market particularly important for Ukraine amid a general foreign trade deficit.
“When a country provides Ukraine with a significant trade surplus, it is no longer a secondary partner. Such markets must be viewed strategically—in terms of maintaining exports, expanding the range of goods supplied, and fostering long-term economic ties. In the case of Egypt, the potential for this is obvious, but public perception has simply not yet caught up with the country’s actual economic role,” Urakin added.
Thus, Egypt demonstrates a noticeable gap between its economic significance and public perception. Despite the fact that the country is one of Ukraine’s most profitable trading partners in terms of the trade balance, over 60% of Ukrainians continue to view it neutrally. This indicates limited awareness and low emotional engagement rather than a negative attitude.
The survey was conducted in August 2026 using self-administered online questionnaires in the SunFlowerSociology panel among 800 Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older. The previous wave also included 800 respondents; the sample was representative by age, gender, and region, with a maximum theoretical margin of error of ±3.5 percentage points for indicators at the 50% confidence level.
ACTIVE GROUP, EGYPT, EXPERTS CLUB, FOREIGN TRADE, international relations, NORTH AFRICA, PUBLIC OPINION, SOCIOLOGY, UKRAINE, URAKIN
According to Experts Club, Ukrainians’ attitudes toward Algeria in August 2026 remain predominantly neutral—65.8% of respondents hold this view. At the same time, compared to March, the share of positive assessments has increased significantly—to 14.3%, while negative assessments have risen to 12.2%, reports the Experts Club Information and Analytical Center.
According to the results of the August survey, 3.1% of Ukrainians have a completely positive attitude toward Algeria, while 11.2% have a mostly positive attitude. 65.8% of respondents chose a neutral response. 10.2% expressed a mostly negative attitude, 2% a completely negative one, and another 7.8% were undecided.
Based on rounded figures, the balance between positive and negative assessments stands at approximately plus 2.1 percentage points. Thus, positive assessments only slightly outweigh negative ones, and the main characteristic of perceptions of Algeria remains the high proportion of neutral responses.
In March 2026, public opinion was even less defined. At that time, 74.1% of respondents had a neutral attitude toward Algeria. The overall positive rating in the survey was 9.3%, the negative rating was 9.1%, and 7.5% of respondents were undecided.
Thus, over the course of five months, the share of positive assessments increased by approximately 5 percentage points—to 14.3%—while the share of negative assessments rose by 3.1 percentage points, to 12.2%. The most notable change was the decline in the neutral segment—by 8.3 percentage points, from 74.1% to 65.8%. At the same time, the balance of attitudes rose from approximately plus 0.2 percentage points to plus 2.1 percentage points.
This trend indicates the gradual formation of a more defined attitude toward Algeria: some respondents who previously held a neutral position have shifted to either the positive or negative segments. At the same time, nearly two-thirds of Ukrainians still do not express a clear emotional assessment of the country.
Algeria is one of Ukraine’s trading partners with which it maintains a significant trade surplus. In the first half of 2026, Ukrainian exports to Algeria totaled approximately $388.6 million, imports amounted to $79.3 million, and the trade surplus was about $309.2 million. Agricultural products form the bulk of Ukrainian exports to this market.
Maksym Urakin, founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center and a candidate of economic sciences, has previously drawn attention to the gap between the general public’s limited awareness of Algeria and the actual economic interaction between the two countries.
“Despite relatively weak public interest, Ukraine and Algeria have a significant level of trade interaction. In 2025, bilateral trade exceeded $401 million,” Urakin noted.
He also emphasized that the significant surplus of Ukrainian exports over imports creates an economic foundation for the further development of bilateral relations.
The latest wave of the study shows that public perception of Algeria is gradually becoming more defined, but so far lags significantly behind the country’s actual economic role. Despite a trade surplus favorable to Ukraine, nearly 66% of respondents continue to view Algeria neutrally.
The previous survey was conducted in March 2026 among 800 Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older using self-administered online questionnaires on the SunFlowerSociology panel. The sample was representative by age, gender, and region; the maximum theoretical margin of error for indicators at the 50% confidence level was ±3.5 percentage points.
ACTIVE GROUP, ALGERIA, EXPERTS CLUB, FOREIGN TRADE, international relations, NORTH AFRICA, PUBLIC OPINION, SOCIOLOGY, UKRAINE
According to Experts Club, Egypt has the highest level of positive sentiment among Ukrainians among the North African countries included in the study: 28.2% of respondents view it positively, and the net positive rating stands at 21.4 percentage points. At the same time, neutral assessments dominate perceptions of all four countries in the region—their share ranges from 59.3% to 67.3%. This is evidenced by the results of the third wave of the study “Ukrainians’ Attitudes Toward Countries Around the World,” conducted by Active Group in collaboration with Experts Club, reports the Experts Club Information and Analytical Center.
28.2% of Ukrainians surveyed view Egypt positively, 61.3% neutrally, 6.8% negatively, and another 3.7% were undecided. The balance of positive and negative assessments in August 2026 stood at 21.4 percentage points, compared to 28.7 percentage points in March and 19 percentage points in August 2025. Thus, following a spring increase, the indicator has declined but remains slightly higher than it was a year ago.
Neutral attitudes toward Tunisia predominate—67.3% of respondents expressed this view. 17.8% view the country positively, 6.8% negatively, and another 8% were undecided. The balance stands at plus 11 percentage points, placing Tunisia in second place among the North African countries surveyed.
In Libya, positive and negative assessments are virtually equal: 16.6% of respondents view the country positively, 15.7% negatively, and 59.3% neutrally. Accordingly, the balance is only +0.9 percentage points.
For Algeria, the share of positive assessments is 14.3%, negative—12.1%, neutral—65.8%, and another 7.8% of respondents were undecided. The balance stands at plus 2.2 percentage points. In March 2026, it was only plus 0.2 percentage points, and in August 2025, it was plus 5.7 percentage points.
Thus, none of the North African countries surveyed has a negative sentiment balance; however, the high proportion of neutral responses indicates that Ukrainians’ attitudes toward these countries are significantly less well-defined compared, for example, with their attitudes toward European countries. At the same time, Egypt and Algeria are also economically important to Ukraine: according to data presented at the press conference, in the first half of 2026, Ukraine’s trade surplus with Egypt amounted to $527.1 million, and with Algeria—$309.2 million.
Maksym Urakin, founder of the Experts Club Information and Analytical Center, deputy director of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, and candidate of economic sciences, emphasized the need for partner countries to communicate more actively with the Ukrainian audience.
“The first recommendation is to regularly highlight specific projects, concrete actions, and the presence here of foundations, embassies, teams, and diplomats in the humanitarian sphere and in science. Second, to be open to questions and inquiries from the media and the public,” Urakin noted. According to him, it is also advisable to use sociological survey results to strengthen bilateral relations, particularly in the trade sector.
The survey was conducted in August 2026 using self-administered online questionnaires in the SunFlowerSociology panel among 800 Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older. According to the organizers, the sample is representative in terms of age, gender, and region, with a maximum theoretical margin of error of ±3.5 percentage points. This is the third wave of the study, following surveys conducted in August 2025 and March 2026.
ACTIVE GROUP, ALGERIA, EGYPT, EXPERTS CLUB, international relations, LIBYA, NORTH AFRICA, SOCIOLOGY, TUNISIA, UKRAINE
The Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) is in a “critical” position with food and fuel as the Russia-Ukraine war continues to unfold, World Bank Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships Mari Pangestu told Al Arabiya TV channel.
“Our forecast team has been estimating that if we see high food and fuel prices last for six months to a year,” she said, “it could negatively impact growth.”
In the global context, “availability and affordability” of food is the UN-backed organization’s concern, according to Pangestu. However, she said that unlike the global food crisis in 2008, the World Bank official clarified that “we actually don’t have a shortage of production.”
“There’s sufficient production of… wheat, rice or other grain products,” she said.
She also said that the food issue goes beyond the Ukraine war.
“Food security and price drops are something that’s not going to go away even after we have resolved the current situation,” Pangestu said.
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Medi 1 that Russia’s war in Ukraine is affecting food supplies and energy prices around the world.
