China took the last place among the 50 largest trade partners of Ukraine in terms of the balance of positive and negative attitudes of Ukrainians — in August 2026, the indicator was minus 25.4 percentage points. The next lowest results were recorded for India and Hungary — minus 14.3 and minus 12.7 p.p. in accordance. This is evidenced by the results of the third wave of the study "Attitudes of Ukrainians to the countries of the world", conducted by Active Group together with Experts Club, the information and analytical center of Experts Club reports.
The balance was defined as the difference between the shares of positive and negative assessments. Regarding China, 18.2% of respondents expressed a positive attitude, 43.6% - negative, another 33.9% - neutral. Thus, the People's Republic of China received the lowest figure among all the studied states, despite the fact that in the first half of 2026, China was the largest trading partner of Ukraine with a turnover of about $14.68 billion.
Lebanon was also included in the top ten countries with the lowest balance - minus 9.2 percentage points. and Poland — minus 2.3 percentage points. Serbia, Algeria, Libya, Vietnam and Tunisia remained in the positive zone, but their indicators were among the lowest among the studied states: Serbia — plus 2.3 p.p., Algeria — plus 2.2, Libya — plus 1.0, Vietnam — plus 9.4, Tunisia — plus 11.0 p.p.
The dynamics of attitudes towards Poland became especially noticeable. In March 2026, the balance of positive and negative estimates was plus 41.7 percentage points, while in August it decreased to minus 2.3 percentage points. A positive attitude towards Poland was expressed by 34.6% of respondents, a negative attitude by 37%, and a neutral attitude by 25.4%. At the same time, Poland remains one of Ukraine's largest trade partners and the largest market for Ukrainian commodity exports among individual countries in the first half of 2026.
The founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center, deputy director of Interfax-Ukraine IA, candidate of economic sciences Maksym Urakin noted that the results of sociological research should be analyzed together with the actual trade indicators.
"The second thing is to be open to questions, requests from the mass media, from the public. It is also necessary to use our sociology," said Urakin. According to his assessment, systematic communication and the demonstration of specific results of cooperation can help states to better explain the content of bilateral relations to Ukrainian society.
Director of the research company Active Group Oleksandr Pozniy drew attention to the need to combine public awareness with the practical development of economic contacts.
"It is better to develop not only general awareness. We need to expand cooperation with countries where we can have a positive balance," said Pozniy. He emphasized the role of business associations, economic and diplomatic institutions in the development of bilateral relations, especially with markets where Ukraine can increase exports.
In general, the results of the study demonstrate that the scale of trade and economic relations does not always coincide with the public attitude towards the respective state. The most telling example was China: the largest turnover among individual partners is simultaneously combined with the lowest balance of assessments of Ukrainians.
The survey was conducted in August 2026 by the method of self-completion of online questionnaires in the SunFlowerSociology panel among 800 Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and over. The sample is representative by age, gender and region, the declared maximum theoretical error for indicators at the level of 50% is ±3.5 percentage points. This is the third wave of the survey after the August 2025 and March 2026 surveys.
