In the attitude of Ukrainians towards the countries of South and Southeast Asia, neutrality prevails - Experts Club study

Most countries of South and Southeast Asia are characterized by a high share of neutral attitude of Ukrainians — from 48.3% in relation to India to 68.9% in relation to Malaysia. Thailand received the highest share of positive evaluations among the represented countries — 30.9%, while India is the only country in the group with a distinctly negative balance of attitudes. 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, reports the information and analytical center Experts Club.

Positive towards Thailand 30.9% of respondents are of the opinion, 59.5% are neutral, 3.9% are negative, and another 5.7% could not decide. The balance of positive and negative evaluations is 27 percentage points against 25 percentage points. in March 2026.

Vietnam is positively evaluated by 21.5% of respondents, neutrally by 60.5%, negatively by 12.1%. The balance is 9.4 percentage points. and gradually increased during the three waves of the study: from 6.7 p.p. in August 2025 to 8.8 percentage points in March and 9.4 percentage points in August 2026.

About Indonesia, 20.9% of Ukrainians expressed a positive attitude, 66.3% chose a neutral answer, 6.1% - a negative answer, another 6.7% were undecided. The balance calculated from the given shares is 14.8 percentage points; on the slide it is listed at 14.2 pp, which may be the result of rounding or a technical discrepancy in the presentation.

Malaysia has the highest proportion of neutral scores in the group at 68.9%. 18.6% of respondents are positive about it, 4.1% are negative, and another 8.4% could not answer. In general, the published results confirm that regarding Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia, public opinion is formed mainly around a neutral rather than a negative assessment.

India is markedly different from the other countries of this group. 17.2% of respondents have a positive attitude towards it, while 31.5% have a negative attitude towards it, and 48.3% have a neutral attitude towards it. As a result, the balance is minus 14.3 percentage points. against minus 5.6 pp. in March 2026 and minus 10.3 percentage points. in August 2025. According to the combined results of the entire study, India has the second lowest balance after China.

Experts Club founder, deputy director of IA "Interfax-Ukraine", candidate of economic sciences Maksym Urakin emphasized the need to analyze the attitude of Ukrainians to other countries along with actual economic ties.

"That is, the deficit increased by more than 10 billion dollars for the year. Therefore, it is very important for us to analyze our main partners," Urakin said. In his opinion, sociological data can complement the analysis of trade and help to better understand promising directions of international cooperation.

Director of the research company Active Group Oleksandr Pozniy drew attention to the importance of the economic and informational component of bilateral relations.

"It is better to develop not only general awareness. First of all, business associations, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs need to work to develop bilateral relations and improve the balance," said Pozniy. He also advocated expanding cooperation with markets where Ukraine has opportunities to increase exports.

In general, the results show a significant difference in the perception of individual Asian states. If for Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, neutrality dominates with a preponderance of positive evaluations over negative ones, then for India, the evaluations formed are biased in the negative direction.

The survey was conducted in August 2026 by the method of self-completion of online questionnaires in the SunFlowerSociology panel among 800 citizens of Ukraine over the age of 18. The sample is representative by age, gender, and region, and the stated maximum theoretical statistical error is ±3.5 percentage points. This is the third wave of the survey after the surveys of August 2025 and March 2026.