The Czech Republic and Moldova have the highest balance of positive and negative attitudes of Ukrainians among the Central and Eastern European countries represented in the study — 56.2 and 48.2 percentage points, respectively. At the same time, the balance of attitudes toward Poland in August 2026 became negative, while the ratings of Slovakia and Hungary improved significantly compared to previous waves. 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.
The Czech Republic received the highest share of positive evaluations in this group — 61.3%. 32.1% of respondents are neutral about it, 5.1% are negative, and another 1.6% could not decide. The balance of positive and negative attitudes is 56.2 percentage points. against 64.4 percent in March 2026 and 58.7 percent in August 2025.
55.4% of respondents have a positive attitude towards Moldova, 35.6% are neutral, and 7.2% are negative. The balance is 48.2 percentage points, which is lower than March's 54.7 percentage points, but higher than last August's indicator - 46.6 percentage points.
45.2% of respondents expressed a positive attitude towards Romania, neutral - 42.3%, negative - 9.8%. The balance decreased to 35.4 percentage points. with 41.7 percentage points in march In Bulgaria, the share of positive assessments is 42.7%, neutral - 47.6%, negative - 7.4%, and the balance - 35.3 percentage points. against 51.5 percent in March.
Unlike most countries in the group, attitudes towards Slovakia have shown a marked improvement. It is assessed positively by 40.7% of respondents, negatively by 12.1%, and neutrally by 44.4%. The balance increased to 28.6 percentage points. with 16.1 percentage points in March 2026 and only 1.6 p.p. in August 2025.
The sharpest negative dynamics was recorded for Poland. 34.6% of Ukrainians have a positive attitude towards it, 37% negatively, and 25.4% neutrally. As a result, the balance is minus 2.4 percentage points, while in March 2026 it was plus 41.7 percentage points, and in August 2025 - plus 44 percentage points. The deterioration of the attitude towards Poland was one of the most noticeable changes in the third wave of the survey.
Hungary remains in the negative zone: 22.9% of respondents expressed a positive attitude, 35.6% were negative, and 37.4% were neutral. At the same time, its balance improved to minus 12.7 percentage points. compared to minus 33.6 percentage points in March and minus 39.7 percent. in August 2025.
The founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center, deputy director of Interfax-Ukraine IA, Candidate of Economic Sciences Maksym Urakin emphasized that the public perception of states must be analyzed in parallel with the actual economic ties of Ukraine.
"That is why it is very important for us to analyze our main partners. The first recommendation is to regularly show specific cases, specific actions, the presence here of foundations, embassies, teams, diplomats in the humanitarian sphere, in science. It is also necessary to use our sociology in order to draw conclusions and cement our relations, first of all trade," Urakin said.
Director of the research company Active Group Oleksandr Pozniy drew attention to the practical significance of the research results for economic and diplomatic policy.
"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. We need to expand cooperation with countries where we can have a positive balance," said Pozniy.
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 aged 18 and older. According to the organizers, the sample is representative in terms of age, gender and region, the maximum theoretical error is 3.5%. This is the third wave of the survey after the surveys of August 2025 and March 2026.
