Ukrainians view Macron, Merz and Erdoğan most favorably among world leaders
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French President Emmanuel Macron gained the most sympathy among Ukrainians (Photo: Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS)
Ukrainians have the most favorable views of French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan among the world leaders included in a new Rating Group poll.
Rating Group conducted a nationally representative survey from Aug. 4-9, asking Ukrainians about their attitudes toward several world leaders and countries, which states they considered friendly or hostile to Ukraine, and how they viewed residents of neighboring countries.
Macron received the highest approval, with 79% of respondents saying they viewed him positively.
Merz followed at 64%, while 61% expressed a positive attitude toward Erdoğan.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was viewed positively by 45% of respondents and negatively by 35%.
Views of Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar were almost evenly divided: 33% positive and 34% negative.
Newly appointed British Prime Minister Andy Burnham was viewed positively by 45% and negatively by just 7%. However, 35% of respondents said they did not know who he was.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko received by far the most negative assessments. Negative attitudes toward Putin stood at 97%, while 90% viewed Lukashenko negatively.
France, UK seen as among Ukraine’s closest friends
Respondents viewed France as the country friendliest toward Ukraine, at 81%, followed by the United Kingdom at 80%.
Lithuania and Germany each received 77%, while Moldova was considered friendly by 68%.
Russia was overwhelmingly regarded as hostile, at 97%, followed by Belarus at 83%.
Views of China were also predominantly negative, with 53% of respondents describing Beijing’s attitude toward Ukraine as hostile.
Attitudes toward neighboring populations
Most Ukrainians expressed either warm or neutral attitudes toward residents of neighboring countries, with Russia and Belarus the major exceptions.
The warmest attitudes were recorded toward Moldovans, with 55% describing their feelings as warm and 39% as neutral.
For Turkish residents, 45% reported warm attitudes and 48% neutral ones, while 43% viewed Bulgarians warmly and 48% neutrally.
Ukrainians most often described their attitudes toward Poles as either warm, at 36%, or neutral, at 39%. Another 24% said they felt coldly toward Polish residents.
Attitudes toward Hungarians showed a similar pattern.
Views of Russians and Belarusians were substantially more negative, with 91% and 70%, respectively, expressing cold attitudes.
The deterioration in attitudes toward Russians has been particularly pronounced.
Four years ago, 56% of Ukrainians said they viewed Russians very coldly, while another 25% viewed them coldly, Rating Group said.
Today, 81% describe their attitude toward Russians as very cold, while another 10% say it is cold.
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