The perception of US President Donald Trump among Ukrainians has fallen from -34.6% in September 2025 to -65.8% in April 2026. At the same time, opinions of the United States as a country remain positive. This is evidenced by data from a sociological survey commissioned by the Kyiv Security Forum.

11% of respondents view the US President predominantly positively, 2.6% view him entirely positively, whilst 31.9% view him predominantly negatively and 47.5% view him entirely negatively.

Prior to this, the figures fluctuated: in April–May 2025, the balance of positive/negative attitudes (the difference between the proportion of those with a positive attitude and those with a negative one) stood at minus 55.6%, in February–March 2025 – minus 59.3%, and in January 2024, prior to his second presidential term, it stood at minus 36.2%.

Ukrainians also hold a negative balance of opinion towards US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff – minus 12.9%.

At the same time, the US retains a positive attitude among Ukrainians – the balance stands at +33.4% (47.1% – mostly positive, 16.8% – entirely positive).

Leaders

Among all foreign leaders, French President Emmanuel Macron enjoys the most favourable balance of opinion among Ukrainians surveyed – +51.8% (50.6% – mostly positive, 18.9% – entirely positive). In September 2025, the balance was even higher at +66.3%.

Next comes European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – the balance stands at +49.6% (45% – mostly positive, 18.6% – entirely positive). Compared to September 2025, the figure has fallen slightly – at that time, the balance stood at +56.4%.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu received a balance of +40.9% (38% – mostly positive, 13.2% – entirely positive). Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has a balance of +39% (39.1% – mostly positive, 13.7% – entirely positive). Compared to September 2025, positive sentiment has declined – at that time, the balance stood at +52.7%.

Attitudes towards Western politicians

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz received a balance of +37.3% (40.7% – mostly positive, 11.7% – entirely positive). UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has a balance of +23.5% (24.9% – mostly positive, 10.1% – entirely positive). Compared to September 2025, positive attitudes towards Starmer have deteriorated slightly – at that time the balance stood at +29.8%.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan has a balance of +21.3% (41.2% – mostly positive, 8.5% – entirely positive).

Pope Leo XIV has a balance of +26.8% (36.9% – mostly positive, 7.8% – entirely positive).

Outsiders

Ukrainians have a negative balance of opinion regarding Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (minus 36.4%) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (minus 11%).

The worst rating among Western leaders is held by Viktor Orbán, who lost the parliamentary elections on 12 April and will soon leave office. The balance of attitudes towards him stands at minus 62.8%.

Among all foreign politicians, Ukrainians have the most negative attitude towards Putin – a balance of minus 94.7% – and Belarusian President Lukashenko – minus 80%.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping received a balance of minus 51.3%. Compared to September 2025, the figure has risen – at that time, the balance stood at minus 76.8%.

The full text of the study will be presented at the Kyiv Security Forum on April 23.

The sociological survey was conducted by the Razumkov Centre on commission from the Kyiv Security Forum between 2 and 8 April 2026 using face-to-face interviews. A total of 1,200 respondents aged 18 and over were surveyed in the Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, and Chernivtsi regions, and the city of Kyiv (only in those territories controlled by the Ukrainian government and where no hostilities are taking place). The theoretical margin of error does not exceed 2.9%.