The press release was prepared by Anton Hrushetskiy, executive director of KIIS

From July 23 to August 4, 2025, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey "Omnibus", to which, on its own initiative, added questions about the perception of European and USA policies towards Ukraine. By the method of telephone interviews (computer-assistedtelephoneinterviews, CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting) in all regions of Ukraine (the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine), 1,022 respondents were surveyed. The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived in the territory of Ukraine controlled by the Government of Ukraine. The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities (at the same time, some of the respondents are IDPs who moved from the occupied territories), and the survey was not conducted with citizens who left abroad after February 24, 2022.

Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of a sample of 1022 respondents (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.3) does not exceed 4.1%. In order to avoid the influence of the response effect, we asked half of the respondents questions about Europe, and half of the respondents about the USA. Thus, 494 respondents answered the question about European politics, and 528 respondents answered the question about USA politics, which gives an error (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.3) of no more than 5.8%.

Under conditions of war, in addition to the specified formal error, a certain systematic deviation is added. Factors that may affect the quality of results in "wartime" conditions were previously cited by KIIS.

In general, we believe that the obtained results are still highly representative and allow for a fairly reliable analysis of the public moods of the population.

The majority of Ukrainians – 63% – continue to believe that Europe remains a reliable ally that wants an acceptable end to the war for Ukraine. Do not think so - 27%. At the same time, the situation has not changed since the beginning of the year and 63-64% of Ukrainians consistently perceive Europe as a reliable ally.

In the case of the USA, on the contrary, the situation is very dynamic. Already in February-March 2025, that is, after the start of negotiations between the USA and Russia and specific statements from the new USA leadership regarding the war, 39% considered the USA a reliable ally of Ukraine, and 48% answered that the USA was tired and was pressuring Ukraine for an unacceptable peace. However, the lowest indicator was recorded further in March - only 24% then answered that the USA remained an ally of Ukraine, and the vast majority (67%) noted that the USA demanded an unacceptable peace from Ukraine.

Then the perception of USA policy began to improve. Thus, in May-June, 32% considered the USA a reliable ally, while 58% did not. And according to the results of the last survey, that is, in July-early August, 42% perceived the USA as a reliable ally, and 38% believed that the USA were pressuring Ukraine for an unacceptable peace.

Most likely, the fundamental change in the perception of the USA policy is associated with more fair statements by the USA President during July regarding the war and ways to end it. However, the events after August 6 and the planning of the meeting between D. Trump and V. Putin are most likely already significantly affecting the perception of the USA policy by Ukrainians.  

Graph 1. And with which statement about Europe/USA support for Ukraine do you agree to a greater extent?

Below in the table, the data are presented in a regional section[2]. In all regions, a majority believes that Europe remains a reliable ally, although confidence in this decreases slightly from West to East - from 70% to 55%. At the same time, opinions are divided in all regions regarding USA policy, with quite a few who consider the USA a reliable ally and those who do not.

Table 1. Perception of the politics of Europe and the USA in the regional dimension

The table below shows the data among those who trust and those who do not trust the President of Ukraine, V. Zelenskyy. As can be seen, those who trust the President are more likely to perceive both Europe as a reliable ally (70% versus 53% among those who do not trust), and the United States as a reliable ally (50% versus 31%).

Table 2. Perception of the politics of Europe and the USA in terms of trust / distrust in the President of Ukraine

A. Hrushetskyi, comments on the survey results:

Our surveys show that despite some difficulties in interacting with the USA leadership, firstly, Ukrainians maintain a favorable attitude towards the USA as a country and towards ordinary Americans[3]. Secondly, among Ukrainians there is no crystallized perception of the current USA policy regarding Ukraine and Ukrainians are ready to change their thoughts and views – when they see concrete decisions and actions. When in July Ukrainians began to hear more fair statements from the USA authorities, the attitude of Ukrainians began to improve significantly. And of course, the course of events this week and the possible meeting of D. Trump and V. Putin may greatly influence the perception of Ukrainians – depending on the specific results.

Europe and the United States are strategic partners of Ukraine and it is important for Ukrainians to have constructive relations with them. Ukraine, Europe and the United States have significant potential for building mutually beneficial cooperation, so Ukraine and Ukrainians are certainly very attentive to the considerations of our Western partners. However, Ukrainians are fully aware of the existential challenges of the war and understand that Russia is not at all set for a fair peace. If the terms of peace are the same as those previously demanded by Russia (i.e., they will mean actual surrender[4]), then the vast majority of Ukrainians will not agree with them even under pressure from our Western friends.

Annex 1. Formulation of questions from the questionnaire

HALF OF RESPONDENTS ABOUT EUROPE, HALF ABOUT THE USA

And with which statement about Europe's support for Ukraine do you agree to a greater extent? RANDOMIZATION OF THE ORDER OF STATEMENTS

А з яким твердженням щодо підтримки США України Ви згодні в більшій мірі? RANDOMIZATION OF THE ORDER OF STATEMENTS