An overwhelming majority of Ukrainians consider the Czech Republic and Poland to be two of their country’s key allies as they attempt to defend their homeland against a Russia invasion, according to a newly published poll.
The poll, conducted by the Rating Sociological Group and published at the end of last week, revealed that as many as 96 percent of Ukrainians consider Poland to be their friend. Poland topped the survey while Czechia placed fifth, with almost four in five (79 percent) Ukrainians considering the country to be a key ally.
Lithuania, the United Kingdom and the United States filled in the gaps for the top five friendliest nations.
The visit by the leaders of Czechia, Poland and Slovenia to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian government leaders will have helped solidify such feelings of allegiance.
Poland has also to date processed over 2.1 million Ukrainians who have fled their homeland and sought refuge in Europe, according to data published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
On the issue of the ongoing conflict, 93 percent of those polled have confidence in a Kyiv victory in the war with Russia with 77 percent believe the situation is currently moving in the right direction.
On the contrary, Russia and Belarus have unsurprisingly been labeled the most hostile countries to Ukraine with 98 percent and 84 percent of respondents considering the nations to be antagonistic.
China is currently considered neutral by 63 percent of Ukrainians, with 17 percent of respondents perceiving it as hostile. The three countries were followed by Hungary (12 percent) and Germany (6 percent) as the most hostile nations to Ukraine.
The war also changed the views of Ukrainians in individual regions. Residents of the eastern and southern parts of the country now perceive the West and the United States to be an ally, although they would have viewed them as neutral in the past. As many as 82 percent of the population is convinced that the country is not in danger of being divided due to the war.
Almost half of Ukrainians, namely 47 percent, believe that they will manage to defeat Russia in the next few weeks. According to the survey, there are virtually no Ukrainians who believe in a Russian victory.
Three-quarters of Ukrainians support direct talks between President Volodymyr Zelensky and his counterpart Vladimir Putin. At the same time, however, 89 percent of them do not accept the possibility of a temporary ceasefire without the withdrawal of enemy troops from the territory of Ukraine.
The Rating agency published its survey on March 18, with 1,000 respondents with Ukrainian citizenship over the age of 18 answering the polling questions.
