More than 90% of Ukrainians hold unfavorable view of Russia - poll
Currently, 91% of Ukrainians have a bad attitude towards Russia, and 4% have a good attitude, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
When sociologists asked about the general current attitude towards Russia, respondents could choose one of the options: "very good," "mostly good," "mostly bad," "very bad" (or at their own insistence "hard to say"). According to the results of the survey, as of autumn 2025, the situation has hardly changed compared to 2024.
"Currently, 91% of Ukrainians have a bad attitude towards Russia, and 4% have a good attitude. In 2024, the figures were 93% and 3%, respectively. The difference compared to the current figures is within the statistical error, that is, there were no changes in the year. In fact, the same trend that we have observed after the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022 remains - a consistently negative attitude towards Russia... It is important to emphasize that the deterioration in the attitude towards Russia followed the aggressive actions of Russia itself, and did not precede it," the report on the survey results states.
KIIS also found out the attitude of Ukrainians towards Russia in a regional context and on the following timeline: in February 2022 (on the eve of the invasion), in October 2024 (a year ago) and how they feel now (in September 2025).
"The absolute majority of the population in all regions – from 92% in the West to 80% in the East – have a bad attitude towards Russia. The share of those who have a good attitude varies from only 3-4% in the West, Center and South to 9% in the East. Compared to 2024, at the trend level, one can see some improvement towards Russia in the East (from 3% to 9%). However, it should be taken into account that the sample of respondents in the East is small and this difference is within the margin of error," the study notes.
The survey also asked respondents about their general attitude towards Russians – residents of Russia.
"Currently, only 8% of Ukrainians have a good attitude towards Russian residents of Russia, while 85%, on the contrary, have a bad attitude towards them. Almost identical indicators were in 2024, so the situation with the attitude towards Russian residents of Russia has not changed over the past year," the report says.
This trend persists in the regional dimension. Thus, as of September 2025, the absolute majority of Ukrainians in all regions - from 91% in the West to 73% in the East - have a bad attitude towards Russian residents of Russia. The share of those who continue to have a good attitude towards them does not exceed 14% (in the East).
Sociologists also studied social distance, that is, respondents answered how close a relationship they are willing to allow with representatives of the group of "Russians-residents of Russia", with the minimum social distance being 1 (agree to allow as a family member), the maximum being 7 (would not allow to enter Ukraine).
"As of September 2025, the index value for Russian residents of Russia is 6.5. Moreover, the situation is almost similar in all regions - 6.7 in the West, 6.5 in the Center, 6.3 in the South, 6.2 in the East. In fact, 82% of all respondents (83% in the West, 84% in the Center, 76% in the South and 78% in the East) answered that Russian residents of Russia should not be allowed into Ukraine at all. In 2024, the indicators were almost identical, that is, there is a very critical attitude towards Russian residents of Russia among Ukrainians, and in all regions - in particular, in the East," the KIIS report says.
It is noted that in 2013 the index value was 2.7 (which indicated a high openness of Ukrainians towards Russians).
The study shows that in general, the attitude towards "Russians" is a political (not ethnic) dimension, since Ukrainians in Ukraine have a distinctly negative attitude towards Ukrainians living in Russia.
"The attitude towards Ukrainians in Russia is slightly better (than towards Russians), but also distinctly negative - the index value is 5.6 (and 49% of respondents answered that Ukrainians in Russia should not be allowed into Ukraine at all). That is, for Ukrainians in Ukraine, even ethnic Ukrainians in Russia are enemies, since, most likely, they are perceived as part of the "Russian world", which is a broader political concept than the narrower definition of "ethnic Russians", - the survey results show.
The study shows that the negative attitude towards Russia and Russians does not depend on the language of communication of the respondents.
"Among Russian-speaking Ukrainians, only 12% have a good attitude towards Russia and only 22% have a good attitude towards Russians. "In contrast, 76% have a bad attitude towards Russia and 69% have a bad attitude towards Russians. Therefore, it is wrong to use the language of people's communication as an attempt to justify the occupation of territories or the transfer of territories currently controlled by Russia to Russia," sociologists note.
Executive Director of KIIS Anton Hrushetsky, commenting on the survey results, emphasized that Ukrainians are united in their awareness of the existential threat posed by the Russians.
"Among Ukrainians, regardless of region or language of communication, there is a consolidated - unambiguously critical - position towards both Russia as a whole and ordinary Russians. Ukrainians are united in their awareness of the existential threat posed by the Russians... At the same time, we have an appeal to the world, and especially to our partners in the West, to stop identifying the use of the Russian language in Ukraine with the presence of a Russian identity. Russian-speaking Ukrainians are patriots of Ukraine, identify themselves as part of the Ukrainian nation and do not want to live in Russia. Therefore, using the fact of using the Russian language in certain territories to impose territorial losses is an absolutely wrong policy," he emphasized.
The survey was conducted from September 2-14, 2025 at KIIS using 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). 1,023 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 1023 respondents (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.3) does not exceed 4.1%. Most of the questions considered in this press release were asked to all respondents. At the same time, an experiment was implemented in the question about possible peace plans and we found out the opinion of respondents about one of two randomly selected peace plans (to avoid the effect of the order of answers). Each peace plan was evaluated by about 500 respondents, 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%.