WASHINGTON (AFP) - Growing majorities in nations friendly to the United States have come to view Washington as a reliable partner since the Ukraine war, an international survey said Wednesday (June 22).

An 18-nation survey by the Pew Research Centre also showed that already negative views of Russia have sunk further since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February.

In Sweden, which applied to join Nato after the Ukraine invasion, 84 per cent said the US was a reliable partner, a jump of 21 points from a year earlier.

Sharp rises were also seen in South Korea, where 83 per cent said the US was reliable, a boost of 25 points, and Canada, where the figure rose 16 points to 84 per cent.

Other countries that saw rises in perceptions of US reliability include Australia, Belgium, Britain and Germany.

President Joe Biden has led international efforts to send billions of dollars in weapons and aid, and to impose punishing sanctions on Russia after leader Vladimir Putin defied his warnings and attacked Ukraine.

The most favourable marks both for the US and for Mr Biden himself came from Poland, which has been on the front lines of support for Ukraine.

Nine in 10 Poles saw the US favourably, and a mere 2 per cent had positive views of historic foe Russia - whose favourability in Poland had inched up to 33 per cent in 2019.

Outliers in the trends include Italy, where Prime Minister Mario Draghi's strong support for Ukraine has faced controversy, and Greece, where anti-US sentiment runs high despite its Nato membership.

Greece and Malaysia were the only nations surveyed where less than half of the public viewed the US favourably, with the figure in Greece declining 15 points from 2021 to 48 per cent.

The survey was conducted of 23,484 adults in 18 nations between Feb14 and May 11.