Everyday life in the shadow of the border: the Polish-Russian borderland since the war in Ukraine – recognizing the phenomenon

Abstract

ABSTRACT The local community in the Polish-Russian border area has been experiencing constant closures and openings since the delimitation of the border. Despite that, the residents used the border as a resource until the outbreak of war in Ukraine. All actions of the central authorities restricting cross-border mobility in the Polish-Russian borderland were treated by the residents as a temporary impediment, to which they were, to some extent, accustomed as they lived in a region with strong exposure to geopolitical risks. With the outbreak of war, the Polish-Russian border area became an isolated border region. Residents of the Polish-Russian borderland face the challenge of reorganizing their daily lives and counteracting the negative effects of permanent isolation. This article seeks to investigate how the Russian-Ukrainian conflict affects the daily lives of these residents through a series of expert interviews.