National and Civil Identity in Ukraine in the Context of the Russian-Ukrainian War: Constants and Changes

Abstract

The article analyzes the state of national and civic identity in Ukraine before and during the Russian-Ukrainian war. It is found that the triggers of its changes were the revolutions that took place in our country and, especially, the Russian-Ukrainian war. It is determined that it was the war that gave impetus to a radical strengthening of the position of national identity and, accordingly, to a sharp decline in the indicators of Soviet-Russian identity in Ukrainian society. It is proved that the war introduced new components to this phenomenon, which were dictated by the danger of losing the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state and limiting its sovereignty, when the perception of identity markers moved from the sensual to the practical plane. These included volunteering, the voluntary movement, national resistance to the occupiers, and other manifestations of Ukrainian civic position. This happened not only in the territories controlled by the Ukrainian government, but also in the territories temporarily occupied by the enemy. It is proved that during the war years there were significant changes in the qualitative indicators of citizens' attitudes towards the symbolic values associated with the statehood of Ukraine, which is an important sign of strengthening the national identity. The author analyzes a significant amount of sociological data that demonstrates changes in national and civic identity at different stages of the Russian-Ukrainian war. It is emphasized that only in the eighth year of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the governmental institutions developed a strategy of state policy in the field of strengthening the Ukrainian national and civic identity as a component of ensuring the national security of Ukraine.