The identity of Donbass in the perception of Ukrainian political analysts (2014–2022) and the construction of the image of the enemy

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The relevance of the research topic is manifested in the fact that the strengthening of the Russian identity of the residents of Donbass is taking place in the context of an information war with Ukrainian nationalism. It is important to understand how Ukrainian political analytics constructs the image of the enemy. The aim of the work is to identify and criticize the myths about the identity of Donbass, constructed in Ukrainian political analytics (2014–2022). The theoretical basis of the study is a systematic approach, an identitarian approach, and social constructivism. Empirical methods: text analysis and discourse analysis. The selection of sources of Ukrainian political analytics includes texts published by the staff of the Institute of Political and Ethnonational Studies named after I.F. Kuras and the National Institute for Strategic Studies (Kiev) for 2014–2022. Тhe main aspects of constructing the image of the enemy and using the “language of hostility” are established: Russophobia, rejection of the Orthodox and East Slavic self-identification common to Russians and Ukrainians, falsification of historical facts, association of Donbass and its history exclusively with crime, marginality, separatism. These discursive techniques use by Ukrainian analysts in scientific texts in the external form of presentation, but they are aimed at defamation of the enemy and his ideological disarmament, therefore, they are one of the technologies of information warfare. In order to increase the effectiveness of the Russian identity policy in Donbass, it is necessary to form a picture of the world of the inhabitants of the region based on a positive perception of the history of Russia and the traditional values of Russian civilization, qualified and timely exposure of the myths of Ukrainian nationalist propaganda. The authors propose to organize an expert and analytical organization in the South of Russia on the subject of Ukrainian historical and socio-political studies.