Ukrainian Students in Poland: Attitudes Towards Language, Identity, and Security (Case Study of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University)

Abstract

Students from Ukraine choose Poland as a place to study because of its geographical proximity and cultural and linguistic similarities. Their numbers increased after the Russian Federation annexed Crimea, military action in the Donbas in 2014 and the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Russian regime justified the aggression with the alleged protection of the Russian-speaking population, which stripped Russian – the daily communication language for a sizable portion of Ukraine’s citizens – of its neutrality and turned it into a geopolitical tool. In Ukraine, there have been changes in the perception of the role of language and national identity and their impact on security. The article aims to examine the effect of the war and the experience of studying in Poland on perceptions of national identity, language practices and the understanding of security among Ukrainian students at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin. The results indicate that the majority of students perceived an increase in the importance of the Ukrainian language after the Russian invasion and noted the connection between language, national identity and security. Many respondents have changed their language habits, abandoning the use of Russian in favor of Ukrainian. The survey results testify to the increased importance of language as a unifying element and key to a sense of national identity in the face of an external threat