Ukraine at war: Baseline identity and social construction

Wilson, Andrew

doi:10.1111/nana.12986

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Despite everything, the Ukrainian Spirit of 2014 nevertheless endured as the civic and ethnic dimensions of Ukrainian national identity grew closer to each other. This process was only strengthened by the Russian invasion in 2022 (Onuch and Hale 2022;Wilson 2023). The longterm effects would of course in part depend on the outcome of the conflict.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The surprising result is that Russia appears to have struggled with many of the issues Ukraine tackled in 2014-15. This suggests that the Ukrainian Spirit of 2014 has endured, now manifested as a spirit of Ukrainian resistance, strengthened to a nationwide phenomenon because of the invasion (Onuch and Hale 2022;Wilson 2023). Even further, Ukrainian military reforms appear to have been more successful than previously thought.…”

Section: Chaptermentioning

confidence: 94%

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“Slava Ukraini!” Strategy and the Spirit of Ukrainian Resistance 2014–2023

Käihkö

2023

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“Slava Ukraini!” Strategy and the Spirit of Ukrainian Resistance tells the story of the volunteers lauded to have saved Ukraine twice. The volunteers first emerged in the spring of 2014 after the onset of the war in Donbas in a context characterized by ambiguity, state weakness, political uncertainty, and threat. They re-emerged again in February 2022 after the large-scale Russian invasion. Aimed at an interdisciplinary audience, this volume makes significant contributions to our understanding of events in Ukraine over the past decade. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with volunteer battalion fighters, the volume focuses on strategy, or the creation, control, and use of force. This framework is first applied to the volunteer militias to further the understanding of militia strategy conducted after 2014, and then to the first year and a half that followed the Russian invasion in 2022. “Slava Ukraini!” also discusses the long-term sociological impact of volunteer battalions and the war they fought in Ukraine. The Ukrainian spirit of resistance emerged first on the Maidan in November 2013, ignited the volunteer Spirit of 2014 after the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea, and ultimately flared-up on a national scale in a manner which surprised the invading Russian forces in 2022. Yet initially the volunteers may also have exacerbated internal divisions in Ukraine. The Spirit of 2014 was also better suited to a war of movement than immobile trench warfare that left little room for heroism and aggressive soldiering. Unrealistic expectations about modern warfare led to disillusionment, and many volunteers leaving the war in 2015. The perceived stalemate and lack of Ukrainian soldiers by late 2023 raised the question of a similar dynamic witnessed in 2014 and 1914 alike. Ilmari Käihkö is an associate professor of War Studies at the Swedish Defence University, and a veteran of the Finnish Defence Forces. His research focuses on cultural sociology of war, underpinned by ethnographic study of contemporary war and warfare.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Chaptermentioning

confidence: 94%

“Slava Ukraini!” Strategy and the Spirit of Ukrainian Resistance 2014–2023

Käihkö

2023

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“…It can be concluded that the change in the identity of the Ukrainian population is caused by both the historical background of the country's development and the two waves of war in 2014 and 2022, respectively. Such events accelerated both the civil and social construction of Ukrainian identity (Wilson, 2024). Therewith, language acts as a territorial boundary that the Russian Federation is trying so hard to violate.…”

Section: Language As An Indicator Of Territorial Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ukraine functioned only with the support of the European Union and the United States, the Russian population on the territory of Ukraine wanted to become part of Russia, but they were prevented by the Ukrainian fascist leadership that came to power after the revolution -all these stereotypes and myths were nothing more than fictions and had nothing to do with reality (Kuzio, 2019). That is, Ukraine was the complete antithesis of Russia (Wilson, 2024). The situation with language has been simplified by the Russian side (Lönngren et al, 2023).…”

Section: Language As An Indicator Of Territorial Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%