Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Esta publicación cientíca en formato digital es continuidad de la revista impresa
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197402ZU34
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Vol.41 N° 78
Julio
Septiembre
2023
ISSN 0798- 1406 ~ De pó si to le gal pp 198502ZU132
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas
La re vis ta Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas, es una pu bli ca ción aus pi cia da por el Ins ti tu to
de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co “Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che” (IEPDP) de la Fa-
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ción, dis cu sión y con fron ta ción de las ideas y avan ces cien tí fi cos con com pro mi so so cial.
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas apa re ce dos ve ces al año y pu bli ca tra ba jos ori gi na les con
avan ces o re sul ta dos de in ves ti ga ción en las áreas de Cien cia Po lí ti ca y De re cho Pú bli-
co, los cua les son so me ti dos a la con si de ra ción de ár bi tros ca li fi ca dos.
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Pe rio di cals Di rec tory, EBS CO. Se en cuen tra acre di ta da al Re gis tro de Pu bli ca cio-
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Vol. 41, Nº 78 (2023), 357-373
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
The impact of Russian military
aggression on the establishment of a new
Ukrainian political nation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4178.25
Vasyl Chernets
*
Mykola Stadnyk
**
Olga Marukhovska-Kartunova
***
Svitlana Kolybabiuk
****
Stepan Svorak
*****
Abstract
The open Russian invasion of Ukraine forced the Ukrainian
society to defend its right to a unique and consolidated national
identity. The aspiration of Ukrainians to preserve their own
identity implied, later, the establishment of a new Ukrainian
nation. The aim of the study was to analyze the factors inuencing
the establishment of the Ukrainian political nation in the context of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. The method of comparative analysis was used
to identify a high level of legal awareness of the constitutional military
duty to defend the Fatherland and preserve the Ukrainian nation. It is
concluded that in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian military conict,
a new Ukrainian political nation is being established under the inuence
of ensuring equal rights to culture, language, territory, religion, justice,
economy and ethnicity. It was found that Russia’s military aggression against
Ukraine forced Ukrainians to unite for the sake of their own preservation as
a single Ukrainian political nation. A new Ukrainian political nation, which
was established during the Russo-Ukrainian war, is a sovereign community
of citizens who have the political subjectivity to put up national resistance
to the occupiers.
*
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Research Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 01135, Kyiv, Ukraine.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2557-7846
**
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, National Academy for Public Administration under the President of
Ukraine, 04050, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4264-8054
***
Candidate of Philosophical Science, Associate Professor, Head Social Sciences Section, Department
of Foreign Languages and General Education Disciplines, University of Economics and Law “KROK”,
03113, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5207-0671
****Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Law and Humanities, Separate
Structural Subdivision of the Higher Education Institution “Open International University of Human
Development
“Ukraine”
Ivano-Frankivsk
Branch,
76010,
Ivano-Frankivsk,
Ukraine.
ORCID
ID:
https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6862-1042
*****
Doctor of Legal Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences,
Рrofessor, Department of Theory and History
of State and Law, Educational Scientic Law Institute, Precarpathian National University named after
Vasyl
Stefanyk,
76018,
Ivano-Frankivsk,
Ukraine.
ORCID
ID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4077-
7183
Recibido el 16/05/23 Aceptado el 27/06/23
358
Mykola Stadnyk, Vasyl Chernets, Olga Marukhovska-Kartunova, Svitlana Kolybabiuk y Stepan Svorak
The impact of Russian military aggression on the establishment of a new Ukrainian political nation
Keywords: Russian military aggression; Ukraine and Russia; sovereignty
of the nation; new national identity; resistance.
El impacto de la agresión militar rusa en el
establecimiento de una nueva nación política ucraniana
Resumen
La abierta invasión rusa de Ucrania obligó a la sociedad ucraniana a
defender su derecho a una identidad nacional única y consolidada. La
aspiración de los ucranianos de preservar su propia identidad implica, más
tarde, el establecimiento de una nueva nación ucraniana. El objetivo del
estudio fue analizar los factores que inuyeron en el establecimiento de la
nación política ucraniana en el contexto de la invasión rusa de Ucrania.
El método de análisis comparativo se utilizó para identicar un alto nivel
de conciencia legal del deber militar constitucional de defender la Patria y
preservar la nación ucraniana. Se concluye que en el contexto del conicto
militar ruso-ucraniano, se está estableciendo una nueva nación política
ucraniana bajo la inuencia de garantizar la igualdad de derechos a la
cultura, el idioma, el territorio, la religión, la justicia, la economía y el origen
étnico. Se descubrió que la agresión militar de Rusia contra Ucrania obligó
a los ucranianos a unirse por el bien de su propia conservación como una
sola nación política ucraniana. Una nueva nación política ucraniana, que se
estableció durante la guerra ruso-ucraniana, es una comunidad soberana
de ciudadanos que tienen la subjetividad política para oponer resistencia
nacional a los ocupantes.
Palabras clave: agresión militar rusa; Ucrania y Rusia; soberanía de la
nación; nueva identidad nacional; resistencia.
Introduction
The standard of living of Ukrainians has signicantly decreased as a
result of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. Residents of Ukraine
faced many problems related to rising prices for foodstus and goods,
constant interruption of electricity and heat supply, mass unemployment,
and reduction of jobs. Paradoxically, all this forces Ukrainian citizens
to believe and hope for a better future and victory for Ukraine. In 2022,
almost every third citizen of Ukraine believed that their standard of living
would improve in the next year. For comparison, only every fth resident
of Ukraine believed so in 2021 (Institute of Sociology, National Academy of
Sciences of Ukraine, 2023).
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 41 Nº 78 (2023): 357-373
Despite the heavy losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrainians
seek the continuation of the war with Russia until the complete victory of
Ukraine and the return of all the territory of Ukraine captured by Russia,
including Crimea. Ukrainians’ defence of the right to live in a democratic
independent legal state forced them to resist numerous war crimes and
ght for their right to exist against the Russian invasion. Preservation of
the Ukrainian identity forced Ukrainians to resist and mobilize as citizens
for the right of their democratic nation-state to exist. The Ukrainian nation
has always struggled with arbitrariness and lawlessness.
In 2014, it defended the territory of Donbas. In 2013-2014, it protested
on the Euromaidan for dignity and against corruption. In 2004, during the
Orange Revolution, it rallied for free and fair elections for the president of
Ukraine. So even now Ukrainians are mobilizing against Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine in order to defend their Motherland and protect their families
and homes. So, all this undoubtedly proves the relevance of the chosen
research topic.
The aim of this study is to analyse the open military aggression of the
Russian Federation against Ukraine and to determine the main factors for
the establishment of a new Ukrainian political nation in the context of the
military conict.
The aim of the article was achieved through the fullment of the
following research objectives:
• consider the provisions of the national legislation of Ukraine on the
national resistance to the Russian occupiers as a manifestation of
the establishment of a new political nation of Ukrainians;
• identify the components of the identity of the Ukrainian nation and
describe their constituent components in the context of Russia’s
military aggression against Ukraine;
• determine the standard of living of Ukrainians in the context of
the Russian invasion and identify the level of their trust in the
Ukrainian authorities regarding the resolution of the issue of ending
the military conict;
• carry out an analysis of the provisions of international standards on
human rights and determine the state of their violation during the
military conict.
1. Literature review
Kuzio (2022) and Knott (2022) carried out a nationalist analysis of
Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. In their opinion, the military
360
Mykola Stadnyk, Vasyl Chernets, Olga Marukhovska-Kartunova, Svitlana Kolybabiuk y Stepan Svorak
The impact of Russian military aggression on the establishment of a new Ukrainian political nation
conict forced Ukrainians to unite in order to preserve their nationality and
defend the independence of Ukraine. Mälksoo (2022) analysed the Russian-
Ukrainian war through the prism of Russian imperialism and came to the
conclusion that Russia’s open denial of the political sovereignty of Ukraine
strengthens Ukrainians’ awareness of their right to exist as an independent
political nation.
Bureiko and Moga (2019) and Kulyk (2019) studied the Ukrainian-
Russian linguistic dyad and its impact on national identity in Ukraine,
noting that the issue of choosing free communication is an integral element
of the gained freedom. Ciuriak (2022) analysed Russia’s military aggression
against Ukraine through the prism of ensuring information security,
claiming that social networks in Russia’s war against Ukraine are an
eective tool for forming nationalist ideas and maintaining the connection
of many families.
Hunter (2018) analysed the Ukrainian government’s involvement of
volunteer battalions in response to Russian aggression in Donbas. In his
opinion, the creation of volunteer battalions is a conscious manifestation
of self-preservation of the Ukrainian nation. Therefore, the active position
of the Ukrainian nation in the political life of the country contributed to
stabilizing the situation in Donbas in 2014 through the participation of
volunteer battalions in an anti-terrorist operation together with the Armed
Forces of Ukraine. Haran et al. (2019) and Dzutsati (2021) explored the
public sentiments in Donbas, which is not controlled by Ukraine and stated
that, contrary to Russia’s expectations, the military invasion of Ukraine
only strengthened the Ukrainian civil nation.
Harris (2020) and Bojcun (2015) examined the Russian-Ukrainian
crisis of 2014 in the context of nationalism, emphasizing the proportional
relationship between Russia’s determination to control Ukraine’s political
future and Ukraine’s determination to free itself from Russian inuence.
They also emphasize the incompatibility between Russian and Ukrainian
nationalist ideas, which became the basis for the establishment of a new
Ukrainian political nation during Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
The unity of the political and cultural space of Ukraine has been
strengthening after the Euromaidan and the Russian military aggression.
This is stated by Kuzyk (2019) and Dembińska and Smith (2021) who
studied the issue of national integration of Ukraine before and after
2014. The political and cultural identity of Ukrainian citizens is not xed,
it currently has an ever-growing convergence of Ukrainian society with
Russia’s military aggression (Sydorova et al., 2022). Analysing the impact
of Russian military aggression on the attitude of Ukrainians to Russia and
Ukrainian national identity, Oliinyk and Kuzio (2021) and Kasianov (2023)
reached the same conclusion.
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 41 Nº 78 (2023): 357-373
Matveeva (2022) and Voronovici (2022) studied Russia’s military
aggression against Ukraine since 2014 and came to the conclusion that
the Ukrainians who remained living in the Donbas, which is not controlled
by the Ukrainian government, sought unity with Ukraine despite the
continuation of military operations and the economic blockade. They also
note that Ukrainians strive for national unity, even those who were forced
to accept the terms of integration with Russia because of the lack of food
security.
Sasse and Lackner (2018) supports this position when studying the issue
of preserving the identity of Ukrainians in the context of a military conict.
The researcher believes during the military conict, every citizen of Ukraine
did not leave the political life of their country aside, which contributed to
the creation of a new Ukrainian political nation.
Petryna (2023) and Veselov (2023) study Russia’s war against Ukraine
and argue that the wave of war crimes committed in Ukraine is a genocide
of the Ukrainian people. Therefore, Ukrainians unite trying to oppose these
crimes, forming a special kind of resistance that strikes against impunity.
However, despite a rather wide spectrum of research on this issue by
researchers, the issues of establishing a new Ukrainian political nation
in the context of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine remain
fragmented, which determines the relevance of the chosen research topic.
2. Methods and materials
The analysis procedure of this study included three stages. The rst
stage provided for the analysis of academic literature to determine the
content of Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine and its consequences
for the establishment of a new Ukrainian nation. The provisions of the
national legislation regarding national resistance to the Russian occupiers
were selected. International human rights standards established by the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention
on Human Rights were reviewed. The material of sociological surveys on
public opinion on the state of war and its consequences for the future of
Ukraine was selected.
The second stage involved theoretical and experimental research
conducted by comparing their results and analysing discrepancies. The
provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On the Fundamentals of National
Resistance£ and the Decree of the President of Ukraine “On the Introduction
of Martial Law in Ukraine” were considered in order to determine the
criteria for assessing the legal awareness of Ukrainians before putting up
national resistance to the Russian occupiers.
362
Mykola Stadnyk, Vasyl Chernets, Olga Marukhovska-Kartunova, Svitlana Kolybabiuk y Stepan Svorak
The impact of Russian military aggression on the establishment of a new Ukrainian political nation
The state of violation of human rights in Ukraine was assessed according
to international standards by comparing the norms of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human
Rights for the violation of the rights of Ukrainians during the military
conict. War crimes committed by Russia against Ukrainians were assessed
through the analysis of the practice of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe and the parliamentary decisions of the leading countries.
The analysis of the survey was the basis for an assessment of Ukrainians’
trust in the state authorities and the strength of military personnel during
the military conict.
The third stage provided for systematization of the criteria for evaluating
public opinion on the state of war in Ukraine and the identity of the
Ukrainian nation using Microsoft Oce capabilities. A scientic discussion
on the prerequisites and grounds for Russia’s open military conict in
Ukraine was systematized. The processed materials were analysed for the
assigned tasks, and the results of the conducted research were formalized.
A comparative analysis was used to analyse scientic, legal, statistical
and practical information about the open military invasion of Russia into
Ukraine and its consequences on the formation of the legal consciousness
of Ukrainians regarding the desire to defend their own state and preserve
the nation.
The system-logical method was applied to analyse the results of the
survey of the leading sociological organizations of Ukraine regarding the
public opinion about the war, victory, and the future of Ukraine in terms of
the formation of a new Ukrainian political nation.
The combination of empirical and theoretical methods was used to carry
out an empirical interpretation of the theory and theoretical interpretation
of empirical data. The legal framework of national resistance to the
Russian occupiers was also determined as a conscious manifestation of
the preservation of Ukrainian identity. The doctrinal analysis of academic
works on the problematic issues of the survival of Ukrainians during the
Russian-Ukrainian military conict enabled determining the imperfection
of the existing legal mechanisms in the eld of national resistance and
social security of Ukrainians in martial law.
The sample was the following:
• the general characteristics of the observance of human rights and
its components for the protection of the identity of the Ukrainian
nation;
• the standard of living of Ukrainians in the context of the Russian-
military conict;
• the level of trust of Ukrainians in the state authorities regarding the
resolution of the issue of ending the military conict;
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 41 Nº 78 (2023): 357-373
• provisions of the Ukrainian legislation of Ukraine in the eld of
national resistance through the prism of the establishment of a new
political nation of Ukrainians;
• factors in the establishment of a new Ukrainian political nation
through the prism of Russia’s open military attack on Ukraine;
• practical recommendations for assessing the state of military
aggression of Russia against Ukraine on the life of Ukrainians and
their desire to preserve Ukrainian identity.
The totality of the study of these objects revealed the content of the
problems of forming the legal consciousness of Ukrainians and preserving
their identity in the context of an open Russian conict in Ukraine.
The main materials being the basis for the research were the norms of
national legislation in the eld of defence, the introduction of martial law,
and the commission of national resistance, and the norms of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human
Rights. These were also the practice of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,
territorial defence and volunteer units, as well as studies on the problems
of preserving the identity of the Ukrainian nation in the context of Russia’s
military aggression against Ukraine.
They also included the survey results of the Razumkov Centre as part
of the MATRA Programme funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of
the Netherlands in Ukraine and the Institute of Sociology of the National
Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The practice of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe on the assessment of war crimes committed by the
Russian Federation against the Ukrainian nation was also used.
3. Results
Russia’s encroachment on the territory of Ukraine and Russia’s failure
to recognize the legal sovereignty of Ukraine led to a massive violation
of the rights of Ukrainians to preserve their lives. The lawlessness and
arbitrariness of the Russian occupiers contributed to the formation of the
legal consciousness of Ukrainians to put up national resistance in order to
preserve their nation. The total resistance of Ukrainians against Russian
military aggression proves the willingness of Ukrainian citizens to ght and
win for the sake of preserving an identical Ukrainian nation.
The willingness to ght and win is evidenced by a certain political
agreement of the population with the demands of the state power as socially
legitimate, regardless of their relationship to the Ukrainian political power
and the assessment of its eectiveness. Democracy manifests itself in the
364
Mykola Stadnyk, Vasyl Chernets, Olga Marukhovska-Kartunova, Svitlana Kolybabiuk y Stepan Svorak
The impact of Russian military aggression on the establishment of a new Ukrainian political nation
conscious will of the public to full the established requirements of the
state authorities without excessive use of coercive means. So, after the
declaration of martial law in Ukraine after Russia’s military invasion of
Ukraine, Ukrainians with combat experience began to actively enrol in the
Armed Forces of Ukraine (Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 64/2022,
2022).
Ukrainians immediately began to create volunteer units, carry out
volunteer activities aimed at helping the military and refugees, and also
actively participate in the territorial defence (Law of Ukraine No. 1702-IX,
1991).
The territorial defence is a conscious desire of Ukrainians, mostly
without combat experience, to participate in the defence of the country by
fullling the constitutional duty to protect Ukraine, its independence, and
territorial integrity.
The massive territorial defence units indicate the desire of Ukrainians
to put up national resistance to the Russian occupiers. Therefore, the total
national resistance of Ukrainians to Russia’s military aggression against
Ukraine proves to the formation of new values in Ukrainians. They began
to value more their state, the territory on which their families live, and
identify themselves more as a new Ukrainian political nation.
Ukrainians were massively subjected to violations of their rights related
to their identity during the last nine years of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Ukrainian national identity consists a number of interconnected and
interdependent components (Figure 1). A particular component is dominant
for each region of Ukraine, which characterizes the dierences of individual
regions among dierent ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups. However,
regardless of the conict between dierent communities of Ukrainians due
to linguistic, religious or political issues, the military aggression of Ukraine
united them for the sake of their self-preservation as a single Ukrainian
nation.
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 41 Nº 78 (2023): 357-373
Figure 1. The structure of the identity of Ukrainian nation.
Source: author’s own development.
The desire to survive and preserve the united Ukrainian nation proves
the colossal trust of Ukrainians in state power and the strength of the
military. Ukrainians became more optimistic During Russia’s open military
aggression against Ukraine and felt the value of the state and the importance
of the authorities, which were traditionally treated with distrust (Table 1).
The absolute majority of Ukrainians hope for the end of the war and the
complete liberation of the territory of Ukraine, including the occupied
territory of Crimea, in the coming year, or even sooner.
Table 1. Public opinion about Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.
The opinion of the Ukrainian nation 2023 2022
Faith in the victory of Ukraine
Yes 93% 93%
No 4% 3%
Dicult to answer 3% 4%
The period in which the military conict will end
Current year 32% 50%
1-2 years 34% 26%
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Mykola Stadnyk, Vasyl Chernets, Olga Marukhovska-Kartunova, Svitlana Kolybabiuk y Stepan Svorak
The impact of Russian military aggression on the establishment of a new Ukrainian political nation
3-5 years 7% 7%
More than 5 years 4% 2%
Dicult to answer 23% 15%
Resistance to Russian aggression in Ukraine is put up in the right or wrong direction
In the right direction 61% 59%
In the wrong direction 21% 24%
Dicult to answer 18% 17%
Will Ukraine be able to overcome the diculties associated with the military conict
Will be able to overcome in the near future 50% 50%
Will be able to overcome, but at an indenite time 36% 37%
Will not be able 3% 5%
Dicult to answer 11% 8%
Source: author’s own development based on Institute of Sociology, National Academy of
Sciences of Ukraine (2023), Razumkov Center (2023).
In general, the level of optimism in Ukraine’s free and independent future
is improving. More than three-quarters of Ukrainians believe in this, whereas
in the pre-war period, only every tenth citizen of Ukraine was an optimist.
The majority of Ukrainians are convinced that the Ukrainian authorities are
doing a very good job of solving problems in the eld of defence (Table 2).
Ukrainians take an active part in the life of the state by committing national
resistance to Russian military aggression.
They express a high level of trust in the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine,
military personnel, and defence ocials. They testify to a high level of mistrust
of state ocials. Such dissatisfaction with the work of politicians and civil
servants indicates their ineciency in ensuring the proper functioning of all
state authorities during martial law.
Table 2. Level of public trust in government ocials of Ukraine
Social institutions
2023 2022 2021
Trust
Do not
trust
Trust
Do not
trust
Trust
Do not
trust
Armed Forces of Ukraine 95% 5% 94% 6% 68% 32%
Volunteer organizations 88% 12% 85% 15% 54% 45%
Volunteer units 88% 12% 81% 11% 54% 45%
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 41 Nº 78 (2023): 357-373
National Guard of Ukraine 86% 14% 88% 12% 54% 45%
State Emergency Service of
Ukraine
86% 14% 88% 12% 62% 38%
President of Ukraine 83% 17% 80% 20% 36% 64%
State Border Service of Ukraine 83% 17% 84% 16% 55% 45%
Security Service of Ukraine 75% 25% 60% 40% 36% 64%
National Police of Ukraine 72% 28% 65% 35% 39% 61%
Religious organizations 70% 30% 62% 38% 64% 36%
NGOs 66% 34% 65% 35% 47% 53%
Local government 63% 37% 64% 36% 58% 42%
National Bank of Ukraine 57% 43% 35% 65% 30% 70%
Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine 50% 50% 40% 60% 22% 78%
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine 41% 59% 35% 65% 19% 81%
State ocials 26% 74% 20% 80% 15% 85%
Courts 25% 75% 19% 81% 16% 84%
Politicians 22% 78% 15% 85% 16% 84%
Source: author’s own development based on Institute of Sociology, National Academy of
Sciences of Ukraine (2023), Razumkov Center (2023).
The high level of trust of Ukrainians in the President of Ukraine and
the Armed Forces of Ukraine indicates the legal awareness and assessment
of mass war crimes committed by Russia against the civilian population.
Ireland, Estonia, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic
recognized the genocide of the Ukrainian nation committed by the Russian
military.
The Parliament of Ukraine recognized the mass war crimes committed
by the Russian occupiers against Ukrainians as genocide of the Ukrainian
nation (Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine No. 2188-IX, 2022).
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized the
genocide of Ukrainians because of the deportation and forcible transfer of
Ukrainian children to the territory of the Russian Federation.
The desire of Ukrainians to preserve their own nation and win the
Russian-Ukrainian war indicates the desire of Ukrainians to ght lawlessness
and arbitrariness by recognizing their right to life. The recognition of the
right of Ukrainians to their nation will testify to the restoration of Ukraine
as a legal state that complies with the guarantees of international human
rights standards established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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Mykola Stadnyk, Vasyl Chernets, Olga Marukhovska-Kartunova, Svitlana Kolybabiuk y Stepan Svorak
The impact of Russian military aggression on the establishment of a new Ukrainian political nation
(United Nations, 1948) and the European Convention on Human Rights
(European Commission of Human Rights, 1950). Therefore, Ukrainians
deliberately try to restore their equality of rights and freedoms as citizens
of Ukraine by committing national resistance to the Russian occupation.
4. Discussion
Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine contributed to the
unication of Ukrainian citizens for the purpose of their self-preservation.
Russia’s non-recognition of Ukraine’s legal sovereignty forces Ukrainians
to defend their nation and state. Russia’s aggression directed at the
destruction of Ukrainian nationality forced the residents of Ukraine to
actively ght against lawlessness and defend their own rights to life and
freedom of choice.
Russia’s aggression directed at the destruction of Ukrainian nationality
forced the residents of Ukraine to actively ght against lawlessness and
defend their rights to life and freedom of choice.
Flockhart and Korosteleva (2022) noted that Russia’s military
aggression changed the view on the value of life and self-existence not
only among Ukrainians, but also among Europeans. Hunter (2018)
supports this position, claiming that Russia’s military aggression against
Ukraine activated Ukrainians to participate in the country’s political life by
establishing volunteer battalions.
Ukrainians have repeatedly participated in military operations
consciously and actively under such conditions (Donbas, 2014 and Ukraine
as a whole from 2022 to the present) or actively involved in volunteering
and aid to the military at the front. Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine
contributed to the strengthening of the Ukrainian nation and the shaping
the opinion of Ukrainians regarding their identity as citizens of Ukraine
(Haran et al., 2019; Dzutsati, 2021).
Moreover, nine years of occupation of the citizens of Donbas indicates
the desire of these Ukrainians for compromises on the part of the Ukrainian
authorities to settle the issue of the military conict. Pakhomenko et al.
(2018) and Kamyanets (2022) noted that the military aggression of Russia
with the partial occupation of the territory of Ukraine feeds a persistent
desire of Ukrainians in the occupied territories to preserve their national
identity as citizens of Ukraine (Yunin et al., 2022).
But despite the incessant military conict, a new Ukrainian political
nation is being established in parallel in dierent parts of the population of
Ukraine in particular: those who live in territories not occupied by Russia;
those who live in the territories occupied by Russia; those who live in self-
369
CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 41 Nº 78 (2023): 357-373
proclaimed republics; internally displaced persons; those who accepted the
integration of Russia (Sasse and Lackner, 2018; D’Anieri, 2022).
According to Harris (2020), the Russian-Ukrainian crisis is not an ethnic
conict, but nationalism in it contributed to the instigation of this conict,
and remains an actual obstacle to its resolution. Kuzio (2022) and Knott
(2022) claim that existential nationalism motivates Russia to continue the
war at any cost, and Ukraine — to ght with everything it has. According to
Mälksoo (2022) Russian imperialism contributed to building Ukrainians’
awareness of their self-preservation by defending their rights to exist as an
independent nation.
Internal divisions in Ukraine related to national belonging and linguistic
issues are actively used by Russia in the war with Ukraine. However, all
these problems also have a positive element, they have a signicant impact
on the establishment of a new political nation in Ukraine (Bureiko and
Moga, 2019). At the same time, Akaliyski and Reeskens (2023) and Bosse
(2022) believe that Ukraine is a branched state, but its regional dierences
within the state are quite minimal.
The doctrinal analysis of the outlined issues of the analysis of Russia’s
military aggression against Ukraine with a view to the establishment of a
new Ukrainian nation revealed that researchers consider it appropriate
to further study the military conict, which in general adjusts the content
and directions of development of observance of the rights and freedoms of
Ukrainian citizens.
Conclusion
The Ukrainian political nation established as a result of Russian military
aggression in Ukraine is a sovereign community of citizens who have the
political subjectivity to put up national resistance to the occupiers. In other
words, it is a collection of politically united residents of Ukraine, who pursue
collective national interests through the mechanism of their own political
organization — the state. Most members of the political community are
characterized by patriotism and responsibility for the fate of the country.
Therefore, citizens of Ukraine massively joined the Armed Forces of
Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine to full their constitutional
duty to protect Ukraine, its independence, and territorial integrity.
So, the total national resistance of Ukrainians to Russia’s military
aggression against Ukraine testies to the formation of new values in
Ukrainians. They began to value more their own state, the territory on
which their families live, and identify themselves more as a new Ukrainian
political nation.
370
Mykola Stadnyk, Vasyl Chernets, Olga Marukhovska-Kartunova, Svitlana Kolybabiuk y Stepan Svorak
The impact of Russian military aggression on the establishment of a new Ukrainian political nation
The prospects for further research are the development of practical
recommendations for improving the observance of rights and freedoms in
Ukraine through world recognition of the Ukrainian nation and Ukraine as
a legal state. Therefore, we see a further perspective in the empirical study,
theoretical and methodological substantiation of eective mechanisms
for compliance with international standards for the observance of human
rights and freedoms and an eective system of measures of responsibility
for violations of these rights and freedoms.
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