Contested Ukraine. Military patriotism, Russian Influence and Implications for European Security

Since 2014, the sovereignty of Ukraine has been openly contested by both Russia and various rebel forces, particularly in the region known as the Donbas.

In our project “Contested Ukraine”, we argue that this contestation is not merely military. Also, there is an ongoing battle for the hearts and minds of the population.

Both in the occupied regions and in remaining parts of Ukraine, individuals are rethinking their relation to the Ukrainian state, Russia and Europe. We believe Russia is employing a range of new and old tools to exploit the situation to its own benefit. Within the occupied region of Donbas, moreover, rebel leaders develop new ideas of “nationhood” to consolidate their own power. Furthermore, the contestation over identity brings about both security-related and political consequences for Europe.

In the project, we aim to:

1) study so-called “military patriotic clubs” in the occupied parts of the Donbas region and analyze their role in the conflict and relation to Russia;

2) determine how Russia works to reshape Ukrainian society and how Ukraine responds to this challenge; and

3) consider the possible consequences of this development for European security. What lessons can we learn from the conflict in Ukraine? The project participants will study the footprint of Russian actors on Ukrainian society within and outside the occupied regions.

We seek to better understand the possible “society-centric” strategies of Russia – how Russia relates to societies as wartime objectives and to what consequences. We will explore this Russian footprint on the local, regional, national and international level, looking for the common denominators. In this way, we seek to expand our knowledge beyond what we already know of Russian methods of influence. In part, our data will be collected through digital and physical fieldwork in Donbas and expert interviews in Ukraine.

The project is conducted in collaboration with four international institutional partners: The National Defence University of Ukraine (NDUU), University College London (UCL), Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), and the George Washington University (GW).