Images of World War II during the Russian-Ukrainian War: Methodological Approaches and Reflections of Ukrainian Educators and Scientists

Abstract

The article examines the impact of the ongoing Russian–Ukrainian war on the reinterpretation of the image of the Second World War in Ukrainian and, to some extent, Western historical discourse. The Russian–Ukrainian war has caused profound shifts in the spheres of historical memory, history education, and scholarly research, completing the transition from (post-)Soviet interpretations to an explicitly Ukrainian vision of the past.
The purpose of this article is to highlight the influence of the current Russian–Ukrainian war on the transformation of the image of the Second World War in contemporary discourse, particularly in terms of changes in methodological approaches and educational and academic reflections.
It is shown that Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 has intensified the processes of decolonization, derussification, and revision of traditional historical narratives.

 The article emphasises that the Russian–Ukrainian war has stimulated the emergence of new methodological frameworks and strengthened decolonial tendencies within Ukrainian historical discourse.
Several examples illustrate the response of Ukrainian academic, educational, and civil institutions to these new challenges. In 2022, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine updated the national history curriculum, defining the USSR as an imperial-type state and introducing new approaches to the comparative study of totalitarian regimes. The Institute of History of Ukraine has also published a series of works aimed at reinterpreting the past under the current war's conditions. The author concludes that the very fact of Russia's attack on Ukraine, as well as Russia's use of history as a weapon against Ukraine, led to the intensification of the processes of decolonization and de-Russification of Ukrainian historical discourse, which in many respects concerns the history of World War II.