The Formation and Role of Commemorative Practices during the Russian-Ukrainian War

The article attempts to highlight the content of commemorative practices in Ukraine and Russia in the context of the current war. The full-scale invasion of Russia on February 24, 2022, gave a strong impetus to qualitative and quantitative changes in both Ukrainian and Russian socio-cultural environments. In the context of the existential confrontation between both countries, commemorative practices have become key in the struggle of identities.Ukrainian commemorative practices are developing as a countercultural element in relation to Russia. And accordingly, they are aimed at promoting national unity and resistance to Russian aggression. The socio-cultural space is changing through decommunization, de-Sovietization, and de-imperialization. The issue of the place of the Soviet heritage in the Ukrainian socio-cultural space is particularly controversial. The above processes cannot be based solely on emotional grounds, but are part of a system. “Sovietness” does not disappear after renaming streets, demolishing monuments, and dismantling the attributes of communist rule. What is needed is the decommunization of consciousness.The Russian commemorative environment is based primarily on the glorification of the army, the popularization of the cult of death, and the rewriting of history. This list is primarily aimed at preserving the Soviet-imperial identity and restoring the markers of the empire in their state and on the territories they managed to occupy. At the same time, there are attempts to destroy Ukrainian identity and statehood as obstacles to the restoration of the empire.In the end, we can say that commemorative practices in the current military conflict have added a new cultural dimension. In general, the topic of the formation and role of commemorative practices in the Russian-Ukrainian war is complex and has broad implications for modern society. This article and future studies of these practices will contribute to a deeper understanding of the impact of the war on the collective consciousness, identity formation, and the prospects for further cultural and social processes.