THE CONCEPT OF «EUROPE» AND UKRAINE ON HIS MENTAL MAPS

The current development of international relations in the XXI century cannot be seen without such an important official as the European Union, whose independence flows into the important mental cordons of Europe, and into the mental center. In the works of domestic and foreign researchers, no doubt that Ukraine belongs to Europe since the time of antiquity. More difficult to determine its place on the mental mapping of the European space. The purpose of the article is to analyze the historiographical discourse of the second half of the XX - beginning of the XXI centuries regarding the definition of becoming and changes of the boundaries of the components of the concept of «Europe» and the place of Ukraine in it.Methods and techniques of research. In research was used the system-historical method, which made possible to analyze the emergence and formation of hypotheses regarding the place of Ukraine on the mental maps of Europe in chronological order. Historical regionalism as a «spatial» research paradigm became an important tool for the influence of civilizational and cultural processes on the identification of Ukraine with a certain region of the concept of «Europe».Result. In analysis of scientific developments proves that in the second half of the XX - at the beginning of the second decade of the XXI century Ukraine was mostly classified as Eastern or Central-Eastern/Central Europe. The new identity of Ukraine more and more identifying itself with the European Union, requires specialists in international relations to develop a new space in which it is located. The term «Eastern Europe» discredited itself by belonging to «Asian». The severance of Ukraine’s ties with the CIS in 2018-2022, Belarus’ support of Russia in an aggressive war proves that even the «new Eastern Europe» construct, which includes Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus, cannot withstand criticism. Ukraine and Moldova receiving the status of a candidate country for EU membership in 2022 makes it possible to separate these two countries into the «new Central-Eastern Europe» region. This proves not only the influence of Central Europe on this historical construct, but also the Turkic factor on their history. The pace of Ukraine’s movement towards the European Union will depend on the perception of Ukraine as a certain region in the geospace of the «Europe» concept.