SEA AS A STATE BUILDING FACTOR OF UKRAINE IN THE WORKS OF THE LEADERS OF THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT AT THE END OF THE 19TH – FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY

One of the key issues of the struggle for creation and preservation of the Ukrainian state has always been and remains the issue of consolidating and strengthening the Ukrainian presence on the Black Sea. One of the problems of modern Ukraine, which appeared in the early 90s of the 20th century, was insufficient awareness of the role of the sea as a factor in state building. At the same time, Ukrainian political thought, presented in writings of persons of the Ukrainian national movement of the end of the 19th – the first half of the 20th century, attached considerable importance to the maritime component of Ukrainian statehood. M. Dragomanov, D. Doroshenko, L. Tsegelskyi, M. Hrushevskyi, D. Dontsov, S. Rudnytskyi, L. Bykovsky, Yu. Lypa saw Ukraine precisely as a maritime state. The article analyzes their views on the sea as a historical and political factor, ideas about the role and influence of the sea on the history, politics and economy of Ukraine. The article shows that Ukrainian political thought considered the maritime component through the prism of historical experience, which was reflected in the assessments of M. Hrushevskyi, M. Dragomanov and D. Doroshenko of the sea campaigns of the Zaporizhian Cossacks, the policy of Hetman I. Mazepa, as well as the difference between the maritime tradition of Rus’-Ukraine and Moscvia-Russia of L. Tsegelskyi.!It was found that the idea of the sea as a historical and political factor was developed in the journalism of D. Dontsov, the works of S. Rudnytskyi and the well-known "Black Sea doctrine" of Yu. Lypa. It is proved that the ideas of the Ukrainian national movement persons of the end of the 19th – the first half of the 20th century are the basis for the modern maritime doctrine of Ukraine, which was born during the Russian-Ukrainian war.