Online battles of spectacles over monuments: Reversed perspectives on pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian Telegram channels

The period since the full-scale Russian invasion is marked by the Russia-Ukraine conflict over interpreting historical periods/events/figures, which translated into wars over monuments in physical space and digital monument wars on media. Drawing on the analysis of 2708 posts reporting on monuments (24 February 2022–24 February 2023) and conceptualizing memory conflicts as online battles of spectacles, the article seeks to investigate digital representations of wars over monuments and mechanisms – multimodal, discursive and social media related – of online monument battles between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian Telegram channels. This article contributes to our understanding of how memory conflicts are waged online, and how they are incorporated in a broader international conflict. The study shows how memory contestations involving the same physical spectacles distinguished by regional patterns are used to construct reversed visions of past, current events and identity from a certain perspective on social media – pro-Ukrainian or pro-Russian – to undermine opponent’s position.