Heroism as a Manifestation of the National and Patriotic Education of Ukrainian Soldiers: From the Past to the Present

Relevance of the research. In the history of every nation, there are periods that present fateful tasks on which its future depends. The armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which began in February 2014, became such a period for our state and our people. It began with the annexation of Crimea, the military invasion of the Ukrainian Donbas in March-April of the same year, and after that, on February 24, 2022, a full-scale war was unleashed aiming to eliminate Ukrainian statehood and destroy Ukrainians as a separate ethnic group. The war in Ukraine led to great human losses, destruction of a large amount of material resources, ecological disaster, and mass emigration abroad, which is, according to various estimates, more than 6 million Ukrainians, primarily women and children. Today Ukrainian defenders are at the forefront of the fight against Putin's imperial-chauvinistic Russia, defending the freedom and independence of our country on land, in the air, and at sea. The purpose of the article is the coverage and analysis of one of the constituent manifestations of the heroic deeds of our defenders on the battlefield, and often in everyday life - the influence of national-patriotic education on their behavior and the motivation of their actions. Conclusions. The article highlights the heroism of Ukrainian soldiers from the time of the Ukrainian National Democratic Revolution of 1917-1921 to the current Russian-Ukrainian war, which began in February-March 2014 with the annexation of Crimea, the armed invasion of the Rashists in the Ukrainian Donbas, and the new phase of the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation caused by the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into the territory of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. It is noted that after the restoration of state independence of Ukraine in 1991, the issue of the creation of a system of national-patriotic education of Ukrainian soldiers arose in order to form a humanistic worldview in them, to understand the laws of the historical process of the formation of an independent Ukrainian state, and to strengthen the feeling of love for Ukraine, its people, culture, spiritual and psychological readiness to defend freedom and independence of the homeland with weapons. The concepts of "hero" and "heroism" are analyzed and it is noted that humanity honors and respects heroes, because their actions embody the desire to defeat evil, and they act as bearers of good, justice and other positive values. It was ascertained that different periods of the history of the Ukrainian people and their struggle for their freedom and independence formed national heroes who acted under the influence of historical, regional, cultural and other features. It was emphasized that the feats of our heroes during today's national liberation war against the Russian invaders should be properly honored, and those who gave their lives for the freedom and independence of the Motherland should be properly immortalized. This will meet not only the tasks of state policy, but also public demand.