The Sacral Dimension of the Russo-Ukrainian War and the Role of Christian Meanings in the Image of Ukraine

Introduction. In the conditions of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the struggle for Christian values, the protection of the historical sacred heritage is an important component of the information confrontation. The religion of Russian Orthodoxy, combined with the political doctrine of the Russian Federation, is used by Russia to justify aggression. The scientific and media community of Ukraine must deeply understand the essence of the Russian Federation’s policy and build a strategic defense of national Christian shrines and values.Relevance of the study. The study aims to reveal the manifestations of the «sacred war» as one of the key directions of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, to outline the current tasks of Ukraine’s state policy to protect Christian shrines, values and traditions, and to analyze the role of symbolic components of the state image in these processes. Methodology. The article reflects the results of applying the critical discourse analysis approach, which allows us to analyze the discursive practices of influencing public opinion during mediatization of political processes. The methods of analysis and systematization of research results, discursive and semiotic analysis of media materials are used. Results. The article identifies the main aspects of the phenomenon of Russia’s «sacred war» against Ukraine: the doctrine of the «Russian world», the instrumentalization of religion in Russia, the desire of the aggressor state to appropriate Ukrainian history and seize by force of arms Ukrainian Christian shrines. The author defines the tasks of Ukraine in protecting its shrines in the armed and information war. The key role of symbolic Christian components of the state’s image in protecting national history and culture has been defined. Conclusions. The protection and preservation of national Christian traditions, shrines and symbols as the core of Ukrainian spirituality and national culture is a primary task of state policy. An important role of media professionals at this historical stage is to highlight the importance of religious factors in Russia’s war against Ukraine in the armed and information confrontation.