The role of Ukrainian students as civic ambassadors during the war

The article examines the civic activism of Ukrainian students during the war, placing it within the broader scholarly debate on the importance of civic diplomacy in strategic communication. Since citizen diplomacy is a form of public diplomacy, which in turn is a component of strategic communication, studying the behaviour of citizen ambassadors is important for developing and articulating a broader context for strategic communication. Particular attention is paid to the influence of sociodemographic factors on the forms and intensity of students’ socio-political participation. The study results indicate that students, as civic ambassadors, manifest themselves through different communication acts - involvement in protests, creating media content on socially significant topics, signing petitions, and information campaigns against disinformation. An original survey questionnaire was developed for this study, consisting of 18 closed questions, including four on socio-demographic information. Statistical calculations used were as follows: Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Walli’s test, Spearman rank order correlation, and PROFIT analysis. The results indicate the importance of integrating civic education into university curricula and emphasise the role of students in shaping Ukraine’s image and supporting diplomatic efforts in times of crisis. The civic engagement of Ukrainian university students is largely dependent on sociodemographic factors.