Pidshybiakin S. Anti-terrorist operation in the East of Ukraine in the Ukrainian public discourse (2014–2018)

The dissertation analyzes the Ukrainian public discourse on the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in eastern Ukraine in 2014–2018. The study is conducted at the intersection of the study of modern Ukrainian history, the art of warfare in the latest conditions of hybridity, Russian-Ukrainian relations after 2014 against the background of global geopolitics and the theory of mass communications. The main idea of the work is to reproduce the plots related to the reflection of the preconditions and reasons of the ATO in some parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (pro-Russian speeches, proclamation of the so-called «DPR» and «LPR» and the project «Novorossiya»), the ATO in eastern Ukraine and attempts at diplomatic and legal settlement of the conflict in the Ukrainian public discourse of 2014–2018,, using for this purpose a wide range of sources – official documents and materials of state authorities and administration, interstate agreements of Ukraine with other states, materials of international thematic conferences and meetings held in the Normandy and Minsk formats, transcripts of meetings of the Ukrainian parliament, materials of sociological monitoring, memoirs , diary and journalistic notes, reports on anti-terrorist operation participants and volunteers, press, materials of Internet resources, special scientific literature, works of analytical centers. It is noted that the state of the research and its source base at the present stage are in the process of formation, periodic review of the work already done and the constant involvement of new positions of literature and sources.