Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine. National Belonging in the Light of the Ongoing Donbas Conflict

Considering Ukraine’s relationship with Russia, this study demonstrates the complexities and costs of Ukrainian nation building and its effects on Ukrainian national belonging, amid the country’s recent challenges of war and displacement: from Russia's annexation of Crimea and the armed secessionist conflict in the Donbas in 2014 to Russia's war against Ukraine since 2022. Ukraine’s identity is strongly based on its language, pro-democratic and pro-European attitudes, and its emancipation from Russia. Based on narrative biographical interviews with internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Donbas region, Kristina Schäfer analyses how their national belonging is constituted and how it has changed since the conflict. This book is an invaluable resource for social scientists, as well as for readers seeking a broad overview of national belonging and identity in Ukraine.