NATIONAL SELF-IDENTIFICATION OF UKRAINIANS ON THE LINE OF FIRE AND ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FRONT LINE (on the material of modern fiction about armed hostilities in eastern Ukraine)

Hybrid warfare is a modern kind of civil war, but there is always a cynical puppeteer behind the scenes. At the same time, the war in the East made its own adjustments in the minds of Ukrainian citizens. Based on modern Ukrainian fiction about military events in Ukraine, in particular the short novel In the Gray Zone by Y. Strutsiuk, novels Wild Field by L. Kapeliushnyi and Mariupol Trial by H. Vdovychenko, the novel in short stories Muska by H.  Arsenych - Baran, Max Kindruk’s popular scientific study Non-Fraternal as well as B. Zholdak’s movie-essay UKRY, we analyzed the features of the formation of national consciousness and national self-identification of the main characters and prominent minor characters. Through the prism of markers of self-identification of Ukrainians on the line of fire and on both sides of the front line (both among the civilian population and among the military), it is determined that Ukrainian-centric interests are becoming increasingly dominant among some Ukrainian young people who found themselves in the ranks of separatists. Thus, H. Vdovychenko’s novel Mariupol Trial depicts Olga, a Ukrainian from the Donbass, and Roman from Galicia, who very quickly become convinced that they have more similarities rather than differences, and even more - hostilities; the barriers between potential enemies disappear because of love. The problem and thematic aspect of modern Ukrainian anti-military fiction is revealed with the help of methodological research tools, namely the hermeneutic, descriptive, comparative and typological, systemic and functional methods. The novel Wild Field by Leonid Kapeliushnyi reveals that the image of Pavlo Horlach is neoromantic, as the work itself is written in the style of modernism, as well as metamodernism. However, the young man is sometimes very trusting, and the older generation has a more balanced opinion in the same work. For example, uncle Serhii quite rightly says that after the end of the Second World War, almost all of Europe was recovering from fascism with great pain, because it was under the influence of Hitler’s propaganda. From the adventures of Pavlo Horlach in the occupied territories, it becomes clear to readers that the formation of young people, namely ATO participants and their peers on the opposite side of the barricades, is influenced by many factors, among which the most significant is the age limit. According to these materials, modern Ukrainian fiction about the war in the East is dominated by ideas about the inhumanity and illogicality of war, so it was important to reveal the passionarity and implementation of the idea of statehood in the current challenges of our independence and unity.