INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE “WAR FOR UKRAINE: XX-XXI CENTURIES.”

On May 5, 2023, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War hosted the International Scientific and Practical Conference “War for Ukraine: 20th-21st Centuries.”

Head of the Department of Political Culture and Ideology, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Yuriy Nikolaiets participated in the work of the conference and gave a speech “Concept of hybrid war: myths and reality”. In his report, the scientist singled out signs and ideas about the ways of waging hybrid war, and also analyzed the main approaches to its definition. Based on the fact that hybrid war can be considered a type of conflict escalation that combines the use of state and non-state, traditional and non-traditional strategies, resources, means, methods of subversive activity, mechanisms of cyber warfare with the aim of achieving certain political goals, the speaker questioned the statement that hybrid war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine began in 2014.

It was emphasized that confrontations in the information space, economic, trade and other wars are one of the means of waging a hybrid war, he expressed his belief that Russia has started a hybrid war against Ukraine since at least 2004. The speaker emphasized that the hybrid war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine can be completed only after the collapse of the Russian Federation, since even a peace agreement, which will provide for the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, will not mean that Russia will abandon the continuation of the hybrid war using means of economic, diplomatic pressure and war in the information space. According to Y. Nikolaiets, Russia will not give up supporting separatist movements and terrorist activities on the territory of Ukraine.

Yuriy Nikolaiets is speaking

Determining the specifics of the confrontation in the information space, the speaker singled out the following features: asymmetric dissemination of information and flexible response to the results of public opinion polls; information confrontation does not serve physical confrontation; disinformation streams of the aggressor country are aimed not only at the enemy audience, but also at consumers inside the country; social media have gained the opportunity to shape and change the discourse related to the deployment of hostilities; centralized models of communication in conditions of accelerated development of the information society give way to social networks focused on the individualization of content; internet communication and streaming services have eliminated certain restrictions in the provision of information, inherent in classical mass media, which received a license from the state; increasing the influence of influencers.

Among the possible means of counteracting the implementation of hostile information and psychological operations (IPsO), Yu. O. Nikolaiets singled out the following: verification of information and expert assessments; coordination of efforts of civil society and the state in the matter of identifying enemy IPsO; intensification of efforts aimed at counteracting hostile agents of influence; formation of balanced historical policy; the use of software capable of detecting signs of hostile IPsO and providing analysis of information dissemination algorithms; involvement of specialists in information policy in the staff of state administration bodies and local self-governments.