PUBLIC DISCOURSE IN THE EUROPEAN NEIGHBOUR STATES OF UKRAINE CONCERNING THE RUSSIAN INVASION

Abstract

The war significantly affected Ukraine's, European and the world's political, 
security, economic, and social resilience and caused regular increases in information aimed at 
creating perceptions of a pseudo-escalation of the situation, strengthening panic ideas and national 
discontent. The public discourses in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, and Hungary 
are characterized by different views on the Russian invasion of Ukraine: discreet, mostly neutral 
discussions take place in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Romania; discussions involving all 
communication channels are observed in Poland; mainly destructive criticism promoted by users on 
social media is noted in Hungary. The paper examines the thematic lines of discussions and their 
sentiments with an emphasis on the negative attitudes; the context of formed narratives; the interests 
of authors who write on the researched subject; the platforms and countries where discussions take 
place and their focus. In general, two trends could be distinguished in the creation of negative 
narratives about the war against Ukraine: the first is aimed at creating ideas of public despair 
towards the possibilities of social protection, and the second trend focuses on drawing parallels 
between historical and actual events with the addition of false historical facts.