‘Our Folk Who Have (Not) Become Foreign...’: Political Loyalties in the Donbas During the War of 2014‒2024 (In Light of Oral History Sources)

The military conflict that started in the Donbas in 2014, which, in 2022, turned into a full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war, has created a specific way in which it is remembered. This article is based on more than sixty interviews with residents of the Donbas and other regions of Ukraine who fled the country in the period between 2014 and 2024. It addresses the distinctive way in which the events of 2014–2024 affected the formation and evolution of political loyalties; characterises the key factors that have influenced the circumstances of the refugees; analyses the specifics of adaptation in a new place and the practicalities of interaction with the environment; and identifies key socio-political challenges that the region may face after the war.

The gathered recollections paint a complex picture of the political positioning of the Donbas populace in the context of the 2014–2024 war. Worldview attitudes formed over the years, propaganda influences from opposing sides, as well as the direct military experience of the region’s residents were crucial to the formation of different models of political loyalties. It is noteworthy that the decision to flee or to stay in the Donbas was determined by several factors, such as the physical security situation, family circumstances, opportunities for adaptation in a new place, the ability to find new accommodation and a job, fear of discrimination, political and ideological preferences, etc. Situations in which some refugees were forced to return home, to the combat zone, demonstrate a set of problems related to the lack of a consistent state policy towards this category of the population. It is emphasised that a fully representative depiction of the formation and evolution of the system of political loyalties requires that, in the future, the experiences of people who have left for Russia or Belarus and those who continue to live in the occupied territory should also be taken into account.