Ukraine’s resistance against Russia’s unprovoked war came as a surprise for many international commentators in the wake of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. In Ukraine, though, most people were surprised not by their own reaction against the aggression but by the reactions of those commentators who did not believe in Ukrainians’ readiness to fight back. As Olesya Khromeychuk writes, In 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine offered the world a new narrative about itself: it was no longer perceived as a nation of leather-jacketed rifraf from the edge of Europe, ruled by dodgy oligarchs with large wallets and poor taste. It was a new incarnation of brave David unafraid of monstrous Goliath. The narrative caught on – because who doesn’t like agood remake of an old story? For the first couple of months after the fullscale invasion, Ukrainians gathered all their resources to survive and endure. These months were decisive for both the survival of Ukraineas a sovereign state and the people’s perception of themselves. As Poberezhna, Burlyuk and van Heelsum argue, for the first three months of the full-scale war, Ukrainian society produced a whole range of political myths of a superheroarmy, courageous Ukrainian people anda sacred enchanted land. As scholars argue, these political myths without doubt contributed to strengthening the ontological securityof Ukrainians. In this way, actions gave rise tonew self-perceptions and self-perceptions, in their turn, strengthened and perpetuated the actions (of resistance). By believing in their courage and in a just fight, Ukrainian society demonstrated even more courage and diligence.

The book argues that religion is a system of significant meanings that have an impact on other systems and spheres of social life, including cultural memory.

The editors call for a postsecular turn in memory studies which would provide a more reflective and meaningful approach to the constant interplay between the religious and the secular. This opens up new perspectives on the intersection of memory and religion and helps memory scholars become more aware of the religious roots of the language they are using in their studies of memory. By drawing on examples from different parts of the world, the contributors to this volume explain how the interactions between the religious and the secular produce new memory forms and content in the heterogenous societies of the present-day world. These analyzed cases demonstrate that religion has a significant impact on cultural memory, family memory and the contemporary politics of history in secularized societies. At the same time, politics, grassroots movements and different secular agents and processes have so much influence on the formation of memory by religious actors that even religious, ecclesiastic and confessional memories are affected by the secular.

In the essay, the author shares her reflections on the Russian fullfledged invasion of Ukraine from the position of a scholar who for many years has been working and living outside Ukraine. The essay presents the reactions of non-Ukrainian scholars and students to the war. The author questions the knowledge produced under the influences of quasi-colonial stereotypes, which is revealed through the discourses of dialogue and reconciliation that lack a deeper understanding of the Ukrainian context. The article also approaches the issue of the resilience of Ukrainian society that despite the hardships of war continues not only to fight but also to dream and work for its presence and future.