The Russo-Ukraine War: A Discursive Introduction

This chapter provides a general and broad-based background to the Russo-Ukrainian war and sets the scene for a critical thematic discussion focusing on the problematisation of the political positions taken by the warring parties. A comparison between the aims and objectives is drawn, and the incompatibility is explained. The discussion centres around two main topics. One is the persistent threat that both parties pose to each other, thus preventing meaningful peace, and the second point is the unresolved disagreement over the territories in Ukraine, which Russia is claiming as its own. Subsequently, this chapter identifies two main schools of thought concerning how to end the war, noting the impossibility of fulfilling the claims of both sides in a way that ensures peace negotiations. Thus, it is argued that the Russo-Ukraine war could evolve into an annihilating year-long conflict, yet producing little, if any, meaningful or mutually acceptable peace outcomes. The discussion that follows addresses the failures of diplomacy and identifies the emerging and ongoing discourses that contextualise the political, economic, and other issues. In conclusion, the chapter provides an analysis of the competing views on what it means to win the war and the fallacy of ‘squaring the circle’.