Wojna w Ukrainie. Konflikt zbrojny a losy ludzi

<jats:p>“War in Ukraine. Armed Conflict and the Fate of People” edited by Łukasz Buksa OFM and Rev. Dariusz Nawara (Unum Press, Kraków 2025), the monograph offers an interdisciplinary diagnosis of the full‑scale Russian aggression’s impact on Ukraine’s social, religious, axiological, political, and communicative life, linking deep historical continuities with the dynamics of hybrid war and the tools of societal resilience alongside ethical criteria for assessing violence. Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki’s opening address, “Solidarity in the Face of War – A Reflection on the Human Burden and the Pursuit of Peace,” frames the volume within the paradigm of solidarity as “bearing one another’s burdens” and prayer as a practice of hope and a source of peace. Liubov Derdziak (“Social Life in Ukraine During the War”) maps the war’s genesis across three horizons – the twentieth‑century legacies of violence and famine, the post‑2014 hybrid phase, and the invasion since 24 February 2022 – and traces grassroots self‑organization: territorial defense, volunteerism, “Points of Invincibility,” educational adaptation to air‑raid alerts and shelters, and intensified religious practices. Rev. Andrzej Zwoliński (“An Orthodox Attempt to Sacralize the War in Ukraine”) reconstructs the long arc of sacralizing violence – from ancient rites to modern imperialism – and analyzes the Russian Orthodox Church’s role, the “Third Rome” idea, and “holy war” language in legitimizing aggression. Małgorzata Królczyk (“The Moral Evaluation of War”) systematizes ius ad bellum, ius in bello, the shift from “just war” toward the “right of defense,” conditions of proportionality and protection of the innocent, and education for peace and patriotism. Andrzej Dudek (“The Political and Propagandistic Significance of the russkii mir”) follows the evolution from soft power to irredentism and the “state‑civilization” paradigm, highlighting the Church and propaganda apparatus in constructing rationales for invasion. Jadwiga Grunwald (“The Language of War Propaganda”) analyzes Polish‑language pro‑Kremlin narratives – instrumentalizing Volhynia, cultivating fear and “Ukrainization,” and depreciating Ukraine’s statehood – and the toolkit of meta‑operators, selective reporting, silence, labels, and role inversion. Łukasz Buksa OFM (“Smartphone in War”) shows the smartphone’s shift toward an information medium, real‑time reporting and “warfluencers,” Starlink’s role in connectivity, and symmetric risks of SIGINT, geolocation, and operational discipline. Taken together, the volume demonstrates that social capital, religious culture, critical communication, and the ethics of peace are coequal pillars of resilience against violence, disinformation, and the sacralization of war.</jats:p>