THE ROLE OF NARRATIVES AND MYTHS IN SHAPING POLITICAL DISCOURSE: EVOLUTIONS OF WAR STORIES IN ZELENSKYY’S DISCOURSE DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF THE 2022 RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Abstract

The leader's discourses are crucial in times of crisis. The war in Ukraine represents one such scenario: state representatives and political leaders were required to manage a communication process that provides information and builds trust among internal and
external audiences. As the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, communicated with greater frequency at the beginning of the war and focused on multiple myths, narratives, and themes, the goal of this research is to analyze the strategic use and evolution of narratives and myths in the public speeches of Ukrainian President during the first year of the war, as this period was the most crucial in terms of establishing the Ukraine position and gaining international recognition and help. Thus, the research aims to identify narrative patterns and mythical structures that align with key moments of the military conflict. We propose a mixed methodology for text analysis supported by computational linguistics software programs [KH Coder; Sketch Engine]. The results suggest that the Ukrainian President's speeches have changed in terms of narratives and themes, length, frequency, or target audience directly depending on the progress of the war; each speech (structure, themes, references) and the way it was constructed is strategically aligned with the military evolution of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.