ABSTRACT
This introduction frames Russia’s war against Ukraine within an axiological perspective that interweaves security studies, political philosophy, sociology, and the ethics of war. It demonstrates that the conflict cannot be understood without analysing the values that shape strategic choices, collective identity, moral justification, and international responses. The volume interprets the war as a multilayered struggle over meanings, norms, and forms of social existence, extending from questions of state resilience and political leadership to disinformation, gendered agency, religious narratives, and transnational memory. By approaching Ukraine’s defence as a value-laden endeavour, the book shows how values are contested, embodied, and reconfigured in wartime practices, influencing both societal mobilisation and global normative debates. It argues that axiology is not an adjunct to the study of war but an essential interpretive core, offering insight into why Ukrainian society sustains resistance and how contemporary armed conflicts reshape moral and political orders.
