What Could the Ukrainian People Be Afraid to Lose in the Growing Threat of Military Aggression? War Expectations in the Context of Ukraine-Russia Relations

Drawn upon the World Values Survey (WVS) data, I examine Ukrainians’ expectations of war with another country in 2011 and 2020. I argue that after the war in the East of Ukraine started in 2014, there was a change in the key factors defining the people’s worries about war. I demonstrate that Ukrainians closely link the current war expectations to the issues of liberal democracy and civic nationhood defined as a political identity built around shared citizenship within the state.