Separatists, rebels and Ukrainians, who’s who in the Eastern Ukrainian conflict

This case study focuses on one of the most dramatic moments of the war in Eastern Ukraine, that is the ceasefire deal reached in February 2015. During that time, Ukrainian identity claims became evident and mass media reported about it across all Europe. Using a corpus-based approach (Baker et al, 2008; Baker and McEnery, 2015), I will focus on the labelling and framing of the Ukrainian conflict, which is a focal point for understanding Russia’s alleged involvement in the war. Indeed, Russian involvement in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine was justified by Russian media in terms of a shared Russian-Ukrainian identity undermined by pro-European movements and pressures from the West (Makarychev, 2014). This case study analyses reportages about the Ukrainian war in three news providers in Italian and English (Rai, BBC, and Euronews), trying to decipher the stance and angle of each and to observe the recurring narratives in the representation of this conflict and its (national) identities employed by the three newscasters involved in this study. Observing the way the conflict has been reported by Western media is key in letting us (audiences) understand, visualize, and feel what has been going on at Europe’s doorstep.