War and religion in Ukraine: editors’ introduction

Ukraine lies at a geographical and civilizational crossroads. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, has yielded acute consequences, particularly in the domain of religion. As a multi-confessional society with significant legislative and constitutional guarantees of religious freedom, Ukraine is a religiously pluralist society. Many of the religious institutions and groups active in Ukraine are embedded in transnational networks that provide humanitarian aid, social service provision, educational services, and public policy recommendations. These years of war have disrupted the religious landscape of Ukraine in innumerable ways. This introduction to the CSP special issue “War and Religion in Ukraine” analyzes how the intersection of war and religion has affected politics in the region more broadly and considers the range of potential roles different Ukrainian religious groups could play in building or straining social cohesion during the phase of active combat as well as how they could foster or impede reconciliation in the war’s aftermath.