The dissertation is dedicated to the comprehensive coverage of the newest Ukrainian historiographical discourse on the issues of combat operations of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army at the final stage of World War II, to clarifying the state, completeness, and main trends of the study of the issue. The relevance of the study is due to the need for a historiographic understanding of the Ukrainian historical science in order to build an objective vision in the national historical science, to determine its state and trends of further development.
The dissertation consists of three sections (8 subsections), in which the scientific-historical process of coverage of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army combat operations at the final stage of World War II is analyzed in the specified chronological framework: from the declaration of independence of the Ukrainian state in 1991 to the present day.
The introduction defines the relevance of the research, its purpose, tasks, the object and subject, the practical significance of the obtained results, chronological and territorial boundaries, and the personal contribution of the recipient. The scientific novelty of the dissertation is clearly defined: for the first time, modern national historiography analyzed a specific problem at dissertation level: combat operations of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army at the final stage of World War II; achievements of national historiography of the era of Independence are systematized and summarized, and the methodological approaches, concepts, scientific discourses, problem-thematic directions and results of the latest national research on the issues stated are clarified.
In the first section, the state of scientific development of the topic, the sources and the methodological principles of the research are clarified. It has been determined that the modern national historiography is characterized by diversity of themes, as well as comprehensiveness, complexity, versatility of views and tendencies of coverage of Ukrainian Insurgent Army combat operations at the final stage of World War II. It has been proven that modern scientific studies are characterized by a high level of critical thinking, objectivity, rationality, and impartiality of factual material, formulation of generalizations and conclusions.
A significant set of sources, accumulated in eight thematic groups, was involved in order to achieve the goal and tasks set for this study. It has been determined that the sources studied for this dissertation are completely reliable and representative, characterized by a high level of scientific and informational significance. The methodological apparatus is clearly defined, enabling the identification of the state, comprehensiveness, general regularities and leading trends of Ukrainian historiography of Independence era on the issues outlined in the study, as well as enabling obtaining logically grounded and reliable judgments and conclusions.
In the second section, the main stages and development directions of the latest national historiographical studies of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army activities during World War II are defined. The process of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army activities research within the Ukrainian scientific scope throughout the years of Independence has been described. Academic institutionalization of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army research, the development of research infrastructure, and the determination of priority tasks have been led by the Institute of History of Ukraine, the I. Krypiakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies, the M.S. Hrushevsky Institute of Ukrainian Archeography, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, and the Center for Research on the Liberation Movement. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the historian working group, created under the government commission to study the activities of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), in their efforts to further form scientifically balanced trends in the study of the UPA history. This study states that national scientific institutions, whose main tasks include UPA studies, contribute to the conceptual understanding and finding solutions to key issues aimed at both systematizing the activities of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in general and forming an objective vision of its role and place in the events of World War II in particular.
