Telegram in the Russo-Ukrainian war: language, discourse, and users’ engagement amid the conflict

This thesis investigates the role of Telegram as a political communication platform in Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War. While existing literature emphasises Telegram’s use in authoritarian contexts for protests coordination and censorship avoidance, less is known about its function in wartime environments, where non-state and state actors act simultaneously. The goal of this research is to examine how Telegram became a dominant information platform in Ukraine, how wartime influenced national solidarity and expression on the platform, and what political content drives user engagement. To address these questions, the study draws on scholarly literature and conducts a computational analysis of over 290,000 Telegram posts across leading Ukrainian political channels. The findings demonstrate a structural shift from traditional media to Telegram, a marked linguistic transition in public discourse, and a strong correlation between negative sentiment with multimedia presence and user engagement.