Russian soldiers did not go to war with only guns and ordersthey went with fantasies that made killing feel meaningful. Drawing on diaries, social media posts, memoirs, poems, and battlefield songs, Maria Kurbak reconstructs the war from below. She shows how Russian combatants turn old woundsNATO's bombing of Yugoslavia, the collapse of the USSR, personal shame, and perceived national betrayalinto narratives that make violence feel purposeful and necessary. These fantasies echo official slogans but also exceed them, binding private grievances to collective myths and turning imagined injuries into real acts of brutality.

The book moves backward through time: from the full-scale invasion, to the myths of Novorossiya in Donbas, to deeper crises of masculinity and memory carried from the late Soviet decades. Across this arc, Destructive Imagination demonstrates that fantasies do not distort war; they design it. The result is a new framework for understanding Russia's invasion of Ukraineone that brings into view the emotional and symbolic worlds that structure political behavior and make violence imaginable long before it becomes real.

Opens new avenues for understanding the role of emotional heritage in shaping national narratives and societal behaviour Shifts the focus from state-centric narratives to the lived experiences of Russian combatants Enriches the discourse on the interplay between individual psychology and socio-political phenomena

Autorentext

Maria Kurbak is a Postdoctoral Associate in Global Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. She received her PhD from the Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences. From 2013 to 2022, she served as a Senior Fellow at the Institute of World History and as a Lecturer at the National Research University–Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Her work focuses on national narratives, memory, masculinity, and the cultural roots of political violence in Russia.

Klappentext

Russian soldiers did not go to war with only guns and orders—they went with fantasies that made killing feel meaningful. Drawing on diaries, social media posts, memoirs, poems, and battlefield songs, Maria Kurbak reconstructs the war from below. She shows how Russian combatants turn old wounds—NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia, the collapse of the USSR, personal shame, and perceived national betrayal—into narratives that make violence feel purposeful and necessary. These fantasies echo official slogans but also exceed them, binding private grievances to collective myths and turning imagined injuries into real acts of brutality. 

The book moves backward through time: from the full-scale invasion, to the myths of “Novorossiya” in Donbas, to deeper crises of masculinity and memory carried from the late Soviet decades. Across this arc, Destructive Imagination demonstrates that fantasies do not distort war; they design it. The result is a new framework for understanding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—one that brings into view the emotional and symbolic worlds that structure political behavior and make violence imaginable long before it becomes real.

Inhalt

Part One: The Full-Scale Invasion (2022 ).- Chapter 1: The Full-Scale War and the Shaping of Male Fantasy Narratives.- Chapter 2: Representations of Ukraine and Ukrainians.- Part Two: Novorossiya. Ukrainian Land, Russian Dream (20142022).- Chapter 3: Donbas Between Memory and Fantasy.- Chapter 04: The Nation They Loved, The Mission They Chose: Russians in Donbas.