SECURITY ISSUES ON THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT IN CONDITIONS OF RUSSIA’S AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE

Objective: This research paper examines the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation, particularly its aggression against Ukraine and hybrid aggression against Western countries. The objective of this study is to analyze the implications of Russia's actions on the security of Eastern and Central European states, with a focus on their political significance. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework of the research involves understanding the concept of international security institutions and international agreements, and how Russia's disregard for these guidelines affects the global competitive environment. Method: The method used in this study is primarily qualitative analysis, incorporating an examination of relevant literature, reports, and international agreements to establish the context of Russia's aggressive behavior. Results and conclusion: The results of the analysis demonstrate that Russia's actions have significantly impacted the security of Eastern and Central European states, not only in terms of geographical considerations but also politically. The Kremlin's aspiration to establish dominance in Central and Eastern Europe has led to military aggression and a disregard for established international norms and agreements. Implications of the research: The implications of this research are crucial for policymakers, international security institutions, and countries affected by Russia's aggression. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening international cooperation, reinforcing existing security mechanisms, and countering Russia's disruptive actions to preserve the global world order. Originality/value: The originality and value of this research lie in its comprehensive analysis of the political significance of Russia's aggression against Eastern and Central European states. By shedding light on the implications and consequences of Russia's actions, this study contributes to a better understanding of the challenges posed by aggressive actors in the international arena and offers insights for policymakers and scholars working in the field of international security.


INTRODUCTION
Military aggression is one of the most dangerous social-political and moral problems facing humanity in the XXI century due to its scale, unpredictability and consequences. It increasingly threatens the security of many countries and their citizens in any form of its manifestation, causing huge political, economic and moral losses, and exerting psychological solid pressure on people.
The theoretical part of the present research substantiates the relevance, fundamental trends and components of the process of ensuring the relevant security level in European countries in conditions of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine.
The practical part of the research identifies the most important types of dangers causing concern among European citizens in connection with Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, and risk factors for PTSD in civilian internally displaced persons to European countries according to the type of their participation in the armed conflict in Ukraine. It assesses the features of the European citizens' reaction to the security threat that has arisen on the European continent as a result of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. This part also identifies the social-political consequences for temporary migrants from Ukraine to European countries that arose after Russia's military aggression against Ukraine.
According to the research results, the threat of difficulties with the country's food supply as well as the potential for demographic and social issues rank among the top dangers that European citizens are most concerned about in relation to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. The survey revealed that although trauma from informing the public about military activities is also highly common, the symptoms of PTSD are more frequently observed in persons who were actually in the conflict zone. Studying the issue of European citizens' emotional reaction to the security threat that has arisen on the European continent as a result of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, the survey found that the overwhelming majority of people in Europe are sympathetic to the hostilities in Ukraine and eager to help. At the same time, they are most concerned about unemployment and social exclusion, which occurred in connection with the resettlement of a significant number of people from Ukraine to European countries.
The purpose of the research is to determine the standpoints of scientists and political scholars investigating international security issues in various countries of the world regarding the specifics of the security situation in European countries that arose in connection with Russia's military aggression in Ukraine.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Noting that Russia's aggression against Ukraine became the culmination and embodiment of the decline of the world security system, modern scientists pay attention to the complexity and multifaceted nature of the conflict in and around Ukraine. This conflict is not similar to others, forasmuch as the country, which received direct security guarantees from other states, and permanent members of the UN Security Council, suffered from external aggression and violation of territorial integrity. At the same time, there is increased attention to European security issues nowadays, which is considered the most stable regional security architecture in the world (Masters, 2023;Lkhaajav, 2022;Mia et al., 2022).
Despite the apparent inability of the OSCE and other international organizations to stop the current conflict, restore peace and punish the aggressor, the main figures in the international arena show no desire to revise the fundamentals of the current European security architecture to make it more effective and reliable. The strategic and mental unpreparedness of the West for crisis phenomena in the security environment can be explained by an underestimation of the danger posed by the Russian Federation's aggression and the role of Ukraine in resisting Russian expansionist policy and armed aggression, as well as disbelief that Kremlin leaders would dare to use force directly against neighboring countries (Ciot, 2022;Lukin, 2019). Taking into account the international experience of state management for national security (Akimov, O Western countries are characterized by the absence of geostrategic "red lines" that would mark the possible limits of concessions to the spheres of influence of the Russian Federation. Therefore, their policy increasingly moves into the operational-tactical plane of political-diplomatic negotiations and political-administrative projects. It should also be emphasized that the current global security crisis has a fundamentally different character than the Cold War. After all, the current situation is much less structured and defined, and planetary problems are not limited to relations between the West and the Russian Federation, in contrast to the second half of the last century, when the confrontation between the USSR, the US Department of Defense and NATO, although being the axis of the world system of international relations, carried potential character (Hassen & Bilali, 2022;Ha & Shin, 2022). Strategic planning of national security in the modern information society (Bondarenko, S., Bratko Dramatic events in the Middle East, the outbreak and development of fundamentalism, the spread of international terrorism, ISIS, control over the South China Sea, the influx of migrants to the European Union, etc., affect the interests of Europe and the United States much more than the actions of Russia in the post-Soviet areas, and demonstrate a rapprochement with the global systemic crisis (Bentley, 2022;Maurer, Whitman & Wright, 2023).

METHODOLOGY
A practical study of security issues in European countries in connection with Russia's military aggression in Ukraine was conducted by interviewing 263 scientists and 274 political scientists in Volyn, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr and Kyiv regions of Ukraine. The research was conducted using the Online Test Pad service.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The primary issue that was clarified in the course of the survey was the identification of the most important types of dangers that European citizens are concerned about in connection with Russia's military aggression against Ukraine (Figure 1). It can be observed from Figure 1 that residents of the European continent are most concerned about possible difficulties in the food sectorthis type of threat was given the highest weight by survey participants, with 42 and 44% of 100% of possible points, respectively, which is the highest indicator. Another concern in European countries is the fear of a crisis in the demographic and social spheres in Europe, which is related to a significant flow of refugees from Ukraine.
It is also important to assess the level of psychological security of refugees in Europe to study the risk of PTSD development in civilian migrants to European countries according to the type of participation in the armed conflict in Ukraine (Figure 2). According to the survey, although the signs of PTSD are observed to a greater extent in people who were directly in the combat zone (respondents gave this indicator 61-63% out of 100%), trauma as a result of remote information is also very common, as evidenced by the high rate of such trauma by respondents, namely 54-57%.
The next research question made it possible to identify the types of emotional response of European residents to the security threat that has arisen on the European continent as a result of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine (Figure 3). As can be seen from Figure 3, the overwhelming majority of European citizens are sympathetic and eager to help, as evidenced by the highest indicators of such attitudes, namely, 51-52% and 45-47% of 100%, which is extremely high.
The survey assessed the social-political consequences for internally displaced persons from Ukraine to European countries that arose after Russia's military aggression against Ukraine (Figure 4). According to the survey participants, they are most concerned about unemployment and social isolation, which occurred in connection with the resettlement of a significant number of people from Ukraine to European countries.
The challenge of the Russian Federation to the democratic world includes international legal, economic, political and informational aspects. Russia considers Ukraine its existential enemy. Its aggressive policy is based on Russia's rejection and denial of such values as human rights, liberalism, democracy, individual freedom, property rights and freedom of entrepreneurship, people's right to self-determination, respect for the sovereignty of countries, and ideological pluralism. The Russian Federation does not perceive Ukraine as an independent state and pursues the strategic goal of its complete destruction as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality. By the way, the goals of Russia's aggressive policy are the unity of the EU and NATO, the desire to destroy these organizations (Masters, 2023;Papageorgiou et al., 2020).
The security of the countries of Eastern and Central Europe depends on the defense capability of Ukraine, which is at the forefront of the struggle on the border of the democratic world (Diphoorn & van Stapele, 2021).
Scientists emphasize that security today is an important strategic issue related to national development, which affects the work and life of the vast majority of people in the country. Therefore, in any sphere of business, it is necessary to meet the main global trends by introducing innovations. Accordingly, national security is an important prerequisite for modernization and the key to economic development, which at the same time promotes newstyle industrialization (Quang & Duc, 2023). The analysis of the trends in the development of management science in various spheres of the world economy showed that today there are certain problems regarding the effectiveness of sustainable development management, since the strategic plans of economic entities do not reflect the real safety conditions of their activities, while this problem is caused by a significant interrelationship between safety aspect and social responsibility of companies (Albornoz еt al., 2023).
Currently, the region of Central and Eastern Europe should strengthen strategic stability and mutual political solidarity. The countries of Eastern and Central Europe are really at the epicenter of the struggle between Western and Moscow civilizations. To date, there is no evidence that the leadership of the Russian Federation is considering the possibility of revising its approaches to relations with the outside world (Bratko, 2022).
The development of the European security and defense policy should not be aimed at increasing the autonomy of the European Union, but at strengthening the capabilities of European member states within the framework of NATO. The leading European countries are convinced that the EU and NATO can work effectively only in conditions of mutual complementarity. A functionalist approach to the European security model presupposes understanding it as a process of dynamic cooperation between states based on the commonality of political orientations, strategies and methods of war prevention while preserving the ability to shape policy (Semenenko et al., 2022;Badotra & Sundas, 2020).
Security policy is a course that guarantees the protection of one's own state, its political and social interests from any external threats, aimed at constant dialogue, maintaining peace with a possible adversary, resolving the main contradictions on the way to compromises and, if necessary, in increasing the level of resistance to a potential aggressor (Biswas et al., 2022;Aqeel et al., 2022).
All countries of Eastern and Central Europe support the territorial integrity of Ukraine in all votes in the UN and other international organizations and express concern over the fact of the temporary occupation of the Crimea and Donbas. Russia's aggression against Ukraine strengthened Ukraine's strategic partnership with Poland, Lithuania and other Baltic states, and became a catalyst for establishing a strategic partnership with Romania. Common goals also strengthen Ukraine's cooperation with other countries within the framework of Euro-Atlantic and European integration (Masters, 2023;Aqeel et al., 2022).
The consolidation of Europe (including all countries of Eastern and Central Europe and Ukraine as an integral part of it) is capable of stopping Russian aggression and punishing them for systematic violations of international law (Filho et al., 2022;Mishra et al., 2022).
Taking into account the above-mentioned, the continuation and development of a meaningful and honest dialogue between countries on European security issues are of great importance nowadays in order to demonstrate and implement a policy of commitment to the principles of democracy, as well as for strengthening European institutions and the activation of security mechanisms in Europe (Pastukhov et al., 2022;Semenenkо et al., 2021).

CONCLUSION
Therefore, the analysis of the scientific literature on the research topic and the questionnaire results showed that developing the fundamentals of the national security strategy in accordance with national interests, the main geopolitical and foreign policy priorities is one of the most important tasks nowadays. Strengthening the role of the civilized European space as a significant subject of Euro-Atlantic geopolitics is an important direction in developing international relations for the European countries (Arcila et. al., 2023).
Guided by the need to maintain a strategic balance in the existing geopolitical environment, international cooperation should be aimed at strengthening national and international security (Asrul et. al., 2023). For all countries of Eastern and Central Europe, the ability to protect themselves from hostile external influences and ensure sustainable development is of crucial importance. It is necessary to maintain a high level of public trust in democratic values and principles, ensure support for state sovereignty and expand existing forms of cooperation and partnership with other democratic centers. Effective mechanisms of strategic communication are of decisive importance in the conditions of the Russian Federation's aggressive policy. They provide active cooperation aimed at forming public support for the democratic system, the principles of the rule of law and the protection of human rights, as well as public transparency and a long-term pro-democratic foreign policy orientation.