Between Duty and Survival: Wartime Masculinities in Ukraine (Sofie Rose)

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukrainian men of fighting age have been subject to a wartime draft. Yet many have chosen to flee the country, often risking perilous border crossings in search of safety. In this episode of the Transformative Podcast, Irena Remestwenski (RECET) speaks with Sofie Rose (University of Southern Denmark), who unpacks the emotional and moral complexities of male flight and reflects on how dominant wartime narratives seek to shape — and police — masculine identities in contemporary Ukraine. Together, they explore the implications of these tensions for postwar reintegration, gender norms, and Ukraine’s social fabric.

Sofie Rose is a political scientist and Postdoctoral Fellow in International Politics at the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark. She works in the span between political science, sociology, and gender studies to explore complex issues related to reconciliation, social cohesion, and gendered inequalities, emerging within contexts of armed conflict. She has recently concluded a project titled “The Politics of Masculinity and Stigmatization of Fighting-age Ukrainian Men Who Flee the War”.