Political satire is a significant aspect of modern culture and has a profound impact on politics, especially during times of war. The relationship between the actual events of military conflicts and their representation shapes how the public perceives and understands them. The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, ignited a heightened interest in Ukrainian affairs and resulted in a surge of memes and cartoons from Ukraine, Russia, and around the world. These humorous genres serve as tools for both conflict parties to mock each other. The concepts “weaponization of humor” and “imagefare” deserve serious academic consideration, as they play a crucial role in shaping the public image of the belligerents. Political cartoons and memes influence the framing of the Russo-Ukrainian war and public perceptions and attitudes. Political satire can be analyzed considering its target, focus, and presentation, while political cartoons and memes – their goal, frame of reference, and means. The analytical framework developed for this paper combines these elements: goal with target, frame of reference with focus, and means with presentation. This framework utilizes multimodal discourse analysis to examine the role of humor in armed conflicts.

This paper explores the strategic use of multimodal genres of humorous discourse (memes and cartoons) as “visual testimony” and tools of “imagefare” during recent armed conflicts, focusing on the Russian–Ukrainian War. It analyses how social media has transformed communication, democratised humour, and blurred the lines between content creators. The study outlines the interconnected concepts of visual propaganda, imagefare, and memetic warfare, emphasizing their unique features and hierarchical influence on public perceptions. It also examines the dual role of images as both visual testimony and “weaponised humour” in conflicts. Using Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) and drawing from the Epistemology of Testimony, the paper studies Ukrainian memes and cartoons featuring General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The analysis highlights how these visual artifacts use specific joke techniques and multimodal interactions to shape narratives, mock opponents, and build collective identity, especially regarding Zaluzhnyi's tactical skills and Russian losses.

This study investigates the intersection of visual rhetoric and impartial humor in political cartoons portraying the Russo-Ukrainian War. Drawing on foundational works on visual rhetoric, the paper situates political cartoons within the broader context of political discourse. The data set includes 16 political cartoons from Australia, the USA, Algeria, Morocco, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Greece, Taiwan, Qatar, Iran, Ukraine, and Russia. The paper examines how cartoonists employvisual rhetorical devices to craft impartial humor. The analysis is based on the corresponding parameters of political cartoons (goal-target, frame of reference-focus, and means-presentation) supplemented by two criteria: a) the author's attitude toward the conflict parties and b) the author's position towards the war and its consequences in general. Methodologically, it is supported by quantitative and qualitative content analysis using MAXQDA (2024). The author concludes that even if political cartoonists do not take a clear stance on the conflict parties, their work still reflects a vision of war as a global evil without borders.

This article examines the use of impartial humour in political cartoons on the Russian-Ukrainian war. The dataset includes 18 political cartoons from Australia, the USA, Algeria, Morocco, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Greece, Taiwan, Qatar, Iran, Ukraine, and Russia. This dataset is a selection from a corpus of 3,780 political cartoons from 65 countries in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Africa, and Australia as a part of the research project “Laughter During the War: Russian Aggression in Ukraine in Political Cartoons and Memes”. The analysis of impartial humour is based on the corresponding parameters of political cartoons (goal-target, frame of reference-focus, and means-presentation) supplemented by two criteria: a) the author’s attitude toward the conflict parties and b) the author’s position towards the war and its consequences in general. Methodologically, it is supported by quantitative content analysis (MAXQDA 2024). It highlights the unique characteristics of this humour and its significance within the study of political cartoons. The authors conclude that even if political cartoonists do not show a clear stance on conflict parties, their work still reflects the vision of war as a global evil without borders. The paper presents insights into political cartoons as an important element of modern culture, providing a space for dialogue and discourse.

The paper deals with the discursive dimension of two episodes of the Russo–Ukrainian war: The rebellion of Yevgeny Prigoshin (founder of the Wagner private military company) on 23 June 2023, and his death in an airplane crash on 23 August 2023. This dimension is implemented in Ukrainian and Russian political humor. Political satire, as a form of Humorous Media Political Discourse, can be described by its target, focus and setting. Political cartoons and memes, as genres of Humorous Media Political Discourse, can be defined by their goals, frame of reference and means. These corresponding parameters (goal–target, frame of reference–focus, means–setting), as well as the correlation between the discursive dimension and social context, provide the analytical framework for the paper. The methodology is based on the discourse and multimodality theories. Special attention is paid to the interaction of verbal and nonverbal elements in cartoons and memes, as well to similarities and differences in Ukrainian and Russian cartoons and memes depicting Yevgeny Prigoshin’s rebellion and his death.

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the discursive dimension of the standoff between supporters of 6th Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and those of his predecessor Petro Poroshenko. This dimension is implemented in Internet memes as one of the forms of political satire. Memes can be defined by their goals, frame of reference and means. The discursive practices used in memes aiming at the symbolic defamation of a political opponent and his electoral base are considered, taking into account the target, the focus, and the presentation of political satire about the protagonists Zelensky and Poroshenko. The corresponding parameters (goal-target, frame of reference-focus, means-presentation) constitute the analytical framework for the examination of the interrelations between political participation, political humour, political satire, and political discourse in this paper.

This article integrates national and international levels of political humorous discourse and proposes a multimodal analysis of the discursive dimension of the Russian–Ukrainian war and its implementation in political humour. The author analyses the distribution of supportive/subversive humour in world, Ukrainian and Russian political cartoons targeting Ukrainian President Zelensky and Russian President Putin and representing the conflict parties, with special attention to the presentation/setting. The distribution of supportive vs subversive political humour is based on an analysis of the target, focus and setting of political cartoons depicting Putin and Zelensky, and on the interaction of verbal and nonverbal elements in the cartoons. Political cartoons can be defined by their goals, frames of reference and means. These corresponding parameters (goal–target, frame of reference–focus, means-setting) as well as the correlation between self-image/external image and supportive/subversive political humour provide the analytical framework for the article.

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the discursive dimension of the standoff between supporters of 6th Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and those of his predecessor Petro Poroshenko. This dimension is implemented in Internet memes as one of the forms of political satire. Memes can be defined by their goals, frame of reference and means. The discursive practices used in memes aiming at the symbolic defamation of a political opponent and his electoral base are considered, taking into account the target, the focus, and the presentation of political satire about the protagonists Zelensky and Poroshenko. The corresponding parameters (goal-target, frame of reference-focus, means-presentation) constitute the analytical framework for the examination of the interrelations between political participation, political humour, political satire, and political discourse in this paper.

The paper deals with Ukrainian President’s Zelensky image in political cartoons and memes. They are forms of political humour and can be examined in an interdisciplinary manner. The first part describes theoretical aspects, functions, and elements of political humour and political satire, main features and types of cartoons and memes. In the second part, the corpus of 198 political cartoons and 1121 memes from March 2019 to December 2020 is analysed with computer-aided content analysis and multimodal discourse analysis. The analysis units are social context, formed by the domestic and foreign political events in Ukraine in the research period, joke techniques and communication levels in the cartoons and memes. These units are examined chronologically and thematically. The research is based on the hypothesis about the interdependence of social context and subversive/supportive humour in the construction of Zelensky’s image.

The paper deals with Ukrainian President's Zelensky image in political cartoons and memes. They are forms of political humour and can be examined in an interdisciplinary manner. The first part describes theoretical aspects, functions, and elements of political humour and political satire, main features and types of cartoons and memes. In the second part, the corpus of 198 political cartoons and 1121 memes from March 2019 to December 2020 is analysed with computer-aided content analysis and multimodal discourse analysis. The analysis units are social context, formed by the domestic and foreign political events in Ukraine in the research period, joke techniques and communication levels in the cartoons and memes. These units are examined chronologically and thematically. The research is based on the hypothesis about the interdependence of social context and subversive/supportive humour in the construction of Zelensky's image.

In this paper we outline the key features of discourse analysis, contrast it with content analysis, and then consider the extent to which these two methods can be seen as either complementary to, or in conflict with, each other. Our underlying premise is pluralist in that while we recognize that these two methods are based in very different philosophical camps and play very different roles in social science research, we also believe that they can be seen as complementary and even mutually supportive in the exploration of social reality. Furthermore, given the recent “linguistic turn” in social science and the related increasing interest in the study of texts of various kinds, the contrast between these two methods provides a particularly useful context in which to discuss assumptions about the nature of language and the role of linguistic methods in social research.

Швидкий розвиток соціальних медіа в останні роки зумовив появу нових форм політичної комунікації, зокрема візуальної комунікації, представленої жанрами «карикатура» та «меми». Ці жанри є предметом багатьох різних дисциплін: культурології, медіазнавства, медіалінгвістики, політології, політичної лінгвістики, когнітивної лінгвістики, семіотики. У статті проаналізовано понад 600 політичних карикатур і мемів на президента В.Зеленського. Використано методи комп’ютерного контент-аналізу (MAXQDA 2018) та мультимодальний дискурс-аналіз.

The rapid development of social media in recent years has led to the emergence of new forms of political communication, in particular visual communication, represented by the genres “cartoons” and “memes”. These genres are the subject of many different disciplines: cultural studies, communication/media studies, media linguistics, political science, political linguistics, cognitive linguistics, semiotics. The paper deals with analysis of more than 600 political cartoons and memes of President Zelensky. Methodology includes computer based content analysis (MAXQDA 2018) and multimodal discourse analysis. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods for the analysis of multimodal genres not only expands the methodological tools of researchers of humorous discourse, but also ensures the reliability of the results. The caricatures and memes included in the research corpus come from Ukrainian and foreign open sources: (https://www.facebook.com/ PerecRepublic/), (https://www.facebook.com/ProtsyshynOfficial), (https:// www.facebook.com/babaandkit), (https://www.facebook.com/gonimem), (h tt ps: // www.f ac ebo ok .co m/ per sh pri va tn ame ma rny a),(h tt ps :/ / www.radiosvoboda.org/z/752), інтернет-галереї https://janson- karikatur.de/, https://www.cagle.com/, https://www.gocomics.com/comics/ political. A code system consists of formal and semantic codes. Formal codes include “cartoon / meme type” with subcodes “with text”, “without text”, “individual”, “group”, “impersonal” and “hybrid”. The semantic codes in include “humorous techniques” and “levels of communication”, as caricatures and memes are a genre of humorous discourse and at the same time a multimodal text in which verbal and nonverbal components are combined and interact. Any multimodal text of humorous discourse functions in a specific social context, which has been analyzed on the basis of the code “chronotope”, which included the following subcodes: “election campaign and elections”, “inauguration”, “100 days”, “domestic policy”, “foreign policy”, “year in power”. As results of quantitative analysis the individual cartoon/meme type dominates (335 documents), which is 54% of the total number of analyzed documents. Quantitative analysis of humorous techniques showed that the most frequent are satire (62,4 %), association (49,7%), parody (39,2 %) and contradiction (31,3 %). The analysis of political caricatures and memes, which cover certain aspects of Volodymyr Zelensky’s activity as president, showed that his activity was and is the object of rather sharp criticism, which finds its expression in humorous genres.

The article is devoted to coverage of Ukrainian-Russian military conflict in American, German and Ukrainian political cartoons. Political cartoon is the subject of many different disciplines. From the linguistic point of view the political cartoon is a “creolized text” (“multimodal text” or “hybrid text”). The perception of creolized text is a double decoding of information: at the visual level (symbols, visual metaphors) and at the verbal level (captions, phrases of cartoon’s characters). This double decoding provides the integral perception of the cartoon. Political cartoon combines different cultural codes to implement cognitive and communicative purposes, using a minimum of verbal and non-verbal means. The discursive modus of the conflict was analyzed by using of quantitative and qualitative methods (content analysis, frame analysis, metaphor analysis). This combination of methods provides objective and reliable research results.

In this paper, the concept of "content analysis" and its history are analyzed and the main applications of computer-based content analysis are defined. On the basis of comparisons of both types, their advantages and shortcomings were shown.