Юрій Зайцев – дослідник українського дисидентського руху

The study examines the contribution of Y. Zaitsev to the study of the problems of dissidence, opposition and anti-regime movements of the second half of the twentieth century (before the declaration of independence) in Ukraine. The author notes his active participation in the work of national public organisations at the turn of the 80s and 90s of the 20th century, his rapprochement with former political prisoners, their influence on his choice of research topics - opposition processes in Ukraine after the Stalinist era and the first publications on dissidence. The study emphasises the development by the scholar of the problems of implementing the Ukrainian national idea as the core of state ideology and independent state-building. The work examines underground Ukrainian groups and organisations, including the Ukrainian National Committee, the Ukrainian Workers‘ and Peasants’ Union, and the Ukrainian National Front. The author highlights their publishing activities, the illegal distribution of their printed organs, and some practical implementation of their anti-totalitarian struggle, including, in addition to the distribution of underground literature, the display of national blue and yellow flags. The author reveals the struggle of the communist regime against Ukrainian political, literary, scientific, and artistic dissent, which resulted in a series of trials against members of the opposition movement and their sentencing to various terms of imprisonment. The paper highlights the role of women in the Ukrainian Resistance movement after the Stalinist period, emphasising their socio-political, national and cultural work, and their contribution to the struggle for Ukrainian statehood. The author points to the researcher's significant contribution to the implementation of the Oral History of Ukraine project and his work in the study of the political history of Ukraine.