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Paths of Victory: How Ukraine’s EU Integration Can Help Win the War

  • When
  • February 21, 2023, 17:00–18:15 (CET)
  • Where
  • Open Society Foundations, Square de Meeûs 5-6, Brussels 1000
  • Speakers
  • Ambassador Vsevolod Chentsov, Hanna Hopko, Iskra Kirova, Katarina Mathernova, and Oleksandr Sushko
1:37:00

This in-person event will mark one year since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine. 

The war has upended the European security order, bringing new strategic clarity and unity to EU member states in their policy toward the EU’s eastern neighborhood. By granting Ukraine membership candidate status, the EU sent a political signal affirming Ukraine’s right to choose its alliances and rejecting the Kremlin’s attempts to enforce imagined spheres of influence in Europe.

The promise of EU integration represented a watershed moment and is an expression of the EU’s political support for Ukraine’s victory in the war. The hard work for both sides to fulfill this promise lies ahead.

What should the EU do to ensure Ukraine’s membership prospects remain credible? How can Ukraine’s government deliver on its complex reform agenda in wartime conditions? And what is the role of civil society in supporting progress in both of these areas?

Speakers

  • Ambassador Vsevolod Chentsov

    Opening Remarks

    Ambassador Vsevolod Chentsov is head of the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community.

  • Hanna Hopko

    Speaker

    Hanna Hopko is a board member of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory and served as head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada from 2014 to 2019. 

  • Iskra Kirova

    Moderator

    Iskra Kirova is a senior policy analyst with the Open Society Foundations. 

  • Katarina Mathernova

    Speaker

    Katarina Mathernova is the European Commission’s deputy director-general for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations.

  • Oleksandr Sushko

    Speaker

    Oleksandr Sushko is executive director of the International Renaissance Foundation, in Ukraine.

Read more

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Two years after Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, civil society strives to protect democracy as the West wavers in its support. Oleksandr Sushko discusses the way forward.

February 23, 2024

Resilience in Moldova

Q&A: Moldova’s Path to a European Future

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Moldova has endured the Kremlin’s aggression because it has chosen to leave Russia's sphere of influence and supports Ukraine. The impact of the war on daily life—and why the nation is determined to join the EU.

June 22, 2023

Art During Wartime

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The world knew all too little about the art and culture of Ukraine prior to Russia’s all-out invasion. The war has changed that—and demonstrated the power of art as a tool of resistance.

March 29, 2023 | Goran Buldioski & Cornélia Marang-Schmidmayr

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