Ukraine is grappling with attempts to make gains on the battlefield before winter settles in. But the military battle is not the only front Ukraine is facing. As the world gears up for a year of elections and potential geopolitical shifts – with major votes in the US, the UK and the EU – is a country heavily reliant on its western partners’ support ready for change? How is Ukraine navigating its geopolitical strategy in anticipation of 2024? Which partners will stand with the country at war ‘for as long as it takes’ and which ones are at risk of being lost? In the light of these possibilities, how will Ukraine navigate the likelihood of alliance changes, and secure the resources it needs in order to win?

The Henry Jackson Society is pleased to welcome you to join our discussion on these and other important topics with Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, Lesia Vasylenko MP.

Lesia Vasylenko is a member of the Parliament of Ukraine of the IX Convocation. Her party Holos (voice or vote in Ukrainian) is the youngest opposition party in Parliament, liberal, democratic, and Promoters of European integration. In Parliament Mrs. Vasylenko sits on the Environmental Committee where she chairs the Subcommittee on Climate Change. At the outset of the escalation of Russian aggression on 24 February 2022, MP Vasylenko’s strong international background allowed her to quickly become one of Ukraine’s strongest voices on various international platforms. With an international law LLM from University College London and five years of running a veterans’ rights NGO Legal Hundred, Mrs. Vasylenko is well qualified to give both expert and political assessments of the developments in Ukraine.

Aliona Hlivco is the Managing Director of The Henry Jackson Society, and a political analyst and foreign policy expert with a background in domestic and international strategic communications, global affairs and geopolitics. She started her career in Ukrainian politics, holding several government positions in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Parliament in Ukraine, focusing on international partnerships, cross-border cooperation, infrastructure, public-private partnerships and decentralisation. She ran eight national and local election campaigns, and coordinated strategy during the 2013-2014 Revolution of Dignity.

She finished her time in Ukrainian politics as an elected member of the regional parliament in 2015-2018 and a chief adviser to the Chairman of Regional Government.

Aliona contributes regularly to the BBC, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, The Telegraph, Monocle, CapX and is a guest lecturer at various academic institutions (Harvard University, Cambridge University, Middlebury Institute of International Studies, NYU, London Business School, London UOTC, King’s College London etc) to provide her expertise on Ukraine and global affairs. She is fluent in English, Ukrainian and Russian, with an intermediate level in German.
She is a recipient of the Order of Merit for her outstanding service and invaluable contribution to the support of democracy in Ukraine during the Revolution of Dignity 2013-2014.

Aliona holds MA in Political Science and MPA from Chernivtsi National University in Ukraine.

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EVENT SUMMARY

The Henry Jackson Society was pleased to welcome Lesia Vasylenko MP, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and a prominent standard-bearer of her nation’s cause abroad, in conversation with HJS’s own Aliona Hlivco on Ukraine’s path to victory in their defensive war against Russian invaders. Taking a broad view of Ukraine’s military and diplomatic position, Vasylenko reiterated Ukraine’s urgent need for arms, military technology, and Western assistance in building the momentum necessary to sustain this year’s counteroffensive. Vasylenko, a lawyer, discussed Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine and the possible diplomatic and international legal avenues for bringing the perpetrators — from individual commanders and soldiers in the field to the decision-makers in the Kremlin — to justice. She outlined Ukraine’s strategy towards the ‘Global South,’ and the increasing necessity of maintaining effective and positive diplomatic relationships in South Asia, India, and Africa, particularly in the context of the soft language adopted by the G20 joint statement on Ukraine. Vasylenko confidently discussed Ukraine’s commitment to working productively with their Western counterparts regardless of the outcome of elections in the coming year in the United States and likely the United Kingdom. The overriding theme of the conversation was indefatigable Ukrainian resolve in the face of horrible war. As Vasylenko made clear, Kyiv has presented the terms of its peace plan, and it intends to win back its sovereignty and territorial integrity on the battlefield as the only option the Russians, in the arrogance of their imperial ambitions, have left open to them.

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