Olena Sotnyk, former Ukrainian MP and current Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, and Dr. Domitilla Sagramoso, Senior Lecturer at the War Studies Department and an expert on Russia's foreign and security policy will discuss the current situation of the war in Ukraine.

This panel discussion will cover Volodymyr Zelensky's new book 'A Message from Ukraine'. The book contains a collection of speeches from Zelensky since 2019.

About the speakers

Olena Sotnyk is a Ukrainian public policy maker, lawyer, and human rights defender and currently serves as Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine. Olena is a former member of the Ukrainian Parliament, a well-known legislator and public policy maker in areas such as rule of law, judicial system reform, anticorruption, euro integration and youth policy. She successfully represented Ukraine in the international arena and is one of the leading voices of Ukrainians against Russian aggression. Olena held prominent positions in the working bodies of several international organizations, including the Council of Europe, and focuses on issues including Euro-integration of Ukraine and female empowerment. Prior to her political career, Olena was a lawyer, partner of a legal group and served on the board of The Ukrainian Bar Association and Aspen Ukraine Alumni. She has degrees pertaining to law, economy, and psychology.

Dr. Domitilla Sagramoso is a Senior Lecturer in Security and Development at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. She is an expert on Russia’s foreign and security policy in the post-Soviet space. Her most recent publication Russian Imperialism Revisited: From Disengagement to Hegemony (Routledge, 2020) examines Russia’s policies towards the former USSR states over the past three decades, within the framework of “Hegemony” and “Neo-Empire” theories of international relations. Domitilla is also an expert on Islamist jihadism in the Russian North Caucasus and Central Asia, and has published extensively on these topics in various academic journals (Europe-Asia Studies, International Affairs, Perspectives on Terrorism, New Perspectives).

The panel discussion will be chaired by Dr. Christine Cheng, Lecturer in War Studies at King’s College London. This event is organised by Jan Rosemeier

Book your place on Eventbrite. For more details please contact Jan Rosemeier (jan.rosemeier@kcl.ac.uk)