On October 30, AFPC hosted a conference for Congressional staff in the U.S. Capitol Building Visitor complex entitled “Ukraine: The Forgotten War.” The event was held as follow-up to the June 2017 senior-level delegation to Ukraine, which was co-led by AFPC President Herman Pirchner, Jr. and Dr. William Schneider, former Under Secretary of State and current Department of Defense Science Board member.
Capitol Hill conference on October 30.
While in Ukraine over the summer, the delegation divided into three teams to study the regional effects of the war, with members traveling to the Western city of Lviv, the Southern city of Odesa, and the Eastern cities of Zaporizhia and Mariupol before reuniting for meetings in Kyiv.
At the October event, eight members of the fifteen-person delegation presented their findings from that trip in order to give staffers a better understanding of the regional trends surrounding Ukraine, along with areas in which the U.S. can help the ongoing war effort there. The event was unique, with presenters representing senior leadership from several policy organizations, including the Heritage Foundation, the Hudson Institute, the Jamestown Foundation, and the Center for U.S.-Ukrainian Relations.
Delegates provided updates to the situation on the ground, and offered advice for Congress and the Administration on Ukraine policy. Panelists specifically detailed the various forms of hybrid warfare being utilized by the Russian side throughout Ukraine in its attempts to influence the Ukrainian people.
Speakers also outlined Ukraine’s naval vulnerabilities (a product of the Russian military buildup near Crimea), and the positive results of Ukraine’s economic disengagement from Russia, particularly in the energy sector.
The briefings were well received by Congressional staffers, who were very interested in understanding specifically how the U.S. can aid the war effort. As a follow up to the conference, principals from the delegation held meetings with government officials on a range of Ukraine-related policy issues.
