On February 26, AFPC and the Center for US-Ukrainian Relations (CUSUR) jointly hosted a conference bringing together U.S. and Ukrainian security experts to assess the military situation in Ukraine and the significance of potential U.S. military aid to that country.
Mr. Andriy Parubiy, First Vice-Speaker of the Verkohona Rada (Supreme Council of Ukraine) and head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council delivered the conference’s keynote address. In addition to his longtime role in the Ukrainian parliament, Mr. Parubiy was a leader of the 2004 Orange revolution that saw the first overthrow of former Ukranian president Victor Yanukovych.
More recently, he was active in the 2013/2014 “Maidan” revolution, which ousted Yanukovych once again. Since that time, he emerged as a major advocate of Western assistance to Ukraine in its struggle against Russian-supported and -instigated aggression.
U.S. military experts were on hand to hear Mr. Parubiy candidly describe Russia’s involvement in, and planning of, the separatist movement now underway in Ukraine’s east. Mr. Parubiy’s talk was followed by an assessment of the military and energy situation in Ukraine by a panel of regional experts.
Thereafter, a panel of U.S. experts—including David Kraemer of Freedom House, Ariel Cohen of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, and AFPC Senior Fellow for Russia Stephen Blank provided their own analyses of the current situation in Ukraine.
