1 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:09,630 Bye. Thank you very much to the Oxford Peace Studies Network for the invitation to speak today. 2 00:00:09,660 --> 00:00:13,410 It's great to see you and see such a great turnout. 3 00:00:14,070 --> 00:00:17,459 So as you've heard, I'm involved in Peace Reps. 4 00:00:17,460 --> 00:00:28,140 Ukraine team say this program within Peace Rep has been running since October last year and we are working very closely with Ukrainians on the 5 00:00:28,140 --> 00:00:38,580 ground in Ukraine and our research is really about co-creating knowledge with those that are experiencing the impacts of violent conflict. 6 00:00:39,150 --> 00:00:47,760 And in that context, we part of our part of our research is building a network of local researchers on the ground in Ukraine, 7 00:00:47,970 --> 00:00:57,930 spread across different territories, and using their insights into local conditions to feed ideas into our wider work and 8 00:00:57,930 --> 00:01:03,090 to really build evidence based understanding of what is happening in this conflict. 9 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:11,430 And one of the big priorities for us, particularly in the run into the Ukraine recovery conference, is Ukraine's economic needs. 10 00:01:11,670 --> 00:01:18,749 And in the talk I give today and I don't think I didn't realise we would get got a generous 15 minutes that 11 00:01:18,750 --> 00:01:25,710 she had planned for ten say if I don't if I don't need ten you can tell me off because that was my intention. 12 00:01:26,010 --> 00:01:35,459 And so and that will affect some of the analysis that I give you today, because Ukraine really isn't in a good place economically at the moment, 13 00:01:35,460 --> 00:01:41,040 as well as the appalling crimes that are committed in the course of the Russian invasion, too. 14 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:49,080 So the question I'm really going to engage today is what does the war against Ukraine tell us about our changing world? 15 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:57,330 And how many people in my discipline, international relations, argue that this is really a return of geopolitics. 16 00:01:57,870 --> 00:02:01,979 It's a return of great power politics in another discourse. 17 00:02:01,980 --> 00:02:04,980 It's the revenge of the revisionist powers. 18 00:02:05,460 --> 00:02:13,440 And I think all of these categorisations of the war against Ukraine are quite misleading and often made by people. 19 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:19,410 To be honest, you aren't on really getting insights to what's happening in Ukraine on the ground, 20 00:02:19,590 --> 00:02:28,440 but speaking much more at a international geopolitical level or even an ivory tower level, if you want to put it pejoratively. 21 00:02:28,830 --> 00:02:30,629 And they have a few things in common. 22 00:02:30,630 --> 00:02:39,330 I think the first is that they're very state centric in their understanding of this conflict, particularly this idea, geopolitics, 23 00:02:39,540 --> 00:02:47,280 political geography, that the most important thing about the world in which we live is fundamentally territory and who controls it. 24 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:53,160 I think that's a quite mistaken assumption when it comes to the course of this conflict. 25 00:02:53,310 --> 00:02:56,880 It misses out by two elements that I think we need to consider. 26 00:02:57,450 --> 00:03:02,310 The second is a question of time, which is really important in this idea of return, right? 27 00:03:02,580 --> 00:03:11,700 It's drawing on a kind of sick little view of history that there's something that was present in the past that's just returning, it's coming back. 28 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:17,130 And so there's a resurgence of, if you like, a past sense of affairs. 29 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:21,540 The war is regenerated, something that we thought had lost. 30 00:03:21,540 --> 00:03:28,169 And I think that's also quite mistaken because it's not asking the question we I think we need to ask about this war, 31 00:03:28,170 --> 00:03:34,410 and that is what's new, what's distinctive, what's changing in global politics. 32 00:03:35,580 --> 00:03:41,670 The other question, I think, is around the causes of the conflict that this often gets wrong. 33 00:03:41,970 --> 00:03:50,340 If you think of it in terms of territory that the great powers, great states, there are security claims on the international order. 34 00:03:50,700 --> 00:03:56,790 This can also lead to the, I think, the false claim that NATO's expansion caused the war. 35 00:03:57,150 --> 00:04:01,139 And there's quite a good body of evidence to show that this simply isn't the case. 36 00:04:01,140 --> 00:04:13,200 I mean, one data point could be Putin's statement in May 2002, where while he didn't renounce Russia's historic opposition to NATO's expansion, 37 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,860 he certainly indicated that he was extremely relaxed about it. 38 00:04:17,070 --> 00:04:19,050 And even in the case of Ukraine, 39 00:04:19,230 --> 00:04:28,889 explicitly stated that that the decision of whether Ukraine should join NATO or not was a decision that only Ukraine could make 40 00:04:28,890 --> 00:04:38,760 independently a correct actually position made at a time when Russia's relationship to the West was obviously very different. 41 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:50,009 And I think the the other question that we need to consider here is whether that leads into the conclusion that really, you know, 42 00:04:50,010 --> 00:04:56,910 the nature of the military balance of forces between states is actually the most decisive one, 43 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:02,880 because actually it's not just the military balance of forces, it's how individuals like Vladimir Putin. 44 00:05:03,260 --> 00:05:09,110 Imagine that distinction, how they think about the balance of forces between states. 45 00:05:09,740 --> 00:05:16,970 And then the final point of critique I want to make against some people in my discipline, not the whole discipline I have to say to some people. 46 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,570 And the final point, because I think this gets wrong, 47 00:05:21,860 --> 00:05:28,730 whether you can actually achieve strategic efficacy for military intervention in the world today. 48 00:05:28,970 --> 00:05:35,299 If you think about the conflict purely in terms of this return of great power politics, 49 00:05:35,300 --> 00:05:42,379 I think what you miss is the great power politics isn't very effective in achieving the aims of great powers. 50 00:05:42,380 --> 00:05:48,740 And I think here I'm drawing on the work of my LSC colleague Mary Kaldor, who argues, 51 00:05:48,740 --> 00:05:57,860 I think very correctly that military intervention overseas isn't effective in bringing about what we can refer to as compelling, 52 00:05:57,860 --> 00:06:02,930 as compelling a state to behave in a particular way. 53 00:06:03,590 --> 00:06:08,569 So then the second so that's the first point I want to make in my, 54 00:06:08,570 --> 00:06:16,820 my first 5 minutes and the war that the way I want to get across that critique of how we think about the war of Ukraine. 55 00:06:17,330 --> 00:06:21,979 And then so if it's not about great power politics, well, what's going on here and here, 56 00:06:21,980 --> 00:06:26,690 I want to argue that it's better to see the war against Ukraine as a sign of the 57 00:06:26,690 --> 00:06:31,999 fragmentation of world order that's taking place on lots of different levels. 58 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:37,309 One level, I think, is the level of ideas, of ideology, a kind of discursive level, 59 00:06:37,310 --> 00:06:42,680 where that's where there's a much greater fragmentation of identities. 60 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:51,470 And within that context, within that frame, there's a rise of ethno nationalism, authoritarianism in many states all over the world, 61 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:59,300 and that Putin's Russia has seen one of the most extreme examples of this wider trend to authoritarian ization. 62 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:04,670 The second part of this fragmentation that picks up on what Alex was saying 63 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:10,070 earlier is that the world is going through a period of economic transition. 64 00:07:10,070 --> 00:07:18,590 So the paradigm of free market neo liberalism has displaced significantly and in fact is being inverted. 65 00:07:18,590 --> 00:07:27,320 So, you know, whereas 20 or 30 years ago, big corporations were asking the state to get out of their lives as much as possible, 66 00:07:27,530 --> 00:07:32,120 leave them alone so that they could get on with the task of making money. 67 00:07:32,420 --> 00:07:42,950 That's no longer the case. The paradigm has shifted really quite significantly because now corporations are interested in what states can do for them. 68 00:07:43,370 --> 00:07:46,399 One buzzword that's often used is de-risking. 69 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,240 How do you reduce the risks of the investments that we make? 70 00:07:51,270 --> 00:08:00,050 The corporations are obsessed with talking about security considerations and geopolitics in for their investments in this new world order. 71 00:08:00,500 --> 00:08:07,310 And what this is a sign of broadly is that markets are becoming much, much more dependent upon states. 72 00:08:08,510 --> 00:08:13,010 Then there's a related aspect to this, too, which is to do with environmental change, 73 00:08:13,010 --> 00:08:20,240 which obviously this is part of the economic transition, which I think is driving this fragmentation. 74 00:08:21,470 --> 00:08:26,780 Part of the reason that corporations are so interested in de-risking their investments is 75 00:08:26,780 --> 00:08:32,180 because of the extraordinary ecological threats that the world is facing all the time. 76 00:08:32,390 --> 00:08:40,430 And that, again, is making politics and political security a more and more important consideration for capital. 77 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:48,320 And then there's this other aspect that I think you really see in the civic response to the war against Ukraine, 78 00:08:48,830 --> 00:08:53,000 that if you think of the war just in terms of what's happening in Ukraine, 79 00:08:53,330 --> 00:09:03,050 you're going to miss out on all of the transboundary connections that are part and parcel of Ukrainians everyday resistance to the invasion. 80 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:09,799 One of my colleagues in East Carolina, Jessica Shaw at your Colonial University, 81 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:16,220 has been studying the extraordinary civic response in Poland to the challenge of migration. 82 00:09:16,460 --> 00:09:22,850 And this isn't just a question of the humanitarian considerations for migrants in Poland, though, 83 00:09:22,850 --> 00:09:28,220 of course, that's very, very important to make sure that the refugees are well looked after. 84 00:09:28,430 --> 00:09:38,090 It's also about the self activity of Ukrainian civil society organisations inside Poland and how they're interacting with their homeland, 85 00:09:38,330 --> 00:09:45,830 whether that's raising money for humanitarian relief that is then going back to Ukraine or also it has to be said, 86 00:09:45,830 --> 00:09:52,370 raising money for the Ukrainian military directly through crowdfunding platforms to support the war effort. 87 00:09:52,790 --> 00:09:56,959 This is all this is all part and parcel of this sort of fragmented picture. 88 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:02,840 And in a way, migration and diasporic links are a feature of this sort of globalised. 89 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:08,130 Well, this fragmented, globalising world that we've grown used to. 90 00:10:09,330 --> 00:10:21,270 So each of those trends boundary levels, ideas, ecology, economic linkages, civic mobilisation and shaping how states respond to the war itself. 91 00:10:21,690 --> 00:10:26,849 And this certainly leads into, I think, if you like, opportunities of this global fragmentation. 92 00:10:26,850 --> 00:10:32,970 Maybe there's an opportunity in this new environment for progressive economic paradigm change. 93 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:37,799 Maybe there's opportunities within this fragmented environment for developing 94 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:42,600 sustainable peace strategies that address in different ways each of these levels. 95 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:46,590 Perhaps a new internationalism, we might call it. 96 00:10:47,010 --> 00:10:54,510 But of course, there are also extraordinary dangers, and we would be foolish not to emphasise those. 97 00:10:54,990 --> 00:10:55,770 In Ukraine, 98 00:10:55,770 --> 00:11:07,200 I think the principal danger lies in the intersection of economics and security and how those two elements are interacting with one another. 99 00:11:07,740 --> 00:11:14,940 My fear is that the economic situation in Ukraine is so negative, with around one in three people looking for work, 100 00:11:15,450 --> 00:11:24,030 unable to find it, that a certain state that the society might has a risk of some form of fragmentation or breakdown, 101 00:11:24,300 --> 00:11:31,410 and that would create an environment in which the Ukrainian resistance loses its kind of civic character, 102 00:11:31,410 --> 00:11:38,850 its democratic character, potentially, or finds it much harder to sustain that civic democratic character. 103 00:11:39,180 --> 00:11:43,799 Unfortunately, in the fragmented world in which we're living in, we have many, 104 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:51,420 many examples of conflicts that go through this process of fragmentation and then become very, 105 00:11:51,420 --> 00:11:57,870 very difficult to stop, especially when lots and lots of groups emerge that have in one way or another, 106 00:11:58,020 --> 00:12:04,470 a interest in perpetuating a cycle of violence, perhaps as a means of survival and so on. 107 00:12:04,710 --> 00:12:08,520 So this is a clear risk at the same time. 108 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:17,550 And with that economic exhaustion, we also, I think, could say equally on the Russian side, but for slightly different reasons. 109 00:12:17,820 --> 00:12:27,960 And this conventional war, this high intensity conventional war, very different to the conflicts that my colleagues on piece rep peace rep study. 110 00:12:28,290 --> 00:12:39,030 This high intensity conventional war may lead to a situation where both sides lose the ability in one way or another to continue to fight the war. 111 00:12:39,390 --> 00:12:44,459 On the Russian side, that would not be due to domestic economic exhaustion, 112 00:12:44,460 --> 00:12:53,160 but the impact of sanctions in its ability to procure the high end manufacture of high tech 113 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:59,640 weaponry and the high tech weaponry that it needs to sustain the tanks that it's using and losing, 114 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:08,580 it has to be said in the conflict itself. With that, exhaustion comes a clear risk, very clear risk of violent escalation. 115 00:13:08,850 --> 00:13:12,690 That poses a question, a challenge, of course, for peacemaking. 116 00:13:13,260 --> 00:13:19,860 So then in the final guess, the final remark and all conclude, I don't know if I was successful on my 10 minutes. 117 00:13:19,860 --> 00:13:22,860 I suspect not, but I think that was more like 15. 118 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:33,540 So say the relationship. So, yes, so I think any any peace in Ukraine, we have to put at the forefront the question of peace with justice, 119 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:40,230 not peace at any cost, and for a sustainable peace to have to be achieved. 120 00:13:40,500 --> 00:13:44,250 That has to be a recognition of a peace that's in combat. 121 00:13:44,940 --> 00:13:51,389 It compatible, excuse me, with international law, recognising territorial integrity, 122 00:13:51,390 --> 00:13:57,780 the principles of the rule of law system, and the principles of sovereign equality and democracy. 123 00:13:58,050 --> 00:14:06,360 Thank you. Thanks so much. 124 00:14:06,370 --> 00:14:13,590 We have we have time for one question because I shall allow time for one question if there is one. 125 00:14:15,030 --> 00:14:21,180 Yeah, right. Yeah. It's only getting useful, but a flawed suggestion. 126 00:14:21,270 --> 00:14:24,450 One of the opportunities could be a new specialism. 127 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:35,790 Could you expand on that slightly? And that's just an international is the way to turn the spirit of the United Nations and its ambitions, 128 00:14:36,060 --> 00:14:45,030 particularly among the smaller countries, because we lost the war, I think. 129 00:14:45,570 --> 00:14:51,870 Yes, I agree. And I think if there's been if there's been one positive in this terrible, terrible war, 130 00:14:52,080 --> 00:15:02,010 it has been the extraordinary strong support in the United Nations General Assembly for the fundamental principles of that international order. 131 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:10,290 I mean, I think sometimes supporters of Ukraine, I mean, in the global solidarity movement, mistakenly and I think counterproductive. 132 00:15:10,530 --> 00:15:15,989 Counterproductive. Lee downplayed the support that Ukraine has internationally. 133 00:15:15,990 --> 00:15:19,649 Actually, you see this in a lot of the discourse around African states. 134 00:15:19,650 --> 00:15:23,969 There have been many African states that have made passionate speeches at the 135 00:15:23,970 --> 00:15:28,620 General Assembly to uphold the fundamental principles of the international order, 136 00:15:28,620 --> 00:15:34,530 that this is a question of sovereign equality, territorial integrity and so on. 137 00:15:34,740 --> 00:15:42,990 And Ghana is one good example. Kenya is another, and indeed only one state has voted with Russia, Eritrea. 138 00:15:43,170 --> 00:15:48,360 So I think one of the things that we're trying to get off the ground at LSC is to create much more 139 00:15:48,930 --> 00:15:58,350 international dialogues between civic movements and states and in in Africa and the Ukrainians themselves. 140 00:15:58,350 --> 00:16:05,819 Our recent start to this what we have a webinar series called the Russia Ukraine Dialogues where we did a really good session, I think, 141 00:16:05,820 --> 00:16:13,770 with the Ukrainian ambassador for South Africa who really understands the sensitivities of the issue and you can find it online. 142 00:16:13,770 --> 00:16:21,810 It was a great discussion, I think really underlines the strength of support that Ukraine has in Africa. 143 00:16:21,820 --> 00:16:29,880 So be careful in terms of how you talk up Russian disinformation operations in Africa, in the Bognor group and everything. 144 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,750 All of those things are true. They're happening, but it's not the whole picture. 145 00:16:33,900 --> 00:16:40,290 And it's vital that we give visibility to democratic internationalists, civic Africans as well. 146 00:16:44,290 --> 00:16:49,390 So much of it is shifting in holistic view to start a session. 147 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:59,350 Next speaker is Brooks Newmark, who is founder of Angels for Ukraine, and he's going to tell us his story. 148 00:17:01,540 --> 00:17:07,810 He is a doctoral student here in Oxford, a former member of parliament in the U.K. 149 00:17:08,140 --> 00:17:15,879 Hand straight over to you. Thank you. Okay. 150 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:25,959 Well, thank you for inviting me. Yes, I am a student here, a very mature student that I could be talking, 151 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:33,010 I think probably for the little section Ruth Lentz could going to be speaking in, which is student led initiatives. 152 00:17:34,690 --> 00:17:40,690 But I thought I would sort of tell my story of it because it is an initiative 153 00:17:40,900 --> 00:17:49,090 in a country I really didn't know and have no background in doing what I did. 154 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:58,870 You know, so my story is really about being a social entrepreneur in a war zone. 155 00:17:59,350 --> 00:18:08,800 And when I think of being an entrepreneur, which is what I was in my previous life before politics, it was about making money. 156 00:18:09,940 --> 00:18:17,620 But being an entrepreneur is also about looking for opportunities out there to do something that maybe other people aren't doing. 157 00:18:18,610 --> 00:18:20,950 And so when I say I'm a social entrepreneur, 158 00:18:21,220 --> 00:18:29,200 I went into a war zone figuring out how could I be helpful in a way that maybe other people aren't being helpful? 159 00:18:30,130 --> 00:18:39,460 And so I had just finished my field research case tonight in Rwanda, where I'm looking at education policy in Rwanda on February 24th. 160 00:18:40,450 --> 00:18:46,719 And I saw a post on Instagram by a friend of mine who was on the Polish border with 161 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:53,680 a bus and was moving people away from the refugee centres further into Europe. 162 00:18:54,520 --> 00:19:00,310 And I was supposed to be going scuba diving, but I cancelled my scuba diving and I said to my friend, 163 00:19:00,550 --> 00:19:05,590 Can I come and join you for four days just to try and help out, see what I can do? 164 00:19:06,370 --> 00:19:12,790 And so I went out there, changed my clothes from warm to getting dealing with cold weather. 165 00:19:13,450 --> 00:19:19,659 And I went out there and, you know, we were shuttling people away and I stayed a bit longer. 166 00:19:19,660 --> 00:19:23,559 I was there for two weeks and we were moving people away. 167 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:32,950 But one of the stories I kept hearing about was that people were charging people a lot of money to get away from the war zone, 168 00:19:33,670 --> 00:19:39,490 particularly from around Kiev. So my friend, who's Latvian, had to go back to Riga. 169 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:44,290 So I said to him, Can you find me three buses because I want to go into Ukraine. 170 00:19:45,010 --> 00:19:49,360 So he said, Sure, but I'm not letting you have my quarter of €1,000,000 buses. 171 00:19:49,540 --> 00:19:59,410 I'll find you three second hand buses from Lithuania. So I got these three buses he sent to a friend with me who spoke, I'm going to say Russian. 172 00:19:59,650 --> 00:20:06,190 He didn't speak Ukrainian. And so we sort of went in and I went in to around Kiev, 173 00:20:06,190 --> 00:20:13,930 and we were taking people away from the war zone to the border back to where I initially started. 174 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:20,740 And over the next few weeks, as the Russians were pushed away, we found that we were sort of less busy. 175 00:20:21,220 --> 00:20:26,890 And so then the next thing I heard about, there were a lot of people getting away from Mariupol. 176 00:20:27,580 --> 00:20:32,110 So the bus drivers I had, which were from Lithuania, didn't know the roads. 177 00:20:32,530 --> 00:20:37,570 So I figured out I had to contact the National Bus Company and I figured they needed work. 178 00:20:38,020 --> 00:20:42,429 So I contacted one of the national bus companies and I said, okay, 179 00:20:42,430 --> 00:20:47,290 I want to go down to his operation because there are a lot of people down there who are getting away from Mariupol. 180 00:20:47,620 --> 00:20:51,220 And can I have some buses and a bus driver and how much would you charge me? 181 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:57,700 And so I negotiated a deal and which, by the way, I was sort of funding myself at this stage. 182 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:09,160 And I started moving people away from who are from Mariupol and taking them up to leave it, which was safer for them over the next month or two, 183 00:21:10,090 --> 00:21:15,400 when unfortunately the Russians then got control of Mariupol, there were less people to move away. 184 00:21:16,630 --> 00:21:22,900 So then I had to go to the east and I decided to go to Kharkiv because I was hearing 185 00:21:22,900 --> 00:21:27,100 that there were a lot of people in some of the smaller villages who couldn't get away. 186 00:21:27,100 --> 00:21:32,170 They couldn't move, they had no money and no means to get away and were under constant bombardment. 187 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:40,900 So then I had when I went out there and it was difficult to find a bus driver who would come with me because I'm going into a war zone. 188 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:45,360 So I said, Fine, you know, I'll go in. You know who's coming with me? 189 00:21:45,780 --> 00:21:49,260 And I found two bus drivers to come with me with a bus. 190 00:21:49,890 --> 00:22:01,020 And so once they saw that this crazy bridge was willing to go into a war zone with buses, I got more bus drivers to actually come with me. 191 00:22:01,170 --> 00:22:04,210 But then I had two other problems that I was facing. 192 00:22:04,230 --> 00:22:07,500 Well, that was the first problem, was getting bus drivers going to a war zone. 193 00:22:07,830 --> 00:22:14,370 The second problem was, of course, because I was doing this for free, a lot of the people didn't trust me. 194 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:25,050 They thought that perhaps I was taking them into Russia because this is for free and maybe this was a secret way to take them into Russia. 195 00:22:25,650 --> 00:22:30,600 So unfortunately, I then had to charge them some money. 196 00:22:31,020 --> 00:22:41,100 So I charge them 1050, which is the equivalent of ten P and they felt, okay, this must be real because they're charging me for money. 197 00:22:41,310 --> 00:22:44,250 This has to be real and they're going to take me to safety. 198 00:22:45,630 --> 00:22:52,860 So I started I spent a lot of time I probably spent about six months in the east part of the country 199 00:22:53,190 --> 00:22:59,340 around ISM and a lot of the other villages around there just moving more and more people away. 200 00:22:59,370 --> 00:23:04,200 By this time, I had 20 buses that I was working with and paying for. 201 00:23:04,590 --> 00:23:10,829 And I think by by probably the middle of the summer, 202 00:23:10,830 --> 00:23:17,970 I had moved about 11,000 people with mainly women and children away from the frontline villages that were getting bombed. 203 00:23:19,410 --> 00:23:25,520 And then I had a massive challenge. I then the local intelligence, the SBU, contacted me. 204 00:23:25,530 --> 00:23:32,849 They said, you know, we want to try and get a thousand people through a particular checkpoint, but we need somebody who will move them. 205 00:23:32,850 --> 00:23:36,659 Will you do that? So I said, sure. So this was July. 206 00:23:36,660 --> 00:23:40,770 And so I'm I drive out because at this point I'm in Libya. 207 00:23:40,890 --> 00:23:48,510 So I drive across the country. I'm supposed to organise this on a monday in July, arrive at 630, 208 00:23:49,170 --> 00:23:58,970 I get a phone call saying I'm afraid we may have to call off the evacuation of a thousand people because the Army have laid landmines. 209 00:23:58,980 --> 00:24:06,060 They lay mines, rather, on the 500 metres between the Russian checkpoint and the Ukrainian checkpoint. 210 00:24:07,050 --> 00:24:11,950 So I said, this is ridiculous. I'd come all the way out here to try and move these people. 211 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:19,590 I said, I want those mines moved by tomorrow or figure out a way we can get a path through the mines. 212 00:24:19,710 --> 00:24:30,470 But I will be there 730 in the morning played. So I went to the bus station in Kharkiv and there were 20 municipal buses. 213 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:35,640 I think these lime green buses there, they were ambulances and they're all ready to go. 214 00:24:36,570 --> 00:24:41,850 And they said, We've sorted your problem, Mr. Neumeier, don't worry. So I'm driving. 215 00:24:41,850 --> 00:24:46,530 So I send the buses off ahead of me and I'm busy following them. 216 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:55,110 I'm about 10 minutes behind them and I'm driving down some dirt road and I hear this loud bang and I think, 217 00:24:55,860 --> 00:25:00,240 [INAUDIBLE], you know, I blown a tire in my car. Have I got a spare tyre? 218 00:25:00,630 --> 00:25:03,690 So I say to Igor, I think we blown a tyre. 219 00:25:04,050 --> 00:25:09,210 And he said, No, no, no. That was just a mortar bomb that landed seven metres, 70 metres behind us. 220 00:25:09,570 --> 00:25:11,790 So we sort of sped along. 221 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:20,100 We arrived at the checkpoint and the head of the army in that place said about a hundred people there sort of pointed his finger to me, 222 00:25:20,100 --> 00:25:23,760 said, come with me. And he took me around the corner from the checkpoint. 223 00:25:24,060 --> 00:25:31,950 And they had actually moved these mines to imagine the road on both sides where they had moved the mines to this side. 224 00:25:32,020 --> 00:25:37,320 Now, I know the difference between what is a landmine, which is you can trigger by stepping on it, 225 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:44,250 and an anti-tank mine, which is quite big, but you could flick a switch at the side and literally lift it and move it. 226 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:49,360 So they had cleared a path for me of 500 metres, so. 227 00:25:49,470 --> 00:25:54,510 So that was one problem resolved. And I said, Why did you lay these mines when I knew they were coming? 228 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:58,560 But we thought they were Russians were going to use the people as a human shield. 229 00:25:58,890 --> 00:26:02,850 So we wanted didn't want the tanks to come across following these people. 230 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:11,550 So the next problem was they then cancelled it again on me saying, well, we're worried that Russians will infiltrate with these people. 231 00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:18,240 So at this stage, I'm sort of standing there wondering, you know, how how am I going to persuade this guy? 232 00:26:18,630 --> 00:26:23,790 This general suddenly turns up. He sort of is like a Norman Schwarzkopf. 233 00:26:23,790 --> 00:26:28,620 I don't know if you guys remember him, look alike with a ponytail and huge guy. 234 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:34,710 And he comes up to me and he's sort of curious that this Brit is they're trying to sort of organise all this. 235 00:26:35,130 --> 00:26:38,130 So the very first question is he's worried about Boris Johnson, 236 00:26:38,130 --> 00:26:43,470 who is stepping down at this point, and that is our Britain going to still be supporting us. 237 00:26:43,470 --> 00:26:47,990 So, yes. Don't worry, the British are going to still support. And I said, But what? 238 00:26:47,990 --> 00:26:53,020 You could do me a favour and tell that captain over there to please let the people I saw. 239 00:26:53,060 --> 00:26:58,310 I don't know how many people or the Russian checkpoint, but if they are willing to walk through a minefield. 240 00:26:58,700 --> 00:27:02,089 I think we should let them do it anyway. He barks and order and they do. 241 00:27:02,090 --> 00:27:05,750 And they start coming through and we get the first to go through. 242 00:27:06,770 --> 00:27:13,520 And what was extraordinary, it was sort of dystopian because they were, you know, old people pulling one bag along. 243 00:27:13,820 --> 00:27:20,120 There was a lady with two Alsatian dogs. There was another lady carrying a cat with her bag. 244 00:27:20,990 --> 00:27:26,570 There was a woman who had pushed her mother 15 kilometres in a wheelchair. 245 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,809 I said, Why did you why couldn't you drive her to the checkpoint? 246 00:27:29,810 --> 00:27:36,740 At least the Russians stopped us and said, If I want to go to the checkpoint, you have to get out and push your mother in the wheelchair. 247 00:27:37,370 --> 00:27:42,979 And so at the end of the day, we we ended up getting within three and a half hours, 248 00:27:42,980 --> 00:27:49,070 1015, mainly women and children and elderly people through this checkpoint. 249 00:27:49,070 --> 00:27:53,900 And this is sort of one and certainly one of my abiding memories of my time there. 250 00:27:54,710 --> 00:28:00,830 By the time September came, most civilians that I could evacuate, we had evacuated. 251 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:07,010 And so I did a pivot, as any entrepreneur would, because there's no more business there for me. 252 00:28:07,490 --> 00:28:22,610 And so I started focusing on evacuating amputees, and there weren't enough ambulances to to take them from the front line hospitals to get treatment. 253 00:28:22,610 --> 00:28:27,140 And the problem with many of the hospitals in Ukraine was they couldn't deal with severe trauma victims. 254 00:28:27,500 --> 00:28:34,459 So then I started moving amputees to the Polish border to just of and getting them airlifted to hospitals, 255 00:28:34,460 --> 00:28:37,310 mainly in Germany, who could deal with trauma patients. 256 00:28:37,940 --> 00:28:44,179 And my final pivot came when the weather started getting cold because the Ukrainians were doing an amazing job, 257 00:28:44,180 --> 00:28:49,640 particularly in Kharkiv region, where I spent a lot of time pushing people out of a lot of these small villages. 258 00:28:49,970 --> 00:28:56,840 So there were a lot of occupied villages, but that were probably three quarters bombed, but people wanted to go back there. 259 00:28:57,350 --> 00:29:03,770 And so I then started bringing warm clothing or blankets and a lot of humanitarian aid. 260 00:29:04,070 --> 00:29:11,389 And by the time sort of my anniversary had come up in mid February, we moved, 261 00:29:11,390 --> 00:29:19,130 I realised over 31,000 women and children away from frontline villages to safety in western Ukraine. 262 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:25,160 And that in essence is my story. And thank you for listening and if you've got any questions for that. 263 00:29:34,810 --> 00:29:44,920 12 minutes. Good. You. Well, if anyone has got one burning question, John Boehner, how would you pay for it all? 264 00:29:45,370 --> 00:29:52,469 Okay. Well, I paid because I was a hardcore capitalist before I went into politics. 265 00:29:52,470 --> 00:29:55,840 So I put about a quarter of a million of my own money in. 266 00:29:56,140 --> 00:30:03,010 And then I went to about 25 friends of mine who I was at business school with and raised about another three quarters of a million. 267 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:10,990 So. So I raised so I moved about 31,000 people for about $1,000,000. 268 00:30:10,990 --> 00:30:15,000 But I had no central costs. So any central costs I paid for. 269 00:30:15,010 --> 00:30:19,270 So every penny that went in and I did this, there were just three of us doing this. 270 00:30:19,450 --> 00:30:22,510 We had no organisation or anything on the ground. 271 00:30:22,780 --> 00:30:27,129 And what I would say to the very large NGOs out there is, you know, 272 00:30:27,130 --> 00:30:35,470 you can do things effectively on a shoestring with not huge overheads if you really put a little bit of business practice, 273 00:30:35,470 --> 00:30:44,270 which is what I had into this. The second advantage I had was because I'd been in politics, I knew the importance of working with local governments. 274 00:30:44,860 --> 00:30:51,939 So I ended up setting up ten virtual hubs around the country where I worked with each of the mayors in everywhere, 275 00:30:51,940 --> 00:31:03,730 from Kiev down to Venice, down to Nikolayev, Odessa, Kherson, all the way up through to Kharkiv, Sumi and so on. 276 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:11,620 So I have ten hubs there, but no organisation. They're virtual hubs, but I certainly now know Ukraine probably better than most Ukrainians. 277 00:31:12,790 --> 00:31:25,510 Thank you. Well, thank. Well of course we have Dr. Mani Howard. 278 00:31:26,470 --> 00:31:31,870 We're delighted to welcome now in our north program this morning. 279 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:40,020 Some time to. And you have some PowerPoint slides so the student. 280 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:08,830 Money is a so I lost my place. 281 00:32:10,990 --> 00:32:16,810 Departamento lecturer in Russian and East European politics here in Oxford. 282 00:32:17,500 --> 00:32:24,550 Two teachers in both the Department of Politics and International Relations and the School of Global and Area Studies. 283 00:32:25,270 --> 00:32:31,450 And we welcome you very warmly to speak about understanding Ukraine grass roots. 284 00:32:32,550 --> 00:32:40,300 Morning. Great. Well, good afternoon, everyone. 285 00:32:40,310 --> 00:32:42,250 It's nice to see so many faces. 286 00:32:42,620 --> 00:32:48,430 I've just come in from up the road and at another conference where we've been talking about Ukraine for the last two days. 287 00:32:48,790 --> 00:32:58,239 So my head is sort of everywhere. But what I noticed at the conference that I just came from and something that actually I think Brooke did 288 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:04,330 a fantastic job in his talk was sort of the idea that Ukrainians are missing from this conversation. 289 00:33:04,330 --> 00:33:08,290 And I'm going to do right now a little bit of what Luc just did is kind of push back against 290 00:33:08,290 --> 00:33:12,819 my disciplines and question where the voices of Ukrainians are in these conversations, 291 00:33:12,820 --> 00:33:15,790 and especially within political science and international relations, 292 00:33:16,090 --> 00:33:23,169 but also within many of these policy circles and media accounts, the absence of Ukrainians is very clear, 293 00:33:23,170 --> 00:33:29,230 at least for me as a member of the Diaspora and as someone who's been working on Ukraine for the last ten years, 294 00:33:30,010 --> 00:33:36,489 I've spent a great deal of my life in the country. And so for me, elevating the voice of Ukrainians is very important. 295 00:33:36,490 --> 00:33:43,060 And I'm really glad to see not only many individuals on the program today, but many Ukrainians and some of my own collaborators in the audience. 296 00:33:43,270 --> 00:33:50,200 So I think that these voices are really important and something that we really need to listen to whenever we are talking about peace in any capacity, 297 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:54,580 sustainable, even in a temporary sense, but especially in the country going forward. 298 00:33:56,110 --> 00:34:04,510 The reason that I say this is because these are the images that have been dominating much of our media since the 24th of February 2022. 299 00:34:04,990 --> 00:34:10,990 This is a map that was from the 24 February. And as you can see, Russia invaded Ukraine in many directions. 300 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:17,980 Images associated with this have really been dominating our media, but they have changed over time. 301 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:20,919 And here's a map. This is from mid-March. 302 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:28,720 So it's not necessarily the most accurate one, but it shows that we have seen new developments over throughout the country in the last year and a bit. 303 00:34:29,470 --> 00:34:32,770 But still, we are still thinking about Ukraine kind of through this lens. 304 00:34:32,770 --> 00:34:35,740 Many of us in this audience probably now know a lot more about Ukraine, 305 00:34:35,770 --> 00:34:41,170 including at the regional level, you know, probably where Kharkiv is, maybe it caps on multiple, etc. 306 00:34:41,590 --> 00:34:51,049 From these maps that we're seeing in the news, we're also seeing many of these images, many of which Brooke's just painted for us. 307 00:34:51,050 --> 00:35:00,490 Right. These women and children, these elderly people fleeing the country on foot by bus, many of them in buildings that have been attacked. 308 00:35:01,270 --> 00:35:06,160 They have been these these have been very much the images of what we've seen above Ukraine in the last year. 309 00:35:06,970 --> 00:35:12,160 But also there have been other discussions dominating social media, especially Instagram and Twitter, 310 00:35:12,730 --> 00:35:16,930 due to Ukrainians creativity and using social media for their cause. 311 00:35:17,290 --> 00:35:22,540 And we've seen some of these images, we've seen memes in particular this one with the tractor in the tank, 312 00:35:23,260 --> 00:35:28,060 as well as just cities being liberated like Pettersen and the nationalist expressions. 313 00:35:28,300 --> 00:35:34,570 When these cities have been liberated, when these people are able to take back and move back to their cities and homes. 314 00:35:35,950 --> 00:35:41,169 But with this, we don't really know much about what Ukrainians think or what they're experiencing amidst the war, 315 00:35:41,170 --> 00:35:44,829 except for the accounts of individuals as they're leaving. But we can't. 316 00:35:44,830 --> 00:35:51,190 And as political scientists, we have very significant difficulties in trying to research the country while the war is ongoing. 317 00:35:51,460 --> 00:35:58,060 However, it is so important for us to know what they think in order for us to address or to help Ukraine in any capacity. 318 00:35:58,540 --> 00:36:02,049 So for this reason, last year, in February, 319 00:36:02,050 --> 00:36:07,900 I received the John Bell Fund Research Grant from the University for a completely different project in Ukraine. 320 00:36:08,170 --> 00:36:12,130 I had the funds and believed it was no longer ethical to do the research that I had done. 321 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:17,530 And so what I did is I contacted a think tank in Ukraine who I was previously in touch with, 322 00:36:17,740 --> 00:36:22,390 and I asked them what they thought was the most necessary for Oxford researchers to do at that time. 323 00:36:22,870 --> 00:36:29,739 For them, there was no public opinion polling happening in the country and they believed it was really important to for us 324 00:36:29,740 --> 00:36:36,100 to know how Ukrainians saw the war but saw themselves and especially the foreign policy ambitions of the people. 325 00:36:36,580 --> 00:36:44,049 So with this well, I'll get back to this second as a scholar of mine or a colleague of mine, 326 00:36:44,050 --> 00:36:51,990 that if I decided to run a public opinion survey with this and also find motivating our stance was much of an. 327 00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:58,770 Medium that had been dominating the discussions about the war, often framing the war as though it started on the 24th of February. 328 00:36:59,010 --> 00:37:05,130 But forgetting that this was something that had been happening for nine years and for many Ukrainians, many of them in this room, 329 00:37:05,310 --> 00:37:10,800 we can attest to the fact that 2014 was a significant turning point for Ukrainians, 330 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:18,000 not only from the Euromaidan in 2013, 2014, but the annexation of Crimea and then the beginning of the war in Donbas. 331 00:37:19,380 --> 00:37:25,800 The Ukraine, the Russia Ukraine war was an international and has been an international conflict backed by Russian separatists, 332 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:30,930 by Russia and also Ukrainians. And it's very, very complex and there's many different nuances here. 333 00:37:31,170 --> 00:37:34,229 But it's not just been or has not just been a 12 month conflict. 334 00:37:34,230 --> 00:37:39,420 It's been a 12 month plus eight year conflict or now even if 13 or 14 months plus eight years. 335 00:37:39,750 --> 00:37:42,989 This is something that is really important for any conversation about peace 336 00:37:42,990 --> 00:37:47,700 and that this is not something new that has come about in the last few years, 337 00:37:47,700 --> 00:37:51,210 especially in the eyes of Ukrainians. This has been happening at a very local level. 338 00:37:51,510 --> 00:37:55,760 I worked with families of war and orphan children for five years in the country. 339 00:37:56,010 --> 00:38:03,089 And this the horrors, the atrocities and these stories of trauma are very entrenched in very much a new 340 00:38:03,090 --> 00:38:07,320 generation of people who are now have been living with conflict for going on ten years. 341 00:38:07,530 --> 00:38:12,180 This is really important for us to remember when we're thinking about peace. I threw up some numbers here. 342 00:38:12,570 --> 00:38:16,320 Just estimates for us to remind ourselves that there have been significant losses. 343 00:38:16,870 --> 00:38:19,310 This is not at all to undermine what we've seen since February, 344 00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:24,510 but just as a reminder that these losses are not new and they have been ongoing for a significant, 345 00:38:25,380 --> 00:38:28,050 significant period of time, and that there have also been many, 346 00:38:28,050 --> 00:38:34,770 many people internally displaced and also displaced within Europe since 2014 and not only since 2022. 347 00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:39,210 Still we've seen significant Ukrainian resistance. 348 00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:45,780 And these are just some very simple visual for us to remind ourselves that when Russia 349 00:38:45,780 --> 00:38:51,719 did invade in 2022 and there was a significant imbalance between Ukraine state, 350 00:38:51,720 --> 00:38:55,350 especially within its military, its combat capabilities and Russia. 351 00:38:56,160 --> 00:39:03,299 But with this and as we've seen, Ukraine has continued to defend itself despite the significant losses which we don't often talk about. 352 00:39:03,300 --> 00:39:09,330 And this is a really important reality. We do talk often about the Russian losses, that there have been significant losses on the Ukrainian side. 353 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:10,469 Yes, they were. 354 00:39:10,470 --> 00:39:19,770 And they began this counteroffensive in February 2022 with a significant imbalance in just inequality, but yet they have continued to fight. 355 00:39:19,770 --> 00:39:24,540 Despite that, still, it's important for us to know what Ukrainians are thinking. 356 00:39:24,690 --> 00:39:31,770 So my colleague Karl and I, at the time we ran a public opinion survey in 11 regions of Ukraine, 357 00:39:32,340 --> 00:39:37,709 only the 11 regions we were able to get ethics approval at the time because they were only under 358 00:39:37,710 --> 00:39:42,540 Ukraine's control and they hadn't been directly affected within the first immediate months. 359 00:39:42,540 --> 00:39:48,150 And so those are the places where they're highlighted in red. These are the regions that we had were able to access. 360 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:55,200 What we are doing with this think tank is trying to compare their data that they are they've been collecting from February 2021, 361 00:39:55,200 --> 00:40:04,140 a year before the invasion, December 2021, so three months before the invasion and then days before the invasion in 2022 in February. 362 00:40:04,590 --> 00:40:08,069 And so I'm going to go through just some brief graphs for you to understand this. 363 00:40:08,070 --> 00:40:13,980 Again, these this survey particular was conducted in May, so just about three months after Russia's invasion. 364 00:40:14,610 --> 00:40:19,830 So the first question that had previously been asked in February 2022, before the invasion, 365 00:40:20,070 --> 00:40:24,480 was, who do you think is primarily responsible for the growing threat? Because this is what it was at the time. 366 00:40:25,010 --> 00:40:31,710 As you can see, the numbers there are significant in Russia. But when the question was asked again in May 2022, 367 00:40:31,950 --> 00:40:39,780 we see a greater or significantly growing increase in terms of it being the leadership of Russia and also the citizens of Russia. 368 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:44,250 This question is important because especially in the first few months post-invasion, 369 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:49,460 the rhetoric within the international community was very much about NATO expansion and EU expansion, 370 00:40:49,470 --> 00:40:52,710 why that's who is guilty and that was responsible for this. 371 00:40:52,860 --> 00:40:59,760 Yet in the eyes of Ukrainians, it was not that. As you can see here, it was actually in their eyes, it was Russia and Russian civil society. 372 00:41:01,620 --> 00:41:09,389 Again, similar question asking that your interpretation of the events we see here that the war is a consequence of Russia's foreign 373 00:41:09,390 --> 00:41:16,500 and aggressive foreign policy position rather than the consequence of perhaps NATO expansion or Ukraine joining the EU or. 374 00:41:16,500 --> 00:41:22,910 Sorry. And joining me to a similarly and I think this is a quite interesting one, the changing views and allyship. 375 00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:28,590 So this is again from February 2022 before the invasion to May 2022, 376 00:41:28,890 --> 00:41:35,700 we see significant growing support for it at the UK, the US, the UK, the US and Poland. 377 00:41:36,060 --> 00:41:38,340 Again, this is not particularly surprising. 378 00:41:39,090 --> 00:41:45,480 Poland is a very obvious reason and the help that they have given them so substantially the US being a significant ally. 379 00:41:45,750 --> 00:41:51,450 But at this time Boris Johnson had been the first prime minister to visit Ukraine since the invasion. 380 00:41:51,540 --> 00:41:57,149 And so. We can't really deduce whether this was actually Ukrainian spelled or because Boris 381 00:41:57,150 --> 00:42:01,830 Johnson had been so active in the news and he had been the first Western leader there. 382 00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:05,760 In any case, it is interesting to see such significant growing support. 383 00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:12,540 And if we were and I will be running this survey again in May, we will see what's been happening in the last year. 384 00:42:13,950 --> 00:42:22,139 Another interesting one is just seeing the significant growth in support for Ukrainian support for joining the EU going up. 385 00:42:22,140 --> 00:42:25,410 I believe it's 13 percentage points and which has gone up. 386 00:42:25,740 --> 00:42:32,070 There's very much support even though it was only in 11 regions is the same finding that we several other teams of scholars, 387 00:42:32,340 --> 00:42:38,190 including a team based at Manchester, have found with more regions included is that there has been, if anything, 388 00:42:38,190 --> 00:42:42,360 the war has actually increased Ukrainian support for joining the EU and arguably NATO's, 389 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:47,610 although we don't have that question in ours and this is again from that same group of scholars, 390 00:42:47,610 --> 00:42:54,180 they've also seen a growing support for democracy and support of Ukrainians believing in Ukraine becoming a democratic state. 391 00:42:54,510 --> 00:42:59,140 This is in my data, but I thought it was interesting and important to show because this is often a question that I'm asked. 392 00:42:59,180 --> 00:43:04,379 You talk about this data and Belarus is also something we often think about. 393 00:43:04,380 --> 00:43:08,280 What is Belarus's position here? Again, prior to the invasion, 394 00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:13,110 it actually made Ukrainians who suggested that there's a growing fear and that 395 00:43:13,230 --> 00:43:17,730 Belarus is playing a role in this and more so than they had prior to the invasion. 396 00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:24,569 This might change now, and when I asked the same survey again, we might see a different result because Belarus hasn't been as active, 397 00:43:24,570 --> 00:43:27,840 or at least is a location in which Russia can attack Ukraine. 398 00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:31,140 However, they still have not been neutral. They have been active in this. 399 00:43:31,140 --> 00:43:35,280 And so it's hard to say whether this will hold or whether we might see some changes here. 400 00:43:36,720 --> 00:43:41,549 Finally, what I think is really important with this survey is around concessions, 401 00:43:41,550 --> 00:43:45,450 because this is also a conversation that at the time in the first three months, 402 00:43:45,450 --> 00:43:50,609 but especially now, we are still talking about what will Ukraine give up in order for peace? 403 00:43:50,610 --> 00:43:53,310 What is what is Ukraine willing to concede? 404 00:43:53,700 --> 00:44:00,090 As you can see in this survey, I mean, Ukrainian said 78% of them said they will not support any concessions. 405 00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:08,790 I'm still within this question. My colleague and I felt that it was a little bit too vague and that 78% is a very strong position. 406 00:44:08,970 --> 00:44:13,590 But we wanted to tease that out a little bit more to see if there was perhaps anything in that. 407 00:44:14,190 --> 00:44:17,280 So we added another and another question in there. 408 00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:21,659 And what we can see is that the only or the only bit of movement would really 409 00:44:21,660 --> 00:44:25,860 be around humanitarian issues and specifically around humanitarian corridors. 410 00:44:26,340 --> 00:44:35,880 If you remember back in May, in April 2022, we saw a significant number of attacks on humanitarian corridors as Ukrainians are being evacuated. 411 00:44:36,090 --> 00:44:40,350 So this does align with what was happening on the ground, and I'm sure Brooks can attest to that. 412 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:45,750 There is significant fear and I do believe that this is where Ukrainians opposition came from. 413 00:44:46,310 --> 00:44:53,790 Nevertheless, this really prompted us to think about what else is important to Ukrainians, because if we're going to talk about concession, 414 00:44:53,790 --> 00:45:00,480 we also need to know what and how they feel about their country, their political autonomy, especially their territorial integrity. 415 00:45:01,770 --> 00:45:08,910 So this led to a second, second conjoint survey experiment led by, again, my colleague and also another colleague at Nuffield. 416 00:45:09,240 --> 00:45:14,670 I'm only going to go into this very briefly, but really the message that I want to take away is in the next slide, 417 00:45:15,150 --> 00:45:17,640 as you can see, we were able to add some additional regions. 418 00:45:17,940 --> 00:45:23,910 And again, these are only regions that individuals had not or that were under Ukrainian control. 419 00:45:24,150 --> 00:45:29,010 And we only surveyed individuals who had not fled or left their homes since Russia's invasion. 420 00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:33,930 This is sort of an understanding of that's how we chose our sample. 421 00:45:34,500 --> 00:45:42,719 Any of these regions, these are the initial were the initial text where we had selected Sumi some high up there. 422 00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:49,830 Sumi was originally in our sample, but during data collection we actually had to drop the sample because individuals there were so 423 00:45:49,830 --> 00:45:54,450 sceptical of our enumerators on the ground thinking that they were acting on behalf of Russia. 424 00:45:54,810 --> 00:46:00,660 So if anything of this amongst many stories disarticulated are challenges of any research being conducted in Ukraine at this. 425 00:46:00,660 --> 00:46:05,430 I'm not even speaking about the ethics and potential re traumatisation that come with conducting research. 426 00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:12,570 In any case, though, we were able to gather significant data and what we found in this through our experiment 427 00:46:12,720 --> 00:46:18,570 is essentially that Ukrainians are not trading off the costs and benefits of war, 428 00:46:18,750 --> 00:46:22,950 as we've seen in every single context in which we can find in the literature, 429 00:46:23,340 --> 00:46:33,090 in that there is not a threshold of civilian or military deaths or even a nuclear strike that would deter them from continuing to fight what we found. 430 00:46:33,090 --> 00:46:41,549 And 79% of individuals said that first and foremost, for them in controlling their political system, 431 00:46:41,550 --> 00:46:43,980 controlling their government was first and foremost important. 432 00:46:44,190 --> 00:46:51,750 And the second is that the territory of their country, including Donbas and Crimea, are fundamental to them. 433 00:46:52,050 --> 00:46:55,980 And that they are willing to continue to fight until these are sustained. 434 00:46:56,390 --> 00:46:59,790 And this is really important for us as political scientists, as policymakers. 435 00:47:00,090 --> 00:47:04,110 Anyone really interested in the discussion to know that if Ukrainians are not going to fight, 436 00:47:04,380 --> 00:47:10,530 I'm thinking about or giving them the conversation or suggestion that they should negotiate is off the table and that we need to think 437 00:47:10,530 --> 00:47:18,330 about creative ways to work with Ukrainians if this is how definitively their position is still and I want to end on a positive note, 438 00:47:18,360 --> 00:47:21,689 because I think that this is a conversation. 439 00:47:21,690 --> 00:47:26,310 It's not entirely bleak. And I think Brooke highlighted this, too, in talking about the local level. 440 00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:32,820 We have seen significant grassroots support in a way that perhaps would be unexpected in times of war. 441 00:47:33,180 --> 00:47:39,899 This is again from my colleagues in Manchester, but we can see a significant number of individuals engaging in grassroots organisations, 442 00:47:39,900 --> 00:47:45,420 donating funds, cooking, helping the military in many different ways, not just fighting on the front lines. 443 00:47:46,140 --> 00:47:53,520 This is it continues to grow in their numbers here. They say 61% in the top blue, but it's even more in the more contemporary days. 444 00:47:53,520 --> 00:47:58,650 The second survey was in May 2022, and they've continued to run polls since then. 445 00:47:59,880 --> 00:48:05,640 In addition, in my own work, I've been looking at you expressions of the nation and other active, 446 00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:11,220 but perhaps different ways in which Ukrainians have been expressing their nation and fighting for Ukraine. 447 00:48:11,550 --> 00:48:16,200 These are photos of music, the express underground in bomb shelters across the country. 448 00:48:16,410 --> 00:48:21,150 We have professional violin players, for example, playing to keep the morale in the spirits up. 449 00:48:22,030 --> 00:48:28,620 You know, trumpeters, we also see this are incredible art being painted on to the sides of the bomb shelters. 450 00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:32,969 The one on the left is by children in Ternium. As you can see through the colours, 451 00:48:32,970 --> 00:48:39,750 there is a sense of nationalism as expressions to support and fight for your nation, even perhaps in a different way. 452 00:48:40,570 --> 00:48:46,350 Finally, these are just another example, including a famous Ukrainian musician who's travelled across the country. 453 00:48:46,350 --> 00:48:49,620 This is in Kharkiv singing and really boosting the morale of citizens. 454 00:48:49,950 --> 00:48:53,640 So this reminds us that there is much more happening than those images I showed you at the beginning. 455 00:48:54,210 --> 00:48:59,250 And with that, I just want to leave us sort of with four final questions that perhaps can stimulate discussion later. 456 00:49:00,060 --> 00:49:03,900 One, you know, how do we account for Ukraine is agency. We're talking about the war. 457 00:49:04,410 --> 00:49:10,060 As you can tell. I believe this is fundamental to how do we talk about Ukrainians, agency or agency. 458 00:49:10,170 --> 00:49:14,460 Talking about peace because Ukrainians need to be elevated in these discussions as well. 459 00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:22,050 Three What does peace look like for Ukrainians when Russia will be and is always going to be Ukraine's neighbour? 460 00:49:22,110 --> 00:49:25,440 How do we understand that and have Ukrainians understand that fundamentally? 461 00:49:26,280 --> 00:49:31,140 And finally, keeping Ukrainians views in mind? What does support for Ukraine actually look like? 462 00:49:31,530 --> 00:49:34,770 With that, I thank you for your time and hope we can continue this conversation later. 463 00:49:43,440 --> 00:49:48,989 Thank you so much. Can we take one question and could ask the next speaker to come on up, though? 464 00:49:48,990 --> 00:49:54,770 We're just answering that. If there is one thing I was watching the. 465 00:50:01,090 --> 00:50:11,860 Question is if that's the view of ordinary Iranians, how do they see a peaceful future? 466 00:50:12,370 --> 00:50:22,330 Is that a defeat of Russia or is this going to be a question that many Iranians in this room, I think, that are better able to speak on this? 467 00:50:22,660 --> 00:50:27,850 I'm sorry. I'm so used to teaching where I walk around the think a you can my student. 468 00:50:28,150 --> 00:50:32,920 I think there are several Ukrainians in this room I think are probably in a more appropriate position to speak. 469 00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:39,640 However, I was on a panel yesterday with two Ukrainians, one being an academic and one being a journalist who's been on the front lines. 470 00:50:40,270 --> 00:50:42,309 And we talked about this question of what is winning, 471 00:50:42,310 --> 00:50:52,660 what is peace actually look like for them fundamentally is pushing Russia back to the 2000 or so to the February 24 borders at least. 472 00:50:53,020 --> 00:50:57,220 And beyond that, pushing back to the 2014 borders would be ideal. 473 00:50:57,400 --> 00:51:03,549 But they said, in their view, they would be willing to accept at least the return of everything else ever done by us. 474 00:51:03,550 --> 00:51:10,540 And then Donbas could be a different conversation and at least the academic who has come from Ukraine to Oxford just for this conference, 475 00:51:10,840 --> 00:51:16,569 he said that in his view, there will need to be some other discussion around the future of Donbass in particular, 476 00:51:16,570 --> 00:51:20,260 and that it is separate from the larger conversation about the future of Ukraine. 477 00:51:24,400 --> 00:51:31,030 I think. Yeah. 478 00:51:32,750 --> 00:51:37,430 They're just world changing. The part with our next speaker is a Ukrainian voice. 479 00:51:37,670 --> 00:51:45,350 Right. Yeah, that's another book that is. And then I see you in the school of Anthropology doing a lot of work. 480 00:51:46,940 --> 00:51:56,690 But before coming to it, she was a journalist reporting on all this various aspects. 481 00:51:57,990 --> 00:52:01,470 Very excited to hear what you have to say. 482 00:52:02,080 --> 00:52:12,740 Okay. Thank you. Okay. 483 00:52:12,750 --> 00:52:15,780 Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, everyone for being here. 484 00:52:15,790 --> 00:52:26,609 So my name is Yaroslav, a booster and indeed I, I had a word for a couple of years in Ukrainian media and NGO Sector four before coming to Oxford. 485 00:52:26,610 --> 00:52:37,020 I've been working in Brussels for almost half a year covering agrifood policy and before that I was part of elite sport in team system, 486 00:52:37,050 --> 00:52:41,010 which was one of the key investigative journalism media in Ukraine. 487 00:52:41,310 --> 00:52:42,120 So therefore, 488 00:52:42,510 --> 00:52:53,729 I think it would be fair to begin with saying that the position I will talk about work of media during the Russian-Ukrainian war would be the one of 489 00:52:53,730 --> 00:53:03,230 someone who I knew would be the one of someone who actually was part of Ukrainian newsroom with the beginning of the full scale Russian invasion. 490 00:53:03,600 --> 00:53:16,770 And yeah, and basically I think that I will begin with outlining the points of my speech, the first Ukrainian journalism and who are they? 491 00:53:16,770 --> 00:53:20,490 Who are those people who are coming, who are working actually in Ukraine, 492 00:53:20,520 --> 00:53:27,030 having more Ukrainian international journalists than a full scale Russian invasion through different lenses? 493 00:53:27,030 --> 00:53:32,549 And this is like partly what a previous article was touching in her in her talks, 494 00:53:32,550 --> 00:53:37,500 like who speaks on behalf of who, who has the agency to talk on behalf of Ukraine? 495 00:53:37,740 --> 00:53:46,110 And actually, do Ukrainian journalists have the same scale of legitimacy talking about conflict happening within their country, 496 00:53:46,410 --> 00:53:53,160 as do international media, talking about that conflict and a couple of lessons to learn and points to 497 00:53:53,160 --> 00:53:57,480 think about again as a person who work in Ukrainian and international media. 498 00:53:58,500 --> 00:54:00,959 Yeah. Talking today. Okay. 499 00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:10,230 So first of all, one of the things that was very present in Ukrainian media sphere was like one this is a question I often get like, 500 00:54:10,470 --> 00:54:15,180 were you expecting the beginning of the full scale invasion to happen to February 24th? 501 00:54:15,930 --> 00:54:22,139 While the short answer would perhaps be no. And before that, as a as a part of our newsroom, 502 00:54:22,140 --> 00:54:30,330 we were doing a number of trainings actually on first aid on and I remember that it was like partly and a bit. 503 00:54:30,630 --> 00:54:34,350 Yeah, that we're actually love jokes about like wearing bullet-proof vests. 504 00:54:34,350 --> 00:54:41,180 And I can't say that we actually did perceive what was about to happen in, you know, 505 00:54:41,250 --> 00:54:46,979 like as a serious thought because before that there were a couple of media reports saying that, 506 00:54:46,980 --> 00:54:50,910 yeah, Russia's going to invade Ukraine like in December, then like later than in January. 507 00:54:51,420 --> 00:54:57,389 And so it was partly like jokes, but mainly made mainly jokes as like you can't leave in a constant stress. 508 00:54:57,390 --> 00:55:03,240 So we were preparing but not it was not something that we were expecting. 509 00:55:04,950 --> 00:55:09,600 So at the beginning of OC, at the beginning of the full scale Russian invasion, 510 00:55:09,870 --> 00:55:13,169 what was happening is actually that there were a lot of journalists who had 511 00:55:13,170 --> 00:55:18,299 a very different expertise and very different spheres they were working at. 512 00:55:18,300 --> 00:55:27,600 So you had like in any other country, you had also war work correspondents who were covering war for the last like 8 hours before, 513 00:55:27,780 --> 00:55:33,629 but it was not the majority of journalists. So it was not like professionals, trained professionals who knew how to do all this thing, 514 00:55:33,630 --> 00:55:41,250 who knew how to wear all this like bullet-proof vests, who knew all the rules and regulations about working with army and with press officers? 515 00:55:41,490 --> 00:55:48,870 Actually, yeah, like people who would work as press officers, it was not existent because. 516 00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:53,850 Yeah, because it was just just the journalistic field is functions any other country. 517 00:55:54,540 --> 00:56:03,689 So again, we have like investigative journalists, like the media when I worked where like some of these journalists did have experience covering war. 518 00:56:03,690 --> 00:56:10,829 But mainly, again, as I say, it was not like all that constituted their profession. 519 00:56:10,830 --> 00:56:19,979 And what we had to face was basically overnight having a conversation on the whole at the general meeting of the whole newsroom actually talking, 520 00:56:19,980 --> 00:56:21,330 okay, guys, what are we going to do now? 521 00:56:21,330 --> 00:56:30,840 So as investigative media, we used to cover Bandera papers, Panama Papers, revealing crimes of top Ukrainian politicians. 522 00:56:31,080 --> 00:56:34,590 And here we have the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. 523 00:56:34,590 --> 00:56:38,610 And what are we going to do now? So what's our position now? We're not war reporters. 524 00:56:38,700 --> 00:56:47,460 This is not what we can do. And well, as Anna began that she's she's the chief editor of Please for information one her interviews. 525 00:56:48,060 --> 00:56:52,230 You are never ready. You never register that your world can be destroyed in some stupid way. 526 00:56:52,230 --> 00:56:57,030 And this is this is true. So basically, what we're not preparing for doing any of these things. 527 00:56:57,480 --> 00:57:06,120 And during that night, we actually switched to two directions of our war work. 528 00:57:06,120 --> 00:57:10,350 So one of them was covering war. We actually had a couple of people who put on old. 529 00:57:10,410 --> 00:57:20,190 It's like Vasco had like a bit more experience in in having more before who want to actually report on the places in Kiev where, 530 00:57:21,270 --> 00:57:27,630 where there were first like, um, strikes, rocket strikes. 531 00:57:27,900 --> 00:57:30,299 And this was like one of the possible directions. 532 00:57:30,300 --> 00:57:38,760 The second one was actually was doing what we could do using osint methods to identify Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. 533 00:57:39,150 --> 00:57:45,059 So the thing is that many of these people, they have like social media and just using, again, like offline methods, 534 00:57:45,060 --> 00:57:54,210 like open sources, you can you can identify these people for further using of this information within international courts. 535 00:57:54,690 --> 00:57:59,909 So and what was happening then, which was quite unprecedented for Ukrainian media, 536 00:57:59,910 --> 00:58:04,680 that system was given trainings to the prosecutor's office to actually how to use 537 00:58:04,680 --> 00:58:08,190 this methods to identify Russian soldiers fighting on the territory of Ukraine. 538 00:58:10,170 --> 00:58:20,249 Then again, like part of the part of the journalistic sphere, switched to countering Russian propaganda because it was coming up as like insanely. 539 00:58:20,250 --> 00:58:26,309 And this is actually interesting because in Ukraine many people understand Russian. 540 00:58:26,310 --> 00:58:29,340 And when you actually face it and when you actually have to face it everyday, 541 00:58:29,340 --> 00:58:35,840 it's like you get you have to deal with Russian propaganda in some regions of Ukraine where it's like stronger against some Russian speaking region, 542 00:58:35,850 --> 00:58:40,560 more more Russian speaking regions in Ukraine. And this all came together. 543 00:58:40,800 --> 00:58:49,050 And I would say that at the beginning it was just basically quite a mess in the sense that we were trying to understand how to figure, 544 00:58:49,080 --> 00:58:53,520 like how how to work, how to move on and with. 545 00:58:56,680 --> 00:59:06,909 As things for developing. I would say that multimedia they got their niches within covering this this this for so for example 546 00:59:06,910 --> 00:59:12,819 one of the one of the media projects you CRANOR Instead of doing our reports from actually talking 547 00:59:12,820 --> 00:59:18,160 about Ukrainian traditions Ukrainian culture that was like mainly in focus this which more to again 548 00:59:18,160 --> 00:59:25,510 like counter counter disinformation projects and explaining more about what is happening in Ukraine, 549 00:59:25,510 --> 00:59:32,260 why it is happening, like why we are not ready to give up, why some Russian narratives should just like go away. 550 00:59:33,730 --> 00:59:40,100 And of course, projects like Stop Fake, which is like one of the key hub, basically. 551 00:59:40,100 --> 00:59:45,280 Yes. Just from the from the names like Fakes Project is also functioning in Ukraine 552 00:59:45,280 --> 00:59:50,710 and has been on for years now and they just kept on like with their work. 553 00:59:51,370 --> 00:59:54,730 So this is like another another like direction in which things were moving. 554 00:59:56,050 --> 01:00:04,450 Also, we, we have this quite impressive thing which was like one channel 24 was for seven like news coverage, 555 01:00:05,050 --> 01:00:12,540 which basically were a couple of t TV channels, interestingly, because they were owned by different oligarchs and mainly Ukrainian media. 556 01:00:12,640 --> 01:00:16,270 TV media there are not their main private. 557 01:00:16,270 --> 01:00:17,950 So we haven't this has been a broadcaster. 558 01:00:17,950 --> 01:00:27,970 A broadcaster which is like, yeah, public broadcaster, but otherwise they came all together and they started covering war, 559 01:00:28,780 --> 01:00:35,740 which is like another in a sense Ukrainian as the way it is perceived in Ukraine. 560 01:00:36,490 --> 01:00:43,780 When a said quite well, it's like a part of Ukrainian propaganda that is happening and it's also ruled by government. 561 01:00:43,780 --> 01:00:53,650 So I mean, it's like another voice that actually emerged within this news coverage and this is not the direction in which things went moving. 562 01:00:55,990 --> 01:01:04,360 What was interesting was when international journalists actually started coming to Ukraine and there were cases when, 563 01:01:04,360 --> 01:01:12,249 for instance, my colleague, one colleagues went to the places where the rocket has just like stroke in the residential building. 564 01:01:12,250 --> 01:01:17,110 So it's a total mess. You see people who just lost their homes were just lost their families. 565 01:01:17,620 --> 01:01:21,790 They're scared. They're like over there. And it's it's a shock. 566 01:01:22,210 --> 01:01:25,870 And then you see a bunch of international journalists who actually come to the 567 01:01:25,870 --> 01:01:30,730 spot and they like apparently this is not their first time covering these things. 568 01:01:31,030 --> 01:01:41,050 They know each other quite well and they are like in a very friendly way, just chatting, like walking around just as doing, doing their job, 569 01:01:41,350 --> 01:01:44,350 which is actually very different from what it is for Ukrainians because it 570 01:01:44,350 --> 01:01:48,340 also involves some level of personal attachment to things that you will see. 571 01:01:48,730 --> 01:01:56,620 And there were quite a lot of like tension connected to that in the beginning because while again you see people coming through very personal stories, 572 01:01:56,630 --> 01:02:01,180 very personal trauma, and then at the same time, you just see people working there, which is also fair. 573 01:02:01,180 --> 01:02:10,870 But yes, and it's actually quite interesting the the point that I face have to face as as a journalist working in Brussels newsroom. 574 01:02:10,870 --> 01:02:15,939 So there was one opinion piece that they let me write. 575 01:02:15,940 --> 01:02:21,309 It was 500 words basically discussing why do ossification in Ukraine is not that straightforward. 576 01:02:21,310 --> 01:02:27,040 So why it is not just let's prohibit everything Russian or in Russian like Russian, like written in Russian language. 577 01:02:27,310 --> 01:02:32,080 So this is not just like such a such a straightforward process as sometimes it is depicted in media. 578 01:02:32,680 --> 01:02:40,239 And it was quite interesting because there were other journalists who were covering Ukraine and their articles were reviewed by, 579 01:02:40,240 --> 01:02:45,070 for instance, one, one editor like them, their department, and another like chief editor. 580 01:02:46,210 --> 01:02:55,300 My opinion piece for five 500 words as a Ukrainian talking on behalf of Ukraine about Ukraine was reviewed by five different editors, 581 01:02:55,300 --> 01:03:00,850 including a chief editor. And it was quite striking for me because I could understand why. 582 01:03:00,850 --> 01:03:07,179 But actually, as they explained to me, while we expect from you to be more emotional, we expected from you condemnation. 583 01:03:07,180 --> 01:03:13,540 We can't expect from you to be objective. Talking about your country and talking about anything is happening in your country. 584 01:03:13,750 --> 01:03:19,180 Even though you are here, you are here in Brussels. You are reporting on many different issues. 585 01:03:19,180 --> 01:03:22,750 We've seen you in work, but we still do not quite trust you in this respect. 586 01:03:23,770 --> 01:03:31,149 So this is something that remained like, you know, it was not said straightforwardly, but I could understand, I could get it. 587 01:03:31,150 --> 01:03:34,450 And this was just sounding like this was in the air. 588 01:03:34,780 --> 01:03:43,630 And this is like another piece of reality that we had to face, which is basically, are you as a Ukrainian, are able to talk on behalf of Ukraine? 589 01:03:43,840 --> 01:03:48,250 Will you be emotional or will you be actually objective and following all the journalistic standards? 590 01:03:48,700 --> 01:03:55,380 And I was actually very curious about to compare like how Ukrainian and in. 591 01:03:55,520 --> 01:03:58,669 National media. We're covering some of the key events. 592 01:03:58,670 --> 01:04:04,219 And within my previous Masters Masters degree, I made a smaller content analysis. 593 01:04:04,220 --> 01:04:07,340 So basically it was a comparison of a one week coverage. 594 01:04:07,340 --> 01:04:15,379 It was of BBC and 6 p.m. since the discovery of Russian war crimes in Russia. 595 01:04:15,380 --> 01:04:20,660 And actually, surprisingly, yes, the approach to visuals was different. 596 01:04:20,660 --> 01:04:30,889 So BBC pictures were mainly like depicting are they destruction or they were hiding like the bodies while Ukrainian media that were quite open. 597 01:04:30,890 --> 01:04:33,980 So sometimes it was like blurred bodies lying on the streets. 598 01:04:35,030 --> 01:04:43,639 But what was actually interesting that BBC reports using words like atrocities, 599 01:04:43,640 --> 01:04:48,800 using emotional, emotional evaluation of the events that were more common. 600 01:04:49,430 --> 01:04:55,340 So Ukrainian Ukrainian suspended use for actually seeking more two facts. 601 01:04:55,610 --> 01:05:05,239 If it was not a force like a specific town or like which is reports, which is it sort of includes some level of like personal, personal perspective. 602 01:05:05,240 --> 01:05:07,910 But yeah, that was that was something very interesting for me. 603 01:05:08,090 --> 01:05:18,440 And also what was quite striking that if you read Ukrainian reports, it's mainly like so here is the story of this person and we trusted. 604 01:05:18,440 --> 01:05:27,080 But in BBC reports there were such phrases like we couldn't verify this story from three independent sources. 605 01:05:27,260 --> 01:05:35,300 And the story they're talking about, for instance, is a story of a boy who saw his dad being shot on the street of a butcher. 606 01:05:35,660 --> 01:05:45,830 So this leads actually to one of one of the other questions like, are the BBC standards appropriate in the fog of war? 607 01:05:45,830 --> 01:05:48,799 Or like our journalistic standards in war coverage, 608 01:05:48,800 --> 01:05:58,640 the same as they should be in as as they are in peace coverage and should should it be functioning in the same way? 609 01:05:58,880 --> 01:06:02,150 And what positions should journalists take? 610 01:06:02,150 --> 01:06:08,660 If you have one side, which is obviously perpetrator and another side which is which is a victim, 611 01:06:09,260 --> 01:06:15,860 can we give the equal amount of time, an equal amount of space to both of them? 612 01:06:16,220 --> 01:06:17,810 Can we can we just, like, 613 01:06:18,080 --> 01:06:25,910 give it in the way that we would give like any other report and just try to balance thoughts or actually we have to provide more context. 614 01:06:28,730 --> 01:06:38,180 Another thing that I well actually wanted to touch partly was how how us and them were actually shaped within this this environment, 615 01:06:38,180 --> 01:06:47,300 because this is this is the picture that was, for instance, printed in like Financial Times depicting Ukrainian refugees. 616 01:06:47,690 --> 01:06:50,659 And this is actually another picture from the same railway station. 617 01:06:50,660 --> 01:06:58,340 And you could see the difference between them, like actually the way people frame like this perception of who Ukrainians are. 618 01:06:58,730 --> 01:07:05,110 And other interesting thing were some of the some of the memories of my friends who said that, yeah, 619 01:07:05,120 --> 01:07:11,480 we were in the queue in the border and there was a huge line of cars with the Ukrainians actually trying to cross the border. 620 01:07:11,630 --> 01:07:16,910 And there was one one car with some people from Afghanistan, like friends of friends, 621 01:07:17,240 --> 01:07:24,200 and they said that there was crew like there was a crew from some some international big international media was the beginning. 622 01:07:24,200 --> 01:07:27,709 So and so you have imagine like 20 cars, 623 01:07:27,710 --> 01:07:39,800 let's say like 100 cars on the border and one car with was like people from a different like ethnic background and then guess which car they pick. 624 01:07:40,070 --> 01:07:54,020 So this is actually quite surprising in well, in how how this all was happening I could say that I'm talking from now the situation has changed. 625 01:07:54,020 --> 01:07:58,549 So basically Ukrainian and Ukrainian journalists and Ukrainian opinion leaders, 626 01:07:58,550 --> 01:08:08,160 they actually got some platforms like from one of Ukraine famous Ukrainian writers, Anton Chekhov. 627 01:08:08,660 --> 01:08:11,540 He got an opinion piece in The New York Times. 628 01:08:11,580 --> 01:08:21,440 You get you get this this platforms that actually where actually Ukrainians can can say how they see things. 629 01:08:21,440 --> 01:08:29,209 But at the same time, this is something that we also have and we can't just like escape this questions and I feel like this 630 01:08:29,210 --> 01:08:34,070 questions are actually to ask also in regard to other conflicts happening all around the world, 631 01:08:34,070 --> 01:08:43,100 not just Ukraine like who talks on behalf of who and who decides like how to do big things and how things are depicted in general. 632 01:08:44,660 --> 01:08:55,190 Okay. And one more thing that how also we have to take into account so Russia media the thing is that the perception of. 633 01:08:55,260 --> 01:09:01,230 Russian media in international sphere and the forces in international journalism and the 634 01:09:01,440 --> 01:09:05,700 Ukrainian journalism is quite different because what is happening in Ukraine is like, 635 01:09:05,970 --> 01:09:15,510 again, as I said, there is this huge language barrier which makes us like to understand like what Russian propaganda propagandist messages are. 636 01:09:15,510 --> 01:09:23,750 And we've also had a number of projects connected to revealing of Russian propaganda, 637 01:09:23,760 --> 01:09:27,660 disinformation in Ukrainian media functioning for all all of these years. 638 01:09:28,710 --> 01:09:39,420 But actually so so it's quite surprising that it's striking like the reaction in two different environments to things like this is more tangible. 639 01:09:39,480 --> 01:09:47,580 Maybe you remember like she she's been Russian journalist for ages on one of the key Russian top channels. 640 01:09:47,580 --> 01:09:52,350 And during one of the live translations, she just one. 641 01:09:52,350 --> 01:09:55,559 There was this poster No War. 642 01:09:55,560 --> 01:10:03,060 And she said that, yes, I've been working for so many years translating messages of Russian propaganda, but now I've changed. 643 01:10:03,660 --> 01:10:10,229 And it was quite striking, like the reaction of the international community and Ukrainian community, 644 01:10:10,230 --> 01:10:14,280 because international community was like, yes, this is amazing. 645 01:10:14,280 --> 01:10:21,420 She made such a great claim. And and maybe indeed like it was it was it was huge like Chechen vote. 646 01:10:21,990 --> 01:10:23,520 But what is happening in Russian media. 647 01:10:23,760 --> 01:10:31,530 But on the other hand, Ukrainian mostly like Ukrainian, especially Ukrainian journalists, they took a very sceptical position saying that, 648 01:10:31,830 --> 01:10:37,860 oh wait, but she's been working on Russian propaganda, this channel for like so many years, and now it is happening. 649 01:10:37,860 --> 01:10:42,720 So this person has been actually part of this machine that has led to the situations that we have now. 650 01:10:42,960 --> 01:10:56,400 And now, like she just goes, there was like this poster and gets a position in one of one of the German media and gets an offer of asylum in Europe. 651 01:10:56,400 --> 01:11:00,930 And and she gets to report on events actually happening in Ukraine. 652 01:11:01,140 --> 01:11:06,600 And she comes there as international correspondent, like, how come can we can we deal with that? 653 01:11:08,370 --> 01:11:19,469 So there is another question that sometimes is is asked about Russian media and should we actually listen to what Russian media have to say? 654 01:11:19,470 --> 01:11:29,640 And should Russia Russia today, which is again the question Russian channel that is present in many countries, should it be back? 655 01:11:30,180 --> 01:11:34,079 Should or should we actually make it return? 656 01:11:34,080 --> 01:11:40,200 And the big question is, like, again, when we get to talk about disinformation and manipulation, 657 01:11:40,560 --> 01:11:47,520 to which extent is general public trying to to deal with this machine that has been on for years? 658 01:11:47,850 --> 01:11:55,580 And to which extent will the general public be able to distinguish these messages if if they're not given that context, 659 01:11:55,590 --> 01:12:01,860 if they're just basically exposed because this instrument of propaganda and again, 660 01:12:01,860 --> 01:12:09,090 like another question that perhaps should be raised about accountability of Russian journalists, about the whole thing that is happening. 661 01:12:09,390 --> 01:12:21,240 And the question is, again, it was phrased today as well about peace and but peace with which actually incorporates them being accountable, 662 01:12:21,240 --> 01:12:25,469 accountable for what they were doing and what they have been reporting for. 663 01:12:25,470 --> 01:12:38,460 Like here is again, like with case of Marina. Yeah, I think that is all from for me with with all these questions I'll be happy to discuss afterwards. 664 01:12:39,210 --> 01:12:57,990 Yep. Thank you very much. Silver. 665 01:12:58,190 --> 01:13:02,659 Thank you very much indeed. As time has slipped a little bit, 666 01:13:02,660 --> 01:13:21,090 we may have to move the order a little bit because I think that Federica is coming in to get into the real like this. 667 01:13:26,710 --> 01:13:31,090 That's okay. This is just for the record. 668 01:13:33,170 --> 01:13:37,960 You want the email from him? Well, you're why wanted. 669 01:13:37,990 --> 01:14:08,040 How do we get into this? I'm not sure. I just opened. So just trying to connect with New York and get to Federica. 670 01:14:08,750 --> 01:14:18,290 Sandra, who is normally at the Blavatnik School here and is deputy director of Eli Institute for Ethics in a World of Conflict. 671 01:14:19,310 --> 01:14:32,959 And we hope that she will be ready to do her input now on the international crimes going on in Ukraine. 672 01:14:32,960 --> 01:14:36,350 Who can be held accountable and how? 673 01:14:40,470 --> 01:14:45,910 Federico. Hello. I know. 674 01:14:46,150 --> 01:14:51,010 I think we have to. Right. 675 01:14:51,370 --> 01:14:58,470 Can every can everybody here I mean, one thing. Sorry, Fredricka. 676 01:14:58,890 --> 01:15:15,810 We're going to put you on now as soon as you're ready. And we just need to make sure that the sound is just coming from my laptop into the auditorium. 677 01:15:17,640 --> 01:15:22,500 Can you hear me? You can try to let me talk to that. 678 01:15:32,320 --> 01:15:48,260 Just. Just bear with us for a moment. Okay. 679 01:15:48,660 --> 01:15:51,780 Can you just do a count? One, two, three, four. No. 680 01:15:54,450 --> 01:15:57,900 One, two, three, four. Can anybody hear that? 681 01:15:58,950 --> 01:16:05,260 How much of your people are saying they can? There may be a better way to do it, but, um. 682 01:16:05,730 --> 01:16:09,000 Let's do it like this for now. We've got the technician coming. 683 01:16:09,000 --> 01:16:12,330 But let me try one more thing. 684 01:16:12,530 --> 01:16:29,350 Okay, do. Sorry. 685 01:16:29,660 --> 01:16:33,520 Don't know. This isn't a cable. 686 01:16:35,570 --> 01:16:40,580 Cable should go through the door. 687 01:16:40,830 --> 01:16:48,160 So that sort of. Okay, Fredricka, can you can you try starting now? 688 01:16:48,500 --> 01:16:52,160 I'm just introduced. You want to come in here? 689 01:16:54,560 --> 01:16:58,280 Okay. Can you hear me? Are we on? 690 01:17:00,020 --> 01:17:06,830 You should be okay. It is very difficult for me to tell because I don't have eyes on the room. 691 01:17:07,190 --> 01:17:11,620 So I just need your cue in terms of where to start. Okay. 692 01:17:11,630 --> 01:17:15,000 Can you start now? As soon as you're ready. All right. Fantastic. 693 01:17:15,140 --> 01:17:20,380 Thank you. And thank you to this piece for inviting me to speak. 694 01:17:22,860 --> 01:17:27,090 I'm from Ukraine. I heard it's disturbing. 695 01:17:28,600 --> 01:17:36,320 Your son. I'm not quite sure what caused it, but carry on. 696 01:17:37,190 --> 01:17:40,660 All right. And I'm sorry. 697 01:17:40,670 --> 01:17:49,400 I was just saying I'm sorry that I cannot be there in person because it's been a full programme and I'm sure three interesting discussion, 698 01:17:49,790 --> 01:17:55,970 but I'm nevertheless grateful of the opportunity to be able to participate and to say discussion. 699 01:17:56,690 --> 01:18:05,210 And I want to you and. Something you deserve. 700 01:18:06,690 --> 01:18:09,740 Right. Okay. Carry on. 701 01:18:10,340 --> 01:18:18,139 To provide an overview of the landscape and prospects for and accountability for international 702 01:18:18,140 --> 01:18:23,480 crimes that are taking place in Ukraine as a result of Russia's military aggression. 703 01:18:24,020 --> 01:18:30,920 And the reason why I want to focus on the prospects for accountability is precisely because this is something that 704 01:18:31,280 --> 01:18:38,330 Ukraine itself has put front and centre as part of its whole system of response to the defence of its sovereignty, 705 01:18:38,420 --> 01:18:46,249 independence and territorial integrity. And when we speak of international crimes, generally speaking, of international law violations, 706 01:18:46,250 --> 01:18:53,240 that by your skill or gravity are so atrocious as to be considered crimes against the international community as a whole. 707 01:18:53,720 --> 01:19:01,940 And these are most crimes, crimes against humanity, the crime of genocide and the crime of aggression, all of which seem at stake in Ukraine. 708 01:19:02,660 --> 01:19:08,180 For over a year now, we've been watching in horror and see, frankly, 709 01:19:08,180 --> 01:19:13,550 as Russian forces poured over Ukrainian borders, rain missiles on Ukrainian cities, 710 01:19:13,850 --> 01:19:21,800 occupied, plundered and brutalised civilians in what is one of the most clear cut case of aggression in recent history. 711 01:19:22,670 --> 01:19:24,780 In international law. The crime of aggression. 712 01:19:24,830 --> 01:19:32,420 Fundamentally, the large scale and unprovoked use of military force against territorial integrity and political independence of another state, 713 01:19:33,110 --> 01:19:35,659 which, in the case of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, 714 01:19:35,660 --> 01:19:45,410 actually began already in 2014 with the economic station of Crimea and also the February 22 full scale invasion, 715 01:19:45,770 --> 01:19:50,750 which was initiated with the overt intent to capture more of Ukraine's territory 716 01:19:50,930 --> 01:19:54,950 and to topple its elected government certainly took matters to a new level. 717 01:19:56,090 --> 01:20:00,930 And in the years since then, large scale combat operations have been taking place. 718 01:20:00,950 --> 01:20:07,129 Ukraine has managed to reverse 54% of Russia's initial real gains, though, of course, 719 01:20:07,130 --> 01:20:12,860 Russian forces, as we know, remain under immense pressure in the southern parts of the country. 720 01:20:13,520 --> 01:20:20,010 And the over the course of this year, the human toll of this war, as in Serbia, 721 01:20:20,030 --> 01:20:24,980 has been enormous, and the loss of life has been atrocious and inexcusable, 722 01:20:25,430 --> 01:20:33,980 with some 130,000 Ukrainians estimated to have paid the ultimate price to defend for their country the right to self-determination, 723 01:20:34,250 --> 01:20:41,030 and as many and twice as many Russians as made it to appear as part of their legal invasion. 724 01:20:42,200 --> 01:20:43,999 And in the course of this year, also, 725 01:20:44,000 --> 01:20:51,560 countless atrocities have been committed and documented that rise to the levels of war crimes and crimes against humanity, 726 01:20:51,830 --> 01:20:55,580 if not essentially genocide with Ukrainian authorities. 727 01:20:55,580 --> 01:21:02,810 I mean, documented at least 70,000 between 65,070 thousand war crimes incident and countless more 728 01:21:02,870 --> 01:21:08,510 having been documented and remaining under investigation by variety of international bodies. 729 01:21:09,200 --> 01:21:12,589 Only days after the full scale invasion begun, for example, 730 01:21:12,590 --> 01:21:18,319 Ukraine sued the Russian state for violations of the UN Genocide Convention and 731 01:21:18,320 --> 01:21:22,070 other key human rights treaties before the UN International Court of Justice. 732 01:21:22,070 --> 01:21:30,470 In an attempt to get the international judicial body to finally and officially review part of Russia's initial casus belli. 733 01:21:30,880 --> 01:21:37,760 But one of the many justifications adding to it gave for meeting Ukraine, which it had already deployed in Crimea effectively. 734 01:21:37,970 --> 01:21:44,870 And that is a baseless claim that Ukraine was committing genocide against ethnic Russians in Eastern Oblast, 735 01:21:44,870 --> 01:21:47,660 forcing Russia into a humanitarian intervention, 736 01:21:48,320 --> 01:21:56,600 and of course, using a variety of other legal instruments, such as the peace resolution, to circumvent Russia's veto in the Security Council. 737 01:21:56,810 --> 01:22:03,889 Ukraine also asked the judge of the UN General Assembly to make the determination that Russia's and Russia's conduct amounted 738 01:22:03,890 --> 01:22:10,910 to international aggression and that Ukraine is entitled to war reparations and to justice for all victims of the war. 739 01:22:12,050 --> 01:22:15,260 At the request of Ukraine and the United Nations, 740 01:22:15,260 --> 01:22:22,219 the European Union and the OSCE also all dispatched investigative teams focusing on upholding both state 741 01:22:22,220 --> 01:22:27,800 and criminal liability for violations of the laws of war committed by all parties as part of the conflict. 742 01:22:28,310 --> 01:22:35,780 And Ukrainian authorities are preparing to prosecute domestically many of the 70,000 war crimes incident that they documented, 743 01:22:36,110 --> 01:22:39,080 including allegations against their own armed forces, 744 01:22:39,410 --> 01:22:44,720 which frankly are but a drop in the bucket in the near the war crimes Russian forces are committing, 745 01:22:45,500 --> 01:22:48,410 but not investigating or prosecuting and punishing. 746 01:22:49,850 --> 01:22:55,400 The International Criminal Court is also stepped in to investigate and prosecute international crimes in Ukraine. 747 01:22:55,870 --> 01:23:01,940 And and this is because although Ukraine is not yet a state party to the International Criminal Court, its government. 748 01:23:02,370 --> 01:23:08,670 The request to subject the court's jurisdiction dating back to 2013 has to include 749 01:23:09,090 --> 01:23:14,130 high state and potential crimes arising from the illegal annexation of Crimea. 750 01:23:14,820 --> 01:23:20,250 In a move that was later backed by 43 member states, the International Criminal Court, 751 01:23:20,250 --> 01:23:24,840 and then also referred the situation for investigation to the ICC. 752 01:23:25,200 --> 01:23:35,400 And in fact, the ICC swiftly intervened to the point investigators opening a field offices in Ukraine and in an unprecedented move. 753 01:23:35,610 --> 01:23:45,659 This has already resulted in the court essentially issuing arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin himself and his children, 754 01:23:45,660 --> 01:23:46,500 rights commissioner, 755 01:23:47,110 --> 01:23:57,510 global war crimes relating to the illegal liquidation and forced adoption of keeping in children from Russian occupied territories in Eastern Ukraine. 756 01:23:58,050 --> 01:24:04,379 And a world that is in itself extraordinary because it's the first time that an arrest warrant is 757 01:24:04,380 --> 01:24:09,450 issued against a sitting head of state while a permanent member of the Security Council nonetheless, 758 01:24:09,660 --> 01:24:13,889 which does not, according to the court, and we will return to this in a minute, 759 01:24:13,890 --> 01:24:26,130 because there is a question as to whether the Russian president in particular might be entitled to immunities and what return to this and before. 760 01:24:27,510 --> 01:24:31,950 So I, I guess what I want to say at this point is that Ukraine is focussed on pursuing 761 01:24:31,950 --> 01:24:36,180 legal avenues as reenergize many international in the international community, 762 01:24:36,750 --> 01:24:45,000 particularly those that see the enforcement of fundamental rules of international law as such as protections enshrined in the Geneva Convention. 763 01:24:45,000 --> 01:24:50,130 And of course, the provision against aggression as key to restoring global peace and security. 764 01:24:50,940 --> 01:24:59,129 And Ukraine's partners in Europe and in the United States in particular, see this as a historical juncture, 765 01:24:59,130 --> 01:25:05,610 potentially a second Nuremberg moment in reference to the trials set up by the Allies at the end of World War Two, 766 01:25:05,610 --> 01:25:09,530 which became, of course, foundational as we all to the Moscow, of course. 767 01:25:10,410 --> 01:25:15,180 However, a gaping hole exists in this judicial accountability landscape, 768 01:25:15,720 --> 01:25:23,340 and that is because while a variety of domestic and international criminals will be able to sit in judgement over war crimes, 769 01:25:23,340 --> 01:25:29,460 crimes against humanity and genocide and crimes arising as a result of the war, 770 01:25:29,790 --> 01:25:38,220 there is no court today that can exercise jurisdiction over the war itself or the crime of aggression, as it's known in international law. 771 01:25:38,670 --> 01:25:46,229 The ICC does not have jurisdiction over aggression in Ukraine and that is because essentially under the Rome Statute, 772 01:25:46,230 --> 01:25:50,640 which is a legislative framework that regulates the operation of the court, 773 01:25:52,740 --> 01:26:00,120 the crime of aggression was stopped, is subject to a separate jurisdictional regime that is different from war crimes, 774 01:26:00,120 --> 01:26:08,189 crimes against humanity and genocide. So even though the ICC prosecutor can investigate and prosecute at this moment, these three other crimes, 775 01:26:08,190 --> 01:26:12,060 the crime of aggression in Ukraine, specifically, it falls outside of its jurisdiction. 776 01:26:12,600 --> 01:26:16,110 And of course, there's procedures to amend the Rome Statute. 777 01:26:16,590 --> 01:26:26,700 But these take time and are not likely to be successful, at least at this stage. 778 01:26:27,420 --> 01:26:33,270 So at the moment, there is no international tribunal that can be a kind of Russia. 779 01:26:33,540 --> 01:26:40,440 And of course, in Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities could not try. 780 01:26:40,680 --> 01:26:50,069 Russia needed to shut before its domestic courts because there is a principle of international law that such weak grounds immunity 781 01:26:50,070 --> 01:26:56,760 to government officials before the domestic courts of other countries in order to allow them to carry out their state functions. 782 01:26:57,240 --> 01:27:00,600 The crime of aggression is particularly complicated from this perspective, 783 01:27:00,600 --> 01:27:09,270 precisely because its definition international law as a leadership requirement, because the crime of aggression being committed by those first of all, 784 01:27:09,270 --> 01:27:14,430 it's always an official state act and the crimes can be committed by private citizens, 785 01:27:14,770 --> 01:27:20,099 but the Russian can only be committed as an official state act by those within the state apparatus that 786 01:27:20,100 --> 01:27:25,950 essentially are in a position to direct the military and political force of the state against another state. 787 01:27:26,940 --> 01:27:32,760 So, you know, liability fundamentally criminal liability for war, for aggression goes all the way to the top. 788 01:27:33,600 --> 01:27:44,700 And this includes, of course, the Russian president and prime minister, as well as then minister of foreign affairs, minister of defence. 789 01:27:45,060 --> 01:27:52,980 And some of these officials, particularly the Prime Minister, President and the Foreign Minister, 790 01:27:53,370 --> 01:28:01,830 are entitled to immunity under international law, so they cannot be tried in Ukraine's domestic court, which is why the government of Ukraine is. 791 01:28:03,590 --> 01:28:09,470 A special aggression tribunal that is now being debated because essentially 792 01:28:11,090 --> 01:28:18,250 such liabilities arise that communities would not attach to the jurisdiction, 793 01:28:18,260 --> 01:28:23,030 essentially the international courts ability to exercise jurisdiction over these individuals. 794 01:28:23,300 --> 01:28:32,300 So right now, the conversation is because I see here there is a few proposals that have been put on the table that have been discussed. 795 01:28:32,690 --> 01:28:43,790 One of them is a proposal for the Constitution of a special tribunal through the United Nations and was brought to a UN General Assembly resolution. 796 01:28:44,150 --> 01:28:46,610 And as a consequence of that, 797 01:28:46,610 --> 01:28:52,820 essentially the United Nations entering into a bilateral treaty with Ukraine to create a U.N. special tribunal for aggression. 798 01:28:53,270 --> 01:29:00,380 And I personally see the rationale for an international tribunal. 799 01:29:00,920 --> 01:29:08,390 But the technicalities of creating it through the U.N. General Assembly, I think, at this moment are not looking quite good. 800 01:29:08,870 --> 01:29:10,910 The prospects especially are not looking quite good. 801 01:29:11,180 --> 01:29:20,030 There's another proposal which I think is gaining steam because a number of governments have put their weight and support behind it, 802 01:29:20,330 --> 01:29:25,490 which is for an international set chambers or a hybrid, you know, so-called. 803 01:29:25,790 --> 01:29:34,490 So this would be a tribunal that is rooted in Ukraine's domestic jurisdiction and judicial system. 804 01:29:34,760 --> 01:29:42,049 But essentially, you would have would incorporate international components, both in terms of the staff. 805 01:29:42,050 --> 01:29:50,350 So prosecutors, judges and counsel of defence counsel, but also in terms of the body of law that it would apply. 806 01:29:50,360 --> 01:29:55,880 Would it be Ukraine domestic law, but it would be the international law definition of the crime of aggression. 807 01:29:56,360 --> 01:30:02,780 And essentially, in this can be essentially constituted, of course, 808 01:30:02,780 --> 01:30:10,250 it can be construed through the U.N. and also be constituted through a regional organisation in Europe, 809 01:30:10,280 --> 01:30:12,800 which I think is the most realistic case scenario, 810 01:30:13,040 --> 01:30:21,080 because both the European Union and the Council of Europe has essentially come out in support of this proposal. 811 01:30:21,290 --> 01:30:27,410 And in fact, the European Union has already set up what they call an international centre for the prosecution of aggression, 812 01:30:27,950 --> 01:30:33,920 which is based on that in The Hague and is structured of course to work in collaboration with the International Criminal Court. 813 01:30:34,160 --> 01:30:40,760 It is being supported by the EU criminal justice agency Eurojust that was already 814 01:30:40,760 --> 01:30:45,500 supporting investigations and prosecutions of other international crimes. 815 01:30:45,740 --> 01:30:51,530 So I think this is essentially the most realistic case scenario and I think it will happen. 816 01:30:51,890 --> 01:31:02,090 I think it's important that it does happen because from my perspective, it's tangible that crimes arising from the war can be prosecuted, 817 01:31:02,780 --> 01:31:08,360 but not the ultimate crime itself, which is the initiation of an unjust and illegal war. 818 01:31:09,360 --> 01:31:18,440 And especially, I believe it's untenable that foot soldiers or military commanders might be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. 819 01:31:18,740 --> 01:31:27,410 But the real criminal penalties here are those that launched that the criminal invasion 820 01:31:28,340 --> 01:31:31,970 get off scot free because they're protected by immunity under international law. 821 01:31:31,980 --> 01:31:37,280 I think that would be a perversion of the legal principles. 822 01:31:37,290 --> 01:31:39,319 I think it would be a perversion of justice. 823 01:31:39,320 --> 01:31:50,660 And I think it would be really a true threat to an ongoing, ongoing threat, actually, to European regional stability and to international peace, 824 01:31:50,840 --> 01:31:55,760 because I think it would send a signal that if we don't punish Russia at this time, that we never will. 825 01:31:56,600 --> 01:32:00,410 And I thought very much about what the implications of that signal might be. 826 01:32:01,550 --> 01:32:07,450 So I think it would leave it at that for the moment. But I welcome your question signal to you. 827 01:32:07,460 --> 01:32:15,410 So I think someone would have to help me navigate the Russians, but I hope that was helpful and I'm looking forward to our discussion. 828 01:32:16,760 --> 01:32:24,170 Federico, thank you very much for that very clear and comprehensive exposition of the possibilities for accountability. 829 01:32:25,130 --> 01:32:33,110 Can we of one question, perhaps anybody ready to ask a question? 830 01:32:36,890 --> 01:32:46,970 Okay. But like you said, Erykah, there's often a tension between peacebuilding and justice. 831 01:32:48,140 --> 01:33:01,520 And I was interested that one of today's earlier speakers suggested that being done by the RCC or Vladimir Putin was misguided because it, 832 01:33:02,030 --> 01:33:06,920 uh, it meant that Western leaders, 833 01:33:07,010 --> 01:33:12,020 peace brokers may be less willing to engage with them and more so that it might 834 01:33:12,020 --> 01:33:19,070 increase scepticism about the sort of ICC as an instrument of Western powers. 835 01:33:19,610 --> 01:33:30,440 So I'd be interested in your your views on that position, but the question of there's often a tension between peacebuilding and justice. 836 01:33:31,340 --> 01:33:39,080 And in this case, one of the earlier speakers, which I think was Robin Williams at the beginning, was sorry. 837 01:33:40,970 --> 01:33:44,630 It was her. Alex. Alex. It was Alex. 838 01:33:45,050 --> 01:34:00,170 Oh, it was Alex saw it as unacceptable and questioned whether question the misguided onus of indicting Putin because that will 839 01:34:00,170 --> 01:34:10,040 lead to less possibility for engagement with him and raises the question whether the ICC is an instrument of Western power. 840 01:34:11,030 --> 01:34:14,840 How would you respond to that? Andrew. 841 01:34:15,140 --> 01:34:21,320 First of all, I want to thank the person that asked the question because it's a very good question. 842 01:34:21,320 --> 01:34:29,000 And I think it's a question that actually is very not only it's important, but it's one that gets asked all the time. 843 01:34:29,000 --> 01:34:32,149 And I don't think it gets properly addressed. 844 01:34:32,150 --> 01:34:37,150 And I think this is also, by the way, not something that arises specifically as a result of the situation in Ukraine. 845 01:34:37,160 --> 01:34:40,190 This is a very old fashioned field. 846 01:34:41,240 --> 01:34:49,879 This tension between peace and justice and but also whether international institutions are upholding international laws such as the ICC, 847 01:34:49,880 --> 01:34:54,580 are tools for Western imperialism or Western power. 848 01:34:54,860 --> 01:34:59,200 We've heard various flavours of that allegation. 849 01:34:59,510 --> 01:35:02,900 So let me start with the latter, which is, you know, 850 01:35:03,020 --> 01:35:10,400 when you look at the composition of the court under 23 state parties, I mean, of course, the prosecutor is independent. 851 01:35:11,630 --> 01:35:19,370 But and I think it would have been absolutely you know, the prosecutor is a prosecutor. 852 01:35:19,370 --> 01:35:26,540 They go with the evidence and they were asked to intervene not just by Ukraine, but 43 of its member states parties. 853 01:35:26,780 --> 01:35:33,170 They had to go in. And I think just based on the sheer amount of the evidence that you're documenting, 854 01:35:33,500 --> 01:35:38,250 it would have been untenable for them, you know, not to issue sports. 855 01:35:38,350 --> 01:35:47,000 Now, I was personally surprised that they went straight to the top and that their first arrest warrant was issued against President Putin. 856 01:35:47,300 --> 01:35:51,170 I think that was almost I was, again, very surprised. 857 01:35:51,180 --> 01:35:55,280 It's very hard to predict precisely what implications that will have. 858 01:35:55,670 --> 01:36:01,850 But I think that there is, you know, part of the reason why this was done and again, this is my personal speculation. 859 01:36:01,880 --> 01:36:02,959 I want to be clear about that. 860 01:36:02,960 --> 01:36:11,690 But I think the two potential consequences to important consequences that will arise from this arrest warrant are ones because, 861 01:36:11,690 --> 01:36:19,430 again, would you dismiss it in a country that is not a member party of the court and there's been no Security Council referral? 862 01:36:19,880 --> 01:36:25,380 And so this is going to force the court to essentially look at the question of whether and 863 01:36:25,380 --> 01:36:31,850 we saw on what basis kind of state immunity does not apply before an international court. 864 01:36:32,240 --> 01:36:39,170 There's a there's of any precedent even in the region within the ICC, in the al-Bashir case, when the president, 865 01:36:39,170 --> 01:36:46,570 then president of Sudan, was indicted for the charges that included genocide and essentially was never arrested in Africa. 866 01:36:46,580 --> 01:36:52,400 And if you travel through countries and where a member of parties of the court, including Jordan and South Africa, 867 01:36:52,760 --> 01:36:58,999 and this essentially forced the litigation to question the issue of whether or not immunities would apply, 868 01:36:59,000 --> 01:37:03,440 given the state was not a state party, but because there was a Security Council referral. 869 01:37:04,160 --> 01:37:07,670 So the court said they they they don't apply. 870 01:37:07,670 --> 01:37:11,450 You should have arrested and surrounded and Bashir. 871 01:37:12,680 --> 01:37:16,219 But in that case, it was a little bit different because it was a Security Council referral. 872 01:37:16,220 --> 01:37:20,030 In this case, we don't have that. So I think it's important that we see that mitigation, 873 01:37:20,030 --> 01:37:28,970 that we see a fuller articulation by the court as to why they think what the what the legal rationale is for saying that immunities do not apply. 874 01:37:29,210 --> 01:37:35,210 And if immunities do not apply because of the international nature of the court, just like it is the ICC then. 875 01:37:35,710 --> 01:37:42,100 Regional Court. The same principle would apply before an international court and even a prosecutor 876 01:37:42,220 --> 01:37:46,959 in a different manner that would essentially be able to then issue arrest warrants, 877 01:37:46,960 --> 01:37:52,660 if not try and be guided by President Putin if he satrap had it. 878 01:37:53,090 --> 01:38:02,290 And some say, you know, this is really an academic question and it's unlikely ever that we will see a, you know, a trial president trial. 879 01:38:02,760 --> 01:38:07,480 And I don't want to think that that's the case. 880 01:38:07,490 --> 01:38:15,190 First of all, I believe that even just having an international tribunal that issues an arrest warrant for a crime of aggression 881 01:38:15,190 --> 01:38:20,830 is important to us because it will significantly restrict it would have political effects on what works, 882 01:38:20,990 --> 01:38:27,580 but it will restrict President Putin's ability to travel freely and to and we 883 01:38:27,580 --> 01:38:33,370 will diminish what I think is a clear objective of the Russian presidency, 884 01:38:33,370 --> 01:38:46,690 which is to maintain a certain level of global standing for the Russian Federation and how effectively to pursue that question of question. 885 01:38:47,800 --> 01:38:52,240 So I think it's important that there is litigation over the issue of immunities. 886 01:38:52,240 --> 01:38:55,930 I think it's important that it's not a trial we have at least there is an arrest 887 01:38:55,930 --> 01:39:00,430 warrant still put it on record that he's been accused of a crime of aggression. 888 01:39:00,840 --> 01:39:12,520 And, you know, as to whether the and I want to the tension between justice and peace and if so, first of all, 889 01:39:12,520 --> 01:39:19,149 there is mechanisms in the ICC statute, and I think that the same mechanisms could be impracticable, for example, 890 01:39:19,150 --> 01:39:27,670 in a potential statute for special aggression, you know, that allow even if there is an arrest warrant or even if there is a trial design that 891 01:39:27,670 --> 01:39:33,700 essentially calls right up to it to hit pause to facilitate peace negotiations. 892 01:39:33,700 --> 01:39:41,930 So those mechanisms are there can be created. And as to whether the prospect of some point of peace, you know, 893 01:39:41,950 --> 01:39:51,790 peace negotiations or negotiations for putting directly should have prevented the court from issuing an arrest warrant at this stage. 894 01:39:51,790 --> 01:39:58,689 I mean, I don't buy the argument that it's going to be the arrest warrant that makes Putin not want to come to the negotiation table, 895 01:39:58,690 --> 01:40:03,490 because in my mind, there's no indication of the fact that he intended to do that to begin with. 896 01:40:03,640 --> 01:40:08,170 So I don't think that the arrest warrants going to be an issue. And if and when that becomes an issue, 897 01:40:08,680 --> 01:40:13,959 there is mechanisms that exist in the in the legal architecture or they can be created in the 898 01:40:13,960 --> 01:40:21,430 future legal architecture that can take that into account and facilitate the peace aspect of it. 899 01:40:22,870 --> 01:40:28,450 But thank you very much indeed. Thank you for coming in from New York. 900 01:40:29,260 --> 01:40:34,210 And we wish you all the best. And thank you very much indeed for your contributions. 901 01:40:43,830 --> 01:40:50,130 Right. We have No. Three, three speakers and about 10 minutes. 902 01:40:50,970 --> 01:41:06,960 So if the next speaker can come forward with flexible motions and we can take a little time out of to do so. 903 01:41:07,830 --> 01:41:24,160 Our next speaker is Ruslan. Ruslan is the recent president of the Ukrainian society and he is going with his four 904 01:41:24,210 --> 01:41:30,990 candidates in Islamic studies and he's going to talk about student initiatives, 905 01:41:32,490 --> 01:41:38,570 particularly the Ukrainian Society Initiative. So if you can be succinct, Ruslan, that would be wonderful. 906 01:41:38,590 --> 01:41:45,930 Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I will try to be very brief. First of all, I want to thank Liz for the opportunity to be here. 907 01:41:47,330 --> 01:41:50,459 Um, and um, my name is Ruslan. 908 01:41:50,460 --> 01:41:53,970 I, I'm from Ukraine, from a city called Lviv in western Ukraine. 909 01:41:54,960 --> 01:42:02,580 I chose this topic because I was, uh, although I arrived to Oxford two years ago before the start of the political invasion. 910 01:42:03,340 --> 01:42:11,880 Um, the invasion has deeply affected me, but I also had the honour of leading the Ukrainian society shortly shortly after the invasion has started. 911 01:42:12,540 --> 01:42:16,500 And it has been some of the most transformative period of my life. 912 01:42:17,400 --> 01:42:27,300 So you might ask yourself the question, what does a student both initiatives have to do with peacekeeping in the first place? 913 01:42:28,470 --> 01:42:31,470 I guess it depends what definition of peace do we take. 914 01:42:32,100 --> 01:42:35,580 And they're very much like the peace definition of peace, 915 01:42:36,360 --> 01:42:45,150 which holds that human security and human flourishing and a sustainable environment with a constructive management of conflict. 916 01:42:46,190 --> 01:42:50,730 Um, within this definition, I would like to especially focus on human flourishing. 917 01:42:51,630 --> 01:42:57,780 So I will start by briefly outlining the context in which the Ukrainian society was at the start of the invasion, 918 01:42:58,350 --> 01:43:03,839 perhaps the trajectory it has taken since then and the evolution of the society 919 01:43:03,840 --> 01:43:07,860 throughout the past year and return back to the question of human flourishing, 920 01:43:08,370 --> 01:43:18,529 um, uh, from that perspective. So, um, before the full scale invasion, um, Oxford University, 921 01:43:18,530 --> 01:43:25,440 the Ukrainian Society was a very small organisation and the reason for this is that there are so few Ukrainian students at Oxford, 922 01:43:26,130 --> 01:43:29,910 it's because there are also so few opportunities to fund your studies at Oxford. 923 01:43:30,630 --> 01:43:35,550 And normally there would be two students per year if people are lucky, maybe three or four. 924 01:43:36,180 --> 01:43:42,990 And at the start of the full scale invasion, there were about four enrolled students at the university. 925 01:43:44,400 --> 01:43:53,010 Um, now another aspect of the society is that as a university society, it had a very strong focus on the university, 926 01:43:53,580 --> 01:44:01,230 and it was mostly dealing with promoting Ukrainian culture and intellectual heritage and inviting various speakers. 927 01:44:01,830 --> 01:44:06,390 That has also changed on the 24th of February. 928 01:44:07,110 --> 01:44:12,840 Um, on this day, I think a new need emerged between, among the Ukrainian community. 929 01:44:13,410 --> 01:44:16,110 Um, there was the need to act. 930 01:44:16,350 --> 01:44:25,980 Um, we felt that we have to contribute in any way possible to the war effort for the enormous privilege that we have of being in Oxford. 931 01:44:26,370 --> 01:44:36,020 And because we are the only voice of Ukraine that was available at the university without a chair for Ukrainian studies or history or any related um, 932 01:44:36,840 --> 01:44:42,930 topic. And another reason for this was that we have been dealing with enormous amount of 933 01:44:42,930 --> 01:44:47,640 stress and perhaps trauma and we have to channel these negative emotions in some way. 934 01:44:48,210 --> 01:44:48,560 So we, 935 01:44:48,720 --> 01:44:58,170 we collectively we realised much later that actually we channelled them in a constructive way through the initiatives we have undertaken together. 936 01:45:00,310 --> 01:45:04,360 And finally, in this year, I think with confidence, 937 01:45:04,360 --> 01:45:11,290 I can say that our society has become an ambassador of Ukraine, not just in Oxford, perhaps in Oxfordshire. 938 01:45:11,650 --> 01:45:20,320 And this is reflected in our various achievements and things we have been doing. So we started from rallies from the very first day of the invasion. 939 01:45:21,400 --> 01:45:26,170 This is one of the most, uh, the biggest rallies we have organised thus far. 940 01:45:27,110 --> 01:45:34,750 Um, and it has collected £4,000 in just one hour of, um, of the speeches we were delivering. 941 01:45:38,050 --> 01:45:45,940 About a thousand people has come, including the national media, to listen to what Ukrainians have to say about the forthcoming invasion in Oxford. 942 01:45:47,830 --> 01:45:55,120 And the motivation that we had at the time was, first of all, to generate a strong message from us as Ukrainians, 943 01:45:55,810 --> 01:45:58,600 especially about the war atrocities that Russia has been committing. 944 01:45:59,020 --> 01:46:05,260 But second of all, was to raise donations and have some immediate positive impact on the situation. 945 01:46:05,800 --> 01:46:10,120 And most of our donations were, um, went for medical supplies. 946 01:46:13,090 --> 01:46:16,390 And we have also been collecting donations physically. 947 01:46:16,660 --> 01:46:23,050 And this is a photograph from a unit in a shopping mall in, in Court Market Street, 948 01:46:23,350 --> 01:46:28,610 where we have collected nearly 250 boxes of humanitarian aid and shipped them to Ukraine. 949 01:46:30,010 --> 01:46:36,760 Then we have also organised a fundraising dinner, continuously increasing our goal with with in terms of fundraising, 950 01:46:37,510 --> 01:46:47,140 this dinner welcomed um, uh, a special guest list and we had an auction within that auction in Nuffield College. 951 01:46:48,850 --> 01:46:53,350 We have also increased ambitions in terms of the message we want to transmit. 952 01:46:53,650 --> 01:47:00,520 So we have hosted our President in Oxford Union in a joint address to the Oxford students. 953 01:47:02,140 --> 01:47:09,850 And finally we have organised a festival of Ukrainian culture in late September which consisted of 19 different events, 954 01:47:10,120 --> 01:47:16,660 most of them concerts, but also exhibitions over the course of three days in nine different locations across Oxford. 955 01:47:17,110 --> 01:47:22,720 And they brought 42 renowned Ukrainian musicians and artists and academics from Ukraine, 956 01:47:23,140 --> 01:47:28,780 um, to Oxford or from European cities where they were sheltering. 957 01:47:29,890 --> 01:47:35,290 And this initiative has raised £125,000, which we have all donated, 958 01:47:35,920 --> 01:47:43,810 and it was launched together with three of so in partnership with two other institutions, one based here in Oxford and one in Ukraine. 959 01:47:44,650 --> 01:47:50,320 And one of our most special guests was a music composer, 960 01:47:50,320 --> 01:47:56,980 which you can see holding flowers in this very centre of the photo in Leicester of who came here on his 85th 961 01:47:57,220 --> 01:48:05,170 birthday while we were organising all these events and this by this time the photo was from late September, 962 01:48:06,070 --> 01:48:11,530 Ukrainian refugees started coming to Oxfordshire and very soon we realised that Oxfordshire was 963 01:48:11,530 --> 01:48:17,290 one of the most popular destinations or perhaps most open destinations to Ukrainian refugees, 964 01:48:17,770 --> 01:48:25,180 according to the official statistics of the Oxfordshire County Council at by July 2022. 965 01:48:25,510 --> 01:48:29,090 In Oxfordshire there were already 15,000 Ukrainian refugees. 966 01:48:29,920 --> 01:48:37,630 And that is in the context of 100 Ukrainian refugees, 100,000 Korean refugees that were already accepted to the UK. 967 01:48:38,200 --> 01:48:46,360 So it's a very big proportion of Ukrainian refugees and this is a photo of an event we have organised together since the arrival. 968 01:48:47,140 --> 01:48:50,980 From April onwards we have been trying to support them as very often. 969 01:48:50,980 --> 01:48:57,400 We would be the first point of contact when they arrive to Oxfordshire in terms of any sort of support like job search or anything else. 970 01:48:59,110 --> 01:49:06,879 And then what is also happening is that we got 26 graduate scholars arriving shortly thereafter thanks to a 971 01:49:06,880 --> 01:49:14,120 special scholarship that was established in record time at the same year by the president of Rubin College, 972 01:49:14,120 --> 01:49:19,540 Philando Tarasenko. And here you can see the Ukrainian scholars becoming active within the Ukrainian 973 01:49:19,540 --> 01:49:24,280 society the same day or week they arrive to Oxford already in the fresh respect, 974 01:49:25,330 --> 01:49:30,820 and along with them over 20 academics, including the academics at risks. 975 01:49:33,610 --> 01:49:38,530 So while we are building this network and trying out different initiatives, 976 01:49:38,770 --> 01:49:44,170 it soon became clear that we have to unite all of these students that have arrived and try to establish a broader network. 977 01:49:44,860 --> 01:49:51,520 So we we established together with other Ukrainian societies the first Ukrainian conference in Manchester. 978 01:49:52,000 --> 01:49:55,750 We have brought together 25 different societies. 979 01:49:56,170 --> 01:50:00,070 Usually it was one or two members of society. Due to a very limited budget, 980 01:50:00,520 --> 01:50:08,680 but it allowed us to make connections and reflect about all of the things that we are doing and why are we here in the UK? 981 01:50:09,330 --> 01:50:15,970 Um, what, um, what kind of goals do we set ourselves in terms of Ukraine's future reconstruction? 982 01:50:18,680 --> 01:50:25,040 Finally the incredible amount of new ideas in this narrative. 983 01:50:25,040 --> 01:50:31,940 All the Ukrainian students here, which, by the way, represented an equal portion from each faculty, 984 01:50:32,870 --> 01:50:35,750 so each division and all belong to different disciplines, 985 01:50:36,050 --> 01:50:43,250 allowed us to also undertake more ambitious projects after we have worked on short term initiatives with immediate impact such as fundraising. 986 01:50:43,550 --> 01:50:50,870 We have tried to think of longer term initiatives that would be, first of all, more sustainable in terms of how they're financed and managed. 987 01:50:51,320 --> 01:50:58,820 Second of all, that we utilise in recognising all the resources that were available to us here at Oxford. 988 01:50:59,360 --> 01:51:05,660 And the first initiative that we have launched was the Oxford Incubator, which was aimed at supporting a very vulnerable, 989 01:51:06,350 --> 01:51:12,950 yet very important component of our economy, which is the IT sector and innovation. 990 01:51:13,700 --> 01:51:22,400 So what we have done is we have asked Oxford based Start-Up mentors if they would be willing to mentor our selected start-ups, 991 01:51:22,700 --> 01:51:31,100 and we have contacted various investors to try to make a match between the Start-ups, the mentors and the investors. 992 01:51:31,670 --> 01:51:34,340 And I'm very happy to share that. 993 01:51:34,610 --> 01:51:46,220 One of the first start-ups that have joined us has recently received the first large investment from a New York based fund, 994 01:51:47,120 --> 01:51:57,270 and they are working on bone combing. Another aspect we have focussed on is what the actual city can offer to Ukraine. 995 01:51:57,740 --> 01:52:00,770 So we have made a vote about, uh, 996 01:52:01,790 --> 01:52:09,350 choosing a city to propose to the local city council to create a partnership or twinning which would eventually be twinning. 997 01:52:09,770 --> 01:52:14,900 And we picked Kharkiv, um, for various reasons. First of all, it's at the frontline. 998 01:52:15,320 --> 01:52:20,780 So it has been majorly affected and needs immediate intervention. 999 01:52:21,200 --> 01:52:25,430 Second of all, Kharkiv is a centre for excellence and innovation, just like Oxford is. 1000 01:52:25,760 --> 01:52:30,200 So they can be mutual mutual benefit from this kind of partnership. 1001 01:52:30,900 --> 01:52:37,860 And, um, actually today was the launch day of the OC Association just across the street. 1002 01:52:39,150 --> 01:52:47,610 So hopefully in some time Oxford will become an official twin city to Kharkiv and explore many new avenues for collaboration. 1003 01:52:50,340 --> 01:52:54,389 The last thing I have done with the Ukrainian society was to organise the one 1004 01:52:54,390 --> 01:53:00,330 year Ukraine peace rally and in commemoration of all the victims of the war. 1005 01:53:00,960 --> 01:53:12,630 And it was also a powerful message of hope, but also of condemnation when the council, the chancellor of the University of our platform, 1006 01:53:12,690 --> 01:53:19,709 has given his statements and we've also received statements from local in peace, from the mayor of the city, 1007 01:53:19,710 --> 01:53:24,630 from the head of the Oxford County Council and the founder of the Ukrainian Graduates Commission. 1008 01:53:24,980 --> 01:53:26,190 How many other voices? 1009 01:53:27,720 --> 01:53:39,630 So why am I presenting all of this is to perhaps reflect about the possible contribution it can make to peace in Ukraine on the longer run. 1010 01:53:40,050 --> 01:53:51,450 And I could, of course, bring quantifiable impact, but I decided that I do not want to focus on the money, race or any other numbers, 1011 01:53:51,810 --> 01:53:59,790 but really the human flourishing aspects of the definition of peace that was proposed to us by the peace network. 1012 01:54:01,230 --> 01:54:11,730 And what it means is that the framework of the of a student led society by student initiative allows me personally and I believe 1013 01:54:11,730 --> 01:54:21,480 every member of the society to employ their time and skills in a way that would allow us not just to force individuals, 1014 01:54:21,480 --> 01:54:24,430 but also lead others and support such initiatives. 1015 01:54:25,350 --> 01:54:32,940 And I think it's very important to remember that in such adverse conditions as in wartime, it is very important to have a source, 1016 01:54:34,290 --> 01:54:39,600 a channel through which you turn all these negative emotions and impact into something constructive, 1017 01:54:40,170 --> 01:54:46,830 and perhaps also protect yourself from very difficult and stressful periods. 1018 01:54:48,000 --> 01:54:56,160 And then the final point is that it has it is a social activity and it brings people together. 1019 01:54:57,240 --> 01:55:04,350 It can bring people together, not just in one city, but across different cities and actually across many boundaries now, thanks to technology. 1020 01:55:06,810 --> 01:55:10,060 So thinking of all these three aspects, um, 1021 01:55:10,740 --> 01:55:17,010 I would like to thank everyone who has been so supportive of us during the past year, and perhaps I invite everyone to. 1022 01:55:18,020 --> 01:55:23,930 Reflect about the potential that students and initiatives have to promote in peace in other contexts. 1023 01:55:24,080 --> 01:55:36,460 Thank you. Thank you so much. 1024 01:55:36,470 --> 01:55:43,420 I'm sure there are many, many questions, but I will ask you to hold them for teatime and just just thank you. 1025 01:55:43,660 --> 01:55:49,000 And we'll move on to our final speaker, who is Diana Abu. 1026 01:55:49,010 --> 01:55:53,860 Also, like while she's coming down, just to mention that Yaroslav, who spoke earlier, 1027 01:55:53,860 --> 01:56:04,750 is the current president since the Oxford University Ukraine Society, so to speak, to her as well, if you're interested in the society itself. 1028 01:56:08,560 --> 01:56:14,020 So Diana is a student at Oxford at the School of Government, 1029 01:56:14,830 --> 01:56:22,870 waiting for a master's in public policy and the recipient of an Oxford scholarship for Ukrainian refugees. 1030 01:56:23,230 --> 01:56:30,190 And for the past two years, she's worked as a policy adviser in the Israeli diplomatic mission in Kiev. 1031 01:56:30,730 --> 01:56:34,810 So thank you. Thank you so much. So I'm going to be very brief, 1032 01:56:35,470 --> 01:56:41,980 but I want to talk about the role of women in war and the role of women in our peace process building and how we can 1033 01:56:42,310 --> 01:56:47,980 create a channel for talking between women in Ukraine and possibly women in Russia and local society in Russia. 1034 01:56:48,610 --> 01:56:52,990 So we're going to start with talking about women's role in peacebuilding. 1035 01:56:53,260 --> 01:56:59,050 And we know that from Swedish in, for example, in Afghanistan, after the sexual violence committed, 1036 01:56:59,560 --> 01:57:05,230 Russian troops in Ukraine are the rights of women and they are unfortunately role are going to devastating. 1037 01:57:05,230 --> 01:57:13,060 And we currently see that women are one of the largest parts of the society there being a heart of by the atrocities of war. 1038 01:57:13,630 --> 01:57:21,820 And although women are largely impacted by the conflict and paying a higher price for this devastation, unfortunately, we can see that. 1039 01:57:22,180 --> 01:57:29,620 We can see that their presence in the peace process, unfortunately, is not well represented, not only in Ukraine, but also around the globe. 1040 01:57:30,070 --> 01:57:35,920 And we can tell that between the 1992 and 2092, for example, 1041 01:57:36,220 --> 01:57:43,600 women serve only 6% of mediators of 7% of signatories, and so 10% of negotiations globally. 1042 01:57:43,990 --> 01:57:52,780 And also, we can tell that, unfortunately, references to women and girls and gender equality in peace agreements are also quite minimal. 1043 01:57:53,050 --> 01:58:01,510 And if we look at that analysis of the agreements that were implemented, we can tell that only 20% contain references to women and gender rights, 1044 01:58:01,750 --> 01:58:07,510 and also only 6% contain at least one provision that specifically address violence against women. 1045 01:58:10,030 --> 01:58:15,219 Also talking about the gender, how the war effort, the gender violence in Ukraine, 1046 01:58:15,220 --> 01:58:24,640 we can tell that obviously out of the six and 4.8 million displaced people in Ukraine, almost 65% are women and girls. 1047 01:58:24,910 --> 01:58:30,340 And I personally were walking in the refugee camp in Poland in almost a few weeks. 1048 01:58:30,640 --> 01:58:36,680 And you can imagine the situation where people, mostly women, 98% of women, I would say, 1049 01:58:36,700 --> 01:58:43,239 are with children and elderly people coming to the refugee camp, which was actually situated in the Tesco supermarket. 1050 01:58:43,240 --> 01:58:47,860 And people who are transitioning all the time from the border to the supermarkets and 1051 01:58:47,860 --> 01:58:51,700 staying there for a few months and then transitioning to another station to another, 1052 01:58:51,700 --> 01:58:59,620 and then unless they find any place to live in Poland. So this was going on for a few months on the border and literally, 1053 01:58:59,620 --> 01:59:07,930 really people and women were living in supermarkets and trying to find a place where they can go after this station that they have. 1054 01:59:09,610 --> 01:59:11,560 And we can tell also that internally, 1055 01:59:12,310 --> 01:59:19,389 women are also the ones who are most in the space on the side and obviously from the east side and from the south part of Ukraine, 1056 01:59:19,390 --> 01:59:21,640 they're relocated to the western part of Ukraine. 1057 01:59:21,640 --> 01:59:29,320 And also there was a difficulties for them to try to relocate and find a place for them to live, especially when they're coming with elderly people. 1058 01:59:29,320 --> 01:59:38,050 And of course, their caregivers have children, as usually men are staying in the place or they cannot cross the border or they prefer not to go. 1059 01:59:38,260 --> 01:59:42,310 So there could be also this difficulty that we are experiencing today. 1060 01:59:44,590 --> 01:59:51,310 But while Russian aggression is continuing, also planning for recovery and for the peace building process has already begun and 1061 01:59:52,060 --> 01:59:55,960 actually to ensure that this reconstruction and peacebuilding process could happen, 1062 01:59:56,320 --> 02:00:00,490 the environment of women in this process is particularly important. 1063 02:00:00,490 --> 02:00:06,280 And I think that in Ukraine of the Women's Society for Gender Equality, 1064 02:00:06,280 --> 02:00:12,669 for Women's Violence play a huge role in promoting humanitarian development and support of women. 1065 02:00:12,670 --> 02:00:21,880 And I think that one of the speakers mentioned that from humanitarian standpoint, we actually can start some communication between different sides. 1066 02:00:24,910 --> 02:00:32,830 Unfortunately, I can say that from the official point, women are also not that present in the representation of women at the table, for example. 1067 02:00:32,830 --> 02:00:34,450 But as I said, women. 1068 02:00:34,550 --> 02:00:44,270 A particularly strong part in our local society, local community and actually women's civil society is kind of holding community together. 1069 02:00:44,270 --> 02:00:50,150 And because of this strong community, I think the support and communication is possible. 1070 02:00:51,830 --> 02:00:59,540 We can also talk a little bit about the importance of involvement in the reconstruction as currently these topics are already ongoing and 1071 02:00:59,990 --> 02:01:06,469 there are a lot of investment and construction projects that are going and especially involving women in this are topics are also important. 1072 02:01:06,470 --> 02:01:12,049 And I think that from this perspective it's I'm proud to be a woman and present in Ukraine here. 1073 02:01:12,050 --> 02:01:16,459 And I think we have quite a lot of scholars here who are also women and they are kind 1074 02:01:16,460 --> 02:01:20,870 of trying to lead the negotiation and communication respect not only from women, 1075 02:01:20,870 --> 02:01:25,440 but from respect, but also I think that's it. 1076 02:01:25,460 --> 02:01:30,260 Thank you so much for your attention and thank you for being this conference. 1077 02:01:30,410 --> 02:01:46,770 Thank you so much. Thank you, Diane and Mary. 1078 02:01:46,770 --> 02:01:49,830 Thank all our speakers this afternoon. 1079 02:01:50,820 --> 02:01:56,070 We have now the opportunity to go for tea. Should anyone be tempted to drift away? 1080 02:01:57,000 --> 02:02:03,680 Could I ask you possibly to take off your badge and leave it at the registration table before you go? 1081 02:02:03,690 --> 02:02:10,079 Just say that now. But I hope you will stay for tea and come back for the talk by Carne Ross. 1082 02:02:10,080 --> 02:02:13,980 Carne, are you with us? Hello. Welcome. 1083 02:02:14,610 --> 02:02:18,150 Um, which should be a fascinating talk after tea. 1084 02:02:18,180 --> 02:02:23,550 And we will then do the actual exercise to allow you to reflect on what you may have learned. 1085 02:02:24,030 --> 02:02:34,380 And we will ask the speakers to give the reflections quickly on what they have learned during the day. 1086 02:02:34,830 --> 02:02:38,129 So there is an important thing to come after tea. 1087 02:02:38,130 --> 02:02:42,750 But meanwhile, please enjoy tea and come back at half past. 1088 02:03:17,750 --> 02:03:27,700 Thank you for your help. What do you think that tells us? 1089 02:03:28,570 --> 02:03:48,010 I think. You only get the main backdrop on the screen through Coda. 1090 02:03:48,140 --> 02:03:51,880 Oh, great. Player Yeah. So that's yours, isn't it? 1091 02:03:51,920 --> 02:03:57,850 The blue. Can you do a photo and. 1092 02:04:22,590 --> 02:04:26,130 You know, one, two, three. 1093 02:04:26,190 --> 02:04:34,030 But how long do we have to put in there? 1094 02:04:34,530 --> 02:04:45,500 But. Building. 1095 02:05:04,850 --> 02:05:13,470 I know. How about that? 1096 02:05:19,390 --> 02:05:22,550 Now because we have our feet high. 1097 02:05:22,720 --> 02:05:32,800 How many people? What are you doing with your feet? 1098 02:05:33,170 --> 02:05:46,040 But now you tell the people what you want. 1099 02:05:49,030 --> 02:05:53,710 You are all very, very nice to each other, right? 1100 02:05:54,360 --> 02:05:58,660 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 1101 02:05:58,670 --> 02:06:08,299 I think that I left me feeling pretty good, thanks to you. 1102 02:06:08,300 --> 02:06:12,390 Are you okay? Yeah. So what do you think? 1103 02:06:12,520 --> 02:06:37,510 Oh, I. Oh. For. 1104 02:06:43,770 --> 02:06:48,390 It's a little. Oh. 1105 02:06:50,180 --> 02:06:56,620 So I said, okay. So I walked up to you and you walked out down the street. 1106 02:07:01,140 --> 02:07:04,160 Also, you were. 1107 02:07:07,530 --> 02:07:20,820 Yeah. Oh. Service is exactly what I was that I wanted to do. 1108 02:07:22,780 --> 02:07:27,820 I. Yeah. 1109 02:07:35,550 --> 02:07:45,310 And that all. Yeah. 1110 02:07:47,990 --> 02:07:57,170 So if you can ask yourself. I just think that's what I'm saying. 1111 02:08:01,650 --> 02:08:17,060 I want to do it for something I really love. 1112 02:08:17,600 --> 02:08:20,640 I know. I just want. That's why I became a politician. 1113 02:08:20,790 --> 02:08:24,090 Because people love the way. Yeah, I just. 1114 02:08:24,330 --> 02:08:27,330 I figure out that's the way you get people's attention. 1115 02:08:27,330 --> 02:08:34,440 It is not the people. Although you have to also be hurt or something a bit at the beginning. 1116 02:08:34,440 --> 02:08:41,900 But it was not. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a better way to get money. 1117 02:08:43,060 --> 02:08:49,360 Yeah. I like that because I'm from. 1118 02:08:51,320 --> 02:09:01,430 I am proud of my family connection here, because I do think that you. 1119 02:09:01,940 --> 02:09:24,140 You okay? Yes. I want you know, I know what's next for. 1120 02:09:28,990 --> 02:09:37,170 Is there anything? 1121 02:09:45,030 --> 02:09:51,100 Well, we will be looking to learn more. 1122 02:09:54,690 --> 02:09:57,760 Really? Yes. Yes. 1123 02:09:57,770 --> 02:10:11,260 Yes. Yes. Well, actually, someone can come. 1124 02:10:20,480 --> 02:10:27,580 I think. In the old. 1125 02:10:34,680 --> 02:10:38,000 Course I was. I was. And. 1126 02:10:45,120 --> 02:10:48,950 And the coolest thing about it is that. 1127 02:10:51,780 --> 02:11:01,310 Variables. This time I managed to. 1128 02:11:07,500 --> 02:11:11,180 Thank you. 1129 02:11:16,110 --> 02:11:24,260 Yeah, there's more to it, but it doesn't get rid of it. 1130 02:11:24,980 --> 02:11:31,690 And you win by. I'm playing this kind of. 1131 02:11:36,920 --> 02:11:48,270 So I think that's actually. What do you do when you know they could run over the wall? 1132 02:11:49,120 --> 02:11:55,940 What if you could do it? 1133 02:11:56,240 --> 02:12:04,290 It's not a good thing to start looking at other people when they think you're looking into it and 1134 02:12:04,580 --> 02:12:14,550 you don't get into it is very easy for people to sort of be out there and absolutely be the best, 1135 02:12:15,180 --> 02:12:24,920 but something which can be done. Yeah, but like you say, that's just not being there. 1136 02:12:25,550 --> 02:12:33,570 I wish I knew I saw her that she was so nice to be with that for like a year and lost everything just now. 1137 02:12:33,850 --> 02:12:39,540 This is the most crazy. 1138 02:12:40,860 --> 02:12:44,820 How do you like somebody who has another year of a. 1139 02:12:45,150 --> 02:12:50,800 I was kind of sad that. Right. 1140 02:12:52,930 --> 02:12:58,600 Because I wasn't with Funny. There was something I reported on 50 years ago. 1141 02:12:58,600 --> 02:13:10,220 Not least. That's crazy. Seems like there was another thing when you were like, Oh, yeah, like, it's like you. 1142 02:13:10,700 --> 02:13:16,080 This is what you look like. 1143 02:13:16,290 --> 02:13:27,420 You know, there was something I was just about to see, and I'm constantly like, well, not better. 1144 02:13:27,610 --> 02:13:31,970 But I was first was like this. 1145 02:13:32,740 --> 02:13:39,360 And it's very hard because what happens is we actually do more than just go. 1146 02:13:43,020 --> 02:13:49,550 That's like somebody who tries. What? 1147 02:13:53,320 --> 02:13:56,820 And as far as the command centre. 1148 02:13:58,910 --> 02:14:07,030 So I was wondering whether it was just. 1149 02:14:13,040 --> 02:14:23,420 So some of these lessons are just some of the. 1150 02:14:28,600 --> 02:14:45,970 That's just what I want people to know. I'm pretty sure people in the polls can and in some cases come close to the first person. 1151 02:14:47,370 --> 02:14:52,630 So much. The White House is. 1152 02:14:56,780 --> 02:15:04,310 Okay. Oh, so now we're trying to clarify what those separate. 1153 02:15:07,400 --> 02:15:20,660 What are you saying? Anyone who's hopes to help us understand that we need to start a little business on the other side of. 1154 02:15:29,510 --> 02:15:34,320 So that's what we tried to do. 1155 02:15:37,610 --> 02:15:42,110 We were able to give both. 1156 02:15:42,650 --> 02:15:51,150 Yeah. He was happy. Yeah. 1157 02:15:51,410 --> 02:16:01,320 You know, so it was just it was like, whoa. 1158 02:16:02,920 --> 02:16:08,590 You see what saying this is? 1159 02:16:09,800 --> 02:16:27,660 No. They? 1160 02:16:33,770 --> 02:16:38,010 If we have to go to the. 1161 02:16:40,430 --> 02:16:44,170 To to. 1162 02:16:46,990 --> 02:17:07,150 So much. So I decided that I wanted to work at the house to make way for the Big Six that are fighting to keep the journalists in Brussels. 1163 02:17:07,570 --> 02:17:15,790 And I was like, Are you kidding? Well, I suppose I don't have to write about all my family ever was there working. 1164 02:17:15,790 --> 02:17:20,140 You want to have more house? 1165 02:17:20,770 --> 02:17:34,370 Oh, actually, one of the things I started talking about is that these, you know, this there's not practical. 1166 02:17:34,690 --> 02:17:40,570 It's going to do surplus in possessions. 1167 02:17:41,140 --> 02:17:51,990 It was kind of. My brother friend. 1168 02:17:53,900 --> 02:17:57,320 So what are you looking for? 1169 02:17:58,100 --> 02:18:03,520 So I'll do something with you. Yes, sir. You ready? 1170 02:18:03,800 --> 02:18:12,650 All right. Yeah. You. If you've seen all of that, it's. 1171 02:18:15,470 --> 02:18:27,760 This. Maybe they're not worth. 1172 02:18:30,580 --> 02:18:37,840 And basically, you know, it's pretty hard to survive. So she left. 1173 02:18:41,920 --> 02:18:45,450 Sounds great to have you have. 1174 02:18:47,770 --> 02:19:03,240 So she's going to have to be kind of the type of person that we have to have almost as Americans, really. 1175 02:19:07,050 --> 02:19:12,690 I mean, this boy loves this guy. The project. 1176 02:19:17,370 --> 02:19:20,580 Yeah. Yeah. Oh, jeez. 1177 02:19:21,000 --> 02:19:25,380 Oh, gosh. I mean, just cause it, they have. 1178 02:19:30,160 --> 02:19:44,930 First. He has spent the past week on the beach camping in Wisconsin and. 1179 02:19:48,300 --> 02:19:58,480 Person. So yeah, we had a couple people. 1180 02:19:59,990 --> 02:20:04,600 But now it's quite a farce because. 1181 02:20:05,780 --> 02:20:21,180 How long? So despite the fact that it only. 1182 02:20:31,590 --> 02:20:38,900 It's time to go. Nobody. 1183 02:20:40,850 --> 02:20:54,420 This happens to be the. Yeah. 1184 02:20:59,310 --> 02:21:03,180 I want of this. Sure. As I see it. 1185 02:21:09,150 --> 02:21:21,670 Yes, that is absolutely because I think that basically, yes, people talk about that, but they try to. 1186 02:21:22,230 --> 02:21:26,700 Let's talk about the New York Times article or some. 1187 02:21:29,990 --> 02:21:34,540 Like I said, it's about how we operate about you. 1188 02:21:34,710 --> 02:21:44,380 Like what, actually? Like they said, actually, people want to check out their. 1189 02:21:46,890 --> 02:21:50,870 You just naturally have a. Bottom line at this time. 1190 02:21:53,680 --> 02:21:58,000 Where we need a cease fire is working right now all the time. 1191 02:21:58,290 --> 02:22:01,420 But I don't see that happening there. 1192 02:22:02,080 --> 02:22:05,900 And I mean. The thing is that the soldiers actually. 1193 02:22:07,920 --> 02:22:14,060 They are easily pregnant by. Just like this. 1194 02:22:17,900 --> 02:22:29,170 510. So I mean, how many candidates talk about winning this amazing political. 1195 02:22:51,010 --> 02:22:56,090 Yeah. I mean, I wasn't. 1196 02:23:04,770 --> 02:23:09,000 I was worried that. We have. 1197 02:23:10,550 --> 02:23:27,270 That's. Let's move on to politics. 1198 02:23:27,850 --> 02:23:30,880 We just want. 1199 02:23:33,350 --> 02:23:50,020 For. It shouldn't be something that they don't want. 1200 02:23:50,030 --> 02:23:53,050 Just. Just to stay in touch. There's still no. 1201 02:23:59,950 --> 02:24:08,610 Sometimes you have to sit here, and I think you need to hear this. 1202 02:24:29,560 --> 02:24:32,980 You have to speak to that. 1203 02:25:10,290 --> 02:27:31,550 So. So. 1204 02:27:35,830 --> 02:27:40,460 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 1205 02:27:45,940 --> 02:27:48,970 I'm six. 1206 02:27:53,730 --> 02:27:58,140 Yeah. Yeah. 1207 02:28:27,210 --> 02:28:30,420 You see? 1208 02:28:43,660 --> 02:29:36,160 You know. Yeah. 1209 02:29:41,980 --> 02:29:51,330 Because I like. 1210 02:30:12,350 --> 02:30:20,940 Highlights of. U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald. 1211 02:30:35,850 --> 02:30:42,840 I am working with. I have. 1212 02:31:03,520 --> 02:31:07,330 And yeah, it tends to refund. 1213 02:31:15,560 --> 02:31:20,240 Who groups. 1214 02:31:24,750 --> 02:31:29,310 For about 15 minutes at a time. Okay. 1215 02:31:30,000 --> 02:31:35,130 Should we do that? Yes. And then do you. 1216 02:31:44,350 --> 02:31:48,010 Cut. Yeah. 1217 02:31:50,030 --> 02:31:56,550 So I think. So. 1218 02:31:57,700 --> 02:32:08,910 I'm just going to. Speak. 1219 02:32:14,540 --> 02:32:19,000 The speakers could just say one more. 1220 02:32:19,030 --> 02:32:29,270 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sounds good. Yeah. Yeah. 1221 02:32:31,120 --> 02:32:35,940 The microphones. Yeah, just running. All right. 1222 02:32:41,450 --> 02:33:33,390 I mean. See, that's what we wanted to see. 1223 02:33:33,750 --> 02:33:36,770 Thank you very much. All right.