Victor Pinchuk Foundation and YES held an informal YES gathering in Kyiv One Year – Stay in the Fight

On 24 February 2023, on the 1st anniversary of Ukraine’s resistance to the full-scale invasion of Russia, Yalta European Strategy (YES) and Victor Pinchuk Foundation held an informal YES gathering - One Year – Stay in the Fight.

A group of Ukrainians and friends of Ukraine - thinkers, politicians, experts, civil activists discussed the following topics:

• For what do Ukrainians and Ukraine’s partners fight?   

• What main steps must Ukraine and her friends take in terms of military, economic, political action, international law, to stop the Kremlin’s attempt to bring dictatorship and death to Ukraine and European continent.

• What does this war mean in history?

• How can Ukrainians win the war and at the same time create a new country and society where the rule of law and democratic values prevail?

All these discussions were held during the Russian War Crimes exhibition which was opened at 3:40 at the Intercontinental Hotel, at the time when Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The exhibition is organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and PinchukArtCentre in partnership with the Office of the President of Ukraine and the Ukrainian association of professional photographers.

At the preview of the exhibition, Victor Pinchuk, businessmen, Founder of YES, said: “We decided to make this exhibition because this war has many fronts. The military front, where our heroes are fighting and risking their lives, is the main front. However, political, diplomatic and communication fronts are also very important. Communication and culture are very powerful weapons. We decided that we need to tell this story about Russia’s genocide of Ukrainians as loudly as possible, as broadly as possible because we need emotions. Emotions are a very important driver for strong decisions. We need strong decisions. Now. It’s not already “never again.” It’s about “stop now!” We need fast decisions. As fast as possible. We believe that this exhibition will contribute to our victory.”

Oleksii Reznikov, Ukrainian Minister of Defence, added: “ I would like to mention two things. The first thing is that speed saves lives, as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the recent Ramstein meeting. Timing is very important. The second thing regards genocide. Last week I met two members of the Knesset, Israeli Parliament, who discussed a so-called neutral position, which is an official position of Israel in terms of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. I told them:  “You know what Holocaust means. This means you have to understand what genocide means. You are witnessing yet attempt of genocide against Ukrainians. And I hope that these two members of Knesset come back to Israel, and they will persuade their colleagues to be more brave.” 

And I hope that these two members of Knesset come back to Israel, and they will persuade their colleagues to be more brave.”

Video from the exhibition opening and discussion panels are available on the YouTube channel @PinchukFoundation

Photos are available at https://yes-ukraine.org/