The HKS Ukraine Caucus co-chairs explain why they launched the first student-led Ukraine Symposium last month, the narratives they’re challenging, and what Ukraine’s future means for global security.
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Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Maria Kulchyckyj MPP 2026, Mariya Koziy MC/MPA 2026, and Lucas Kuziv MC/MPA 2026 saw a gap. Despite the war’s scale and global impact, there was no sustained student-led space on the Harvard Kennedy School campus to engage deeply with Ukraine. As the Ukraine Caucus' co-chairs, they organized the first Ukraine Symposium on February 27, 2026, as the world marked four years since the invasion began.
Structured around three pillars—civil society resilience, Ukraine in a shifting global order, and reconstruction and innovation—the symposium aimed to tell a fuller story of Ukraine at war and on the path to recovery. Ukrainian and international experts came together to challenge common misconceptions, bring lived experience into the conversation alongside policy analysis, and highlight how developments in Ukraine are reshaping global norms.
In this Q&A, Kulchyckyj, Koziy, and Kuziv explain why they created the symposium now, how HKS shaped their approach, and the one idea they hope participants will not forget.
What inspired you to launch the Ukraine Symposium, and why now?
We organized the Ukraine Symposium to lift Ukrainian voices, shine a light on the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion, and discuss Ukraine’s role in a shifting international world order. We saw there wasn’t a dedicated space on campus to discuss Ukraine in a sustained way. The war in Ukraine is the largest ongoing conflict in Europe—we wanted to create a space where students and the broader community could learn, ask hard questions, and speak directly with Ukrainian and international experts on one of the most consequential challenges facing our world today. We intentionally held the symposium on February 27, 2026—four years to the week since the invasion. It was an opportunity to draw attention to the four-year impact of the full-scale war in Ukraine and the choices faced next by the international community.
What misconceptions do people commonly have about this area? How does the Ukraine Symposium’s program address them?
That the scale of ongoing destruction and the magnitude of Russia’s atrocities are no longer as severe as they once were. The media coverage has declined, which means there’s an assumption the situation is stabilizing or improving. But the reality is, this past winter was the hardest for civilians—there have been continued attacks on energy infrastructure and sustained terror against the civilian population.
It’s also a misconception that “Ukrainian resilience” means the situation is manageable. Resilience is real, but it cannot be mistaken for recovery or normalcy. Our opening panel, “Voices from the Ground: Civil Society and Everyday Resilience,” was designed to address this gap in understanding. We focused on lived realities of the war, ongoing human rights violations, and the strength of Ukrainian civil society. We wanted to make clear: resilience does not lessen the urgency of accountability and sustained support.
You structured the day around three panels: civil society resilience, Ukraine in the global order, and reconstruction/innovation. How did you land on those three pillars as the best way to tell Ukraine’s story right now?
These three panels tell an honest yet inspiring story of Ukraine right now. Civil society resilience reflects the lived reality of a society sustaining itself under existential pressure and documenting human rights violations in real time. Ukraine in the shifting global world order captures the strategic stakes of the war, how the war is reshaping international rules, alliances, and credibility, including lessons for non-proliferation. Finally, reconstruction/innovation grounds the conversation in solutions—how Ukraine can rebuild competitively, mobilize private investment, and use innovation to grow economically.
How did your time at HKS shape your understanding of this issue and sense of responsibility to act on it?
During our time at HKS, we often found ourselves among the only Ukrainians in our academic and policy circles. Our classmates brought valuable global and analytical perspectives, but we were often the ones who could speak directly to the lived realities of the war, what it looks like beyond the headlines, and how it shapes daily life. These experiences deepened our sense of responsibility at a leading policy school like HKS, to ensure that conversations about Ukraine are grounded not only in theory and geopolitics, but also in lived experience and rigorous expertise. The symposium was one way to do that, by bringing together experts who could engage in the full complexity of the issues and add nuance and substance to ongoing debates at HKS.
If the symposium’s participants remember only one idea, what do you hope it is?
We hope it is this: Ukrainians are fighting with extraordinary resilience, but they cannot and should not stand alone. Ukraine’s struggle is about its sovereignty, but it is also about human dignity and the rules that govern international order. There is no return to the prewar status quo. As several speakers underscored, what happens in Ukraine will shape not only Ukraine’s future, but the credibility of international humanitarian norms, European security, and the global non-proliferation framework for years to come. Recent developments in the Middle East have only reinforced this reality. Escalation there narrows the space for serious peace efforts, puts additional pressure on Ukraine’s air defense capacity, and higher oil prices make it easier for Russia to finance its war. These dynamics are linked, which is why steady, long-term support for Ukraine matters.
Photos courtesy of Martha Stewart
