The First Session of XVIII USPS Programme

The first session is always about pleasant excitement before the meeting with participants when the questionnaire for participation turns into a person. Thirty-six decent military service members, lawyers, politicians and media specialists joined the USPS community – a new constellation capable of assuming responsibility.

This is the second enrolment in the course of the full-scale invasion. We realise that we have the opportunity to continue our activities only due to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Strengthening our army with all possible efforts is the duty of every citizen, every institution and community. This year, the School directed the participants’ registration fees to our partners, the “Come Back Alive” charitable foundation, in the amount of almost UAH 700,000 to strengthen the defence capabilities of our army.

In the First Session, all discussions were more value-oriented when participants synchronised their actions for further productive work. So, how did the First Session go?

European integration is the old dream of Ukrainians. Applying for membership, obtaining candidate status, continuous communication, consultations and negotiations, and promoting our agenda among EU member states – all this happens in line with Ukraine’s daily struggle for its own independence and freedom on the battlefield.

At the same time, negotiations are not an easy process that can be carried out using “easy” strategies. It is a methodical, complicated, and long game that requires the coordinated and professional work of qualified personnel.

With Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, we discussed possible challenges and what to expect from negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU.

Is justice itself understood? The next speaker of the School – Andrii Andrushkiv, junior lieutenant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a teacher at UCU Business School, and a 2016 USPS Alumnus, is asking the participants.

When we talk about some kind of active position to restore justice, involvement in such processes is still not very high in Ukrainian society. It is difficult for us to build dialogue with people of other political views and develop a comprehensive understanding of responsibility, including regarding fair approaches and decisions, without blurring it into claims against personalities or institutions, taking into account their social “bubbles” only. This, in fact, is telling, especially in the context of war, when the matter of interaction with people – the state and its citizens, the civilian part of the population and the military community – cannot be distorted and cannot be avoided.

From a historical point of view, the period when there were no wars in Europe is an anomaly. We managed to be born in a quite unique moment of military calm, though even conditional. And that it is difficult for modern society to get out of such a “paradigm of peace” when there was a comfort zone, and now there is the war – in the beginning, a local war in Donbas and instability in the sea after the occupation of Crimea, and now a large-scale, regional war. After 1945, due to a number of factors, including the appearance of nuclear weapons, there were fewer and fewer wars of conquest, but Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine created the risk of a dangerous example. However, the history and the opportunities offered by contemporary times have repeatedly demonstrated that it is very unprofitable to wage wars, especially invading wars.

USPS participants spoke with Mykola Bieleskov, a senior analyst of the Come Back Alive charitable foundation, about how to accept the logic of our military reality and what we can and cannot comprehensively evaluate in the course of the war.

For more than a century, judicial reform has been the focus of public attention, but it is difficult for the average Ukrainian to speak about any visible results. The main reason for this is that such comprehensive reforms need many years, and sometimes decades, to become truly sustainable at all levels.

However, the reform is not halted. Despite attempts to take control of the Supreme Court and the suspension of the High Council of Justice and the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine for several years, in 2021–2023, the work on the reform resumed. The Strategy for Developing the System of Justice was adopted, the work of the High Council of Justice and the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine was resumed, and competitions for courts of first and appellate instance and the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine started.

Participants talked about the essence of judicial reform with Oleksii Filatov, a Ukrainian lawyer and senior partner at Aequo Law Firm, and Andrii Vyshnevskyi, a manager and lawyer specialising in state management, access to justice, and combating corruption.

As a special guest, Olena Zelenska spoke about her “soft power” and the Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen, the platform launched by the First Lady in 2021. The experience of this Summit demonstrated that soft power is an effective tool of influence. With no exaggeration, Ukraine has changed the world’s perception of the institution of first ladies and gentlemen. This already has clear, visible results not only for Ukraine. Collaboration between leaders of other states strengthens our position in the world and helps Ukraine find new friends and partners.

This platform not only initiates the issues of preserving mental health, ensuring equal rights and opportunities, and distributing the barrier-free philosophy but also makes it possible to keep in focus the topic of the war in Ukraine, which we cannot let the world forget about.

We appreciate Olena Zelenska’s sincerity, humanity, and steadfastness in defending Ukraine’s interests in the international arena.

The argument is often heard that when we fight off Russia, we will only need to restore and build our defence capabilities for the future. Therefore, we must abandon the idea of a social state and redirect expenses of this sphere to other, more urgent needs necessary for reconstruction. Is it really efficient?

Participants talked to Pavlo Kovtoniuk, co-founder of the Ukrainian Healthcare Centre (UHC), about how medicine needs to change so that it supports the human potential and fair society in Ukraine and about the perspectives of the Ukrainian healthcare system.

There is certain conservatism and rigidity in international law. Therefore, verdicts and conclusions regarding Russia’s responsibility for its crimes against Ukraine are fought for quite slowly. However, there are certain results in this area. We discussed it during the First Session of USPS 2024 with Anton Korynevych, Ambassador-at-large in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Ukraine’s agent at the UN International Court of Justice.

One of the most significant victories in 2023 was the UN International Court of Justice’s recognition of the Russian Federation as a violator of international law. This is extremely important for us since this is the first decision that recognises the Russian Federation as the violator, and this cannot be denied.

Why can we not afford to live as we used to live before and after the war ended? How can we avoid repeating the mistakes of the past? And finally, what is the biggest problem of our “today”? We discussed these questions on the discussion platform “Ukraine Today and the Day After Tomorrow” together with Yuliia Mostova, a journalist, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online publication ZN.UA.

Not to be afraid to accept the new reality’s challenges – the military reality, become the locomotive that every society needs to move and win – and get a chance to build a qualitatively new state because we cannot know which “black horses” will appear in the world and prevent the Ukrainian agenda.

Why do we need to have security at all? To save lives and everything else is secondary. Taking into account the fact that our main threat is Russian aggression, we now direct all resources to the fight against the invaders. Understanding the motives and prerequisites of Russia is an important factor in building our security strategy.

Participants had the opportunity to discuss our current security strategy and how our perception of the war has changed with Oleksandr Lytvynenko, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine.

In February 2022, in addition to the land attack of Russian troops, Ukraine was also attacked in cyberspace. These attacks are still regular and are aimed not only at government entities but also at businesses to completely destabilise the Ukrainian economy and promote Russian narratives in the information space.

Nowadays, cybersecurity affects everyone: every citizen is protected in cyberspace to the extent the country is. What shall the Ukrainian cyber army be? The USPS 2024 group discussed this with Yehor Aushev, CEO of Cyber Unit Technology, an expert in cybersecurity and 2016 USPS Alumnus, and Serhii Khariuk, founder and CEO of AmonSul, a 2023 USPS Alumnus.

The current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has unique experience in many manifestations – the first mono majority in the history of Ukrainian parliamentarian activity, the first Verkhovna Rada to work under conditions of the full-scale invasion, and the first convocation to “overstay” its term in the parliament.

New challenges have overlapped the old problems: public distrust of the Verkhovna Rada is steadily increasing, parliamentary reform, which has been stretched over time, has slowed down even more in 2022 due to external circumstances, and the need to strengthen the institutional capacity of the parliament is more evident than ever. The state and the parliament are in crisis. This is not surprising because we live at the crossroads of the stable world order.

What will the features of Ukrainian politics be in the upcoming years? How is the parliamentary reform progressing, and what are its main priorities today? How can we ensure the sustainable development of the parliament as an institution? What will the parliament look like after the war? The USPS 2024 group had the opportunity to discuss this with Oleksandr Korniienko, the First Deputy Chair of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada.

Oleksandr Kamyshin, Minister of Strategic Industries, and Anna Hvozdiar, Deputy Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine, spoke to participants of this USPS programme about the challenges for the Ukrainian defence industry sector and its strengthening and development zones.

During the war, neither country could afford to fail to have a separate structure responsible for producing weapons. Actually, the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine was created to revive the Ukrainian defence sector. Of course, certain sectors, in addition to the defence industry, receive special attention, and the priority task is creating opportunities and relevant policies in the fields of weapon production and military equipment, as well as defence planning.

The First Session of 2024 passed in such passionate discussions. Now, let us join hands and see you at the USPS’s Second Session!