Today was War and Recovery Day at the House, having received wall-to-wall coverage from media assembled in Davos for its opening day activities.
It had been the place to be on U.S. inauguration day and so the organizers decided to slide in a last-minute panel this morning, “Post Inauguration: The View From The U.S.” taking a post inauguration deep dive into what the new administration could mean for Ukraine.
The House heard insights from speakers Daniel Runde, Senior Vice-President, CSIS, and Ken Hersh, President and CEO George W. Bush Presidential Center and the prevailing mood from both was one of cautious optimism.
The panel was moderated by Lenna Koszarny, Ukraine House Davos Organizing Committee Member and Horizon Capital Founding Partner and CEO.
Hersh noted that “peace through strength mentality is a language Putin understands” and that it was a misconception to think flattery from Putin would get Trump to concede anything – if it was a bad deal, Trump would walk away, not roll over.
He mused that Europe creating a stronger sanctions and secondary sanctions regime against Russia could help Trump create leverage with Putin to bring about a ceasefire more swiftly.
Runde agreed, arguing forcefully that Trump’s unorthodox and creative approach to foreign policy diplomacy actually meant he could come to see Ukraine “as the solution to global challenges” in its capacity to help the U.S. fightback against China in tech and innovation through its extraordinary mineral resources.
This panel was followed by an exclusive showing of Colby Barrett’s new film “A Faith Under Siege” highlighting the persecution faced by Christians in Ukraine by Russia as part of the panel “Faith Under Siege”.
The panel was moderated by Sonya Soutus, Market Head Ukraine, APCO Worldwide, and heard insights from Colby Barrett, Executive Producer, A Faith Under Siege, Rev. Johnnie Moore, President, Congress of Christian Leaders, Steven Moore, Founder, Ukraine Freedom Project, Mykola Kuleba, Founder, Save Ukraine Organization, and Ryan Lane, Ukraine Country Director, Samaritan’s Purse International.
The audience was deeply moved by the harrowing stories on display and appreciated Steven Moore’s heartfelt summary of what had to be done to get this film made – “all of us on this stage have risked our lives in the red zone in Ukraine to get this message out”. Barrett urged “every Christian in America to watch this film”.
The WEF heard from President Zelenskyy in a keynote speech this afternoon (livestreamed at the House to standing room only) where he proudly reflected to the assembled audience that Ukraine was “building drones [for warfare] that no one else in the world has”.
He may well have had our agenda in mind because right after his remarks, the House hosted a panel, “In It To Win It: Ukraine’s Defense Tech is transforming the War, the World and Ukraine”, which explored precisely this topic.
The audience was left with a fervent belief that Ukraine possessed a truly dynamic defense tech sector which had learned lessons on the battlefield that could benefit its allies.
The panel was hosted by Daniel Bilak, Partner, Kinstellar, and heard insights from Oleksandr Kamyshin, Strategic Affairs Advisor to President Zelenskyy, Lorenz Meier, Founder & CEO, Auterion, Eveline Buchatskiy, Managing Partner, D3 Venture Capital, Wahid Nawabi, Chairman, President & CEO, AeroVironment Inc, and Nataliya Bugayova, Institute for the Study of War.
The key takeaway from the panelists was that Ukraine had leapfrogged the rest of Europe in its capacity to find innovative solutions to warfare, using a mosquito fleet of drones and deploying AI alongside more traditional battlefield weapons – as Kamyshin noted, “one day we will join the EU and Nato and we will come with assets, we will come with value” amongst which would be the strongest defense sector on the continent.
The last two panels were focused on veterans – “INVICTUS Unleashing War-Wounded Superpowers” and “War’s Frontier: What the West Can Learn from Ukraine”.
Both panels involved Svitlana Grytsenko, Ukraine House Organizing Committee Member and Member of the Board, Victor Pinchuk Foundation, the first as a panelist and the second as the moderator.
The first of these panels was moderated by Daniel Salem, Officer of Special Operations Forces Unit, and aside from Grytsenko, heard insights from Krystina Waler, Director of Ukrainian Initiatives, Temerty Foundation, Eric Cioe-Pena, Vice President, Center for Global Health, Northwell Health, Roman Tychkivskyy, Director, Strategic Initiatives, Veteran Support, UMAEF.
Grytsenko said that she herself had grown up in a military family and spoke about the deep patriotism and unity of the Ukrainian soldiers who when wounded and in rehabilitation, told her how much they wanted to go back on the frontline. Waler spoke about the Temerty Foundation’s work on humanitarian projects in Ukraine and said the international community had a moral responsibility to help. The panel discussed new developments in rehabilitation and the audience were asked to share their own expertise in this field as well.
The second and final panel of the day heard extraordinarily moving insights from four Ukrainian defenders, Yehor Firsov, Vadym Mazevych, Daryna Smolnikova and Volodymyr Shliukharchuk who gave the audience a firsthand experience from the frontlines and explained how in its endeavors, the Ukrainian army had reshaped modern warfare.
Ukraine House Davos is organized by UMAEF, Victor Pinchuk Foundation, and Horizon Capital and led by Executive Director Ulyana Khromyak.
The Ukraine House Davos Organizing Committee is composed of: Jaroslawa Johnson, President and CEO, UMAEF; Svitlana Grytsenko, Member of the Board, Victor Pinchuk Foundation; and Lenna Koszarny, Founding Partner and CEO, Horizon Capital.
Stay tuned as we continue to explore, connect and shape a brighter global future together.
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