On May 28, the Open Dialog Foundation organised a conference in Rome, Italy, entitled: “Ukraine at the crossroad: post-electoral analysis” [Ucraina al bivio: analisi post-elettorale]. The conference was generously hosted by the Consiglio Italiano del Movimento Europeo.
The meeting aimed at discussing the current situation in Ukraine and identifying the challenges that the new president is facing, following the May 25 elections.
We had a varied panel of speakers, coming from academic, journalistic and activist world, sharing their experience and views on the current situation in Ukraine and on the role of external factors. There are a number of issues that particularly attracted the public’s attention. Diverse opinions and experiences of the speakers, as well as a lively exchange with the public kept the discussion going for over three hours.
Our Ukrainian guest, Olesya Zhukovska, the brave activist and volunteer from Maidan, who survived the shooting of a sniper, gave her personal, touching testimony. She spoke about the terrifying moments after the attack, the difficult convalescence time and her dreams of a better and more democratic Ukraine.
The Open Dialog Foundation is dedicated to promoting open exchanges of views on the most pressing issues of today’s world, within the context of our area of interest. We aim at providing the society with the space to confront themselves with experts and express their position on issues that relate to them directly.
Such events as our Rome conference contribute to our campaign in raising the European public’s awareness on the current situation in Ukraine. The emotions centred around it show the great need of a dialogue and debate on this issue also within the EU Member States.
Photos thanks to the courtesy of Yuliya Vassilyeva.