Three Years of War in Ukraine: Taking Stock

Monday, Feb. 24 // 11:00 am–12:00 pm (ET)

February 24, 2025, marks the third year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war has gone through many phases, from Ukraine's early battlefield successes in repelling the Russian invasion to Russia's recent incremental gains in Ukraine to the incursion in July 2024 of Ukrainian troops onto Russia's territory. The consequences of the war have been felt across the globe—in the new partnership structures Russia has been attempting to build with China, Iran, and North Korea, in higher prices for food and for other commodities, and in the global coalition of countries supporting Ukraine.

In this event, Pavlo Klimkin, the former Foreign Minister of Ukraine, and Serge Schmemann, a New York Times editor who covers the region, will discuss the nature of the war, the current status of the situation on the ground, and the prospects for a negotiated settlement to the war.

STILL TO Come THIS WEEK

Ukrainian Society Under Occupation: Hardship, Civic Resilience, and Perception

Wednesday, Feb. 26 // 10–11:00 am (ET)

Three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, civic resilience remains central to the country’s ability to withstand outside aggression. What has life under occupation looked like for ordinary Ukrainians? How do media and official discourses shape public perceptions of the occupation? How have these perceptions and discourses about them influenced social relations? This event will explore occupation as both a historical phenomenon and a lived experience, linking journalistic, legal, military, historical, psychological, and social perspectives to explore the heterogeneity of experiences across the country. Drawing on sociological insights and firsthand journalistic accounts, it will examine how the Russian invasion has tested individual, communal, and national resilience to paint a clearer picture of Ukrainian society today.

Assessing the Designation of Mexican Cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)

Thursday, Feb. 27 // 10–11:30 am (ET)

On February 20, 2025, the US government officially designated six Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), marking a significant shift in US national security policy aimed at addressing Mexican organized crime. On the same day, Canada, following the US lead, also designated these cartels as FTOs, signaling a coordinated and unified approach to tackling these criminal organizations across North America. This webinar will explore these actions' security, economic, and diplomatic implications, including their potential effects on US-Mexico-Canada relations, the evolving dynamics of transnational crime, and regional stability. We will also consider the potential for increased violence and the impact on US-Mexico security cooperation.

Seeking Peace across the Georgian-Abkhazian Conflict: Writers from Opposing Sides

Friday, Feb. 28 // 11:00 am–12:00 pm (ET)

Guram Odisharia, a former Minister of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia (2012-2014) and award-winning author, will provide a background on the history of Georgia-Abkhazia, with a focus with the Georgian-Abkhaszian War in the early 1990s.

War Termination: Prospects in the Short to Medium Term

Friday, Feb. 28 // 2–3:00 pm (ET)

The war in Ukraine has entered a new phase, in which public and private negotiations are moving into high gear. In this virtual conversation, Liana Fix of the Council on Foreign Relations and Sam Charap of the Rand Corporation will join Kennan Institute Director Michael Kimmage to talk through the various scenarios of war termination, to assess the challenges and the opportunities connected to the prospect of a negotiated settlement to the war and to consider the structure (bilateral or multilateral) that negotiations might take.