Peace Through Strength NOW! The 22nd Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting took place in Kyiv

The 22nd Annual Meeting of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) “Peace Through Strength NOW!” was held on 11-12 September in Kyiv. 700 leading politicians, diplomats, businessmen, servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, veterans, civil activists, and experts from 28 countries took part in the YES conference organized  by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

Opening the event, Victor Pinchuk, businessman and philanthropist, founder of YES, said: 

“Peace through strength is about immediate action, immediate action by Ukraine, Europe, the United States and other partners. The Ukrainian will to fight has been superior from the start. Ukrainian innovation has become superior in 2026. Exactly because of this double superiority, the window of opportunity has appeared — a window of opportunity to force our enemy to sit down for serious and real negotiations to end the war. But windows of opportunity are very rare and fast disappearing.

This is why we need our partners to give even more military and financial support, invest more in Ukrainian defence and sanction our enemy more to decrease its resources. And, most importantly, this winter Ukraine must have the most protected sky in the world».

Introducing the artwork created especially for the conference by the world-famous British artist Banksy, Victor Pinchuk said:

“One work expressed most what the title of the conference means. World-famous artist in 2022 went to the small town Borodyanka, 30 miles from Kyiv. Russian destroyed his houses and tried to capture Kyiv. There he sprayed on a wall a work which became iconic — a small child who flips to the floor a big judo fighter who thought he was a master. And this great artist, who never shows himself, created a new work especially for our conference. And this is his first ever self-portrait in such a scale.

For me, Banksy in this picture symbolizes all our Western partners. He is here like they are — always with us, always standing with Ukraine. And of course we all understand this small child is Ukraine. Peace through strength, Ukraine style.”

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed in his video address to the participants of the Annual Meeting: “It is very important today not to lose any time and to strengthen our daily efforts to ensure the defense of the country.”

The President of Ukraine underlined that developing Ukraine’s own defense capabilities, defense industry and partnerships is a critically important part of the country’s long-term security guarantees, both during the war and in the post-war period.

“It is vital to build our own system shielding our skies, and not only that. We will need it during the war, of course, and afterwards, because part of Ukraine’s security guarantees is the Ukrainian army, our production capabilities, our capacities and our partnerships with Europe, the United States and Canada,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.

He emphasised that security guarantees are peace guarantees, and it is peace that Ukraine needs most of all. He urged for focusing on the present-day challenges Ukrainians face every day.

“Security guarantees are guarantees of peace, and peace is what Ukraine needs so much.”

The President of Ukraine thanked the participants of the YES 2026 Annual Meeting for supporting Ukraine and demonstrating that Ukraine is not alone in this fight.

“I am very pleased that you have such a distinguished gathering; I understand that everyone has come to support the conference. At the same time, the Yalta conference is one of the building blocks of the broader support being provided to Ukraine. Every such conference, every such meeting, in my view, is very important in order to demonstrate to Ukrainians that they are not alone in facing the enemy. And secondly, it is important to demonstrate to the Russians that no one will abandon Ukraine until there is a just peace. Thank you,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy concluded.

Among speakers of the YES Annual Meeting 2026 were: Victor Pinchuk, businessman and philanthropist, founder of YES; Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine; Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine; Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine; Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Chief, Defence Intelligence of Ukraine; Artem Martynenko, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, responsible for digital transformation and innovation; Radosław Sikorski, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland; Margus Tsahkna, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia; Sergii Koretskyi, Prime Minister of Ukraine; Taras Kachka, Representative of Ukraine to the European Union, Trade Representative of Ukraine; Jared Kushner, United States Special Envoy for Peace; Jonathan Powell, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Vsevolod Chentsov, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine; Igor Terekhov, Mayor of Kharkiv, Kharkiv City Council; Oleksandra Ustinova, Member of Parliament, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; Roksolana Pidlasa, Member of Parliament, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the UK (2019-2022); Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of the Republic of Poland (1995-2005), Chairman of the YES Board; Gabrielius Landsbergis, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania (2020-2024), Founder of NGO Friends of Democracy; Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014), Prime Minister of Sweden (1991-1994), Co-Chair of ECFR, Member of the YES Board; Sanna Marin, Prime Minister of Finland (2019-2023), Member of the YES Board; Oleksandr Kravchenko, Minister of Economy and Environment of Ukraine; Alice Rufo, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Armed Forces of France; Dan Driscoll, Former United States Secretary of the Army; Fabrizio Saggio, Diplomatic Advisor and National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Italy; John Curtis, Senator, United States Senate; Alan Armstrong, Senator, United States Senate; Thom Tillis, Senator, United States Senate; Jim Costa, Congressman, US House of Representatives; Salud Carbajal, Congressman, US House of Representatives; Don Bacon, Congressman, US House of Representatives; Wesley Bell, Congressman, US House of Representatives; Eugene Vindman, Congressman, US House of Representatives; David Arakhamiia, Majority Leader, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; David Petraeus, Partner, KKR; Joachim Kaschke, Chief of Central Management Staff and Head of Special Staff on Ukraine, German Federal Ministry of Defence; Emmanuel Bonne, Diplomatic Advisor to the President of France on the national Security; Andžejs Viļumsons, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia; Eivind Vad Petersson, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway; Darius Skusevičius, Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania; Günter Sautter, Political and Security Advisor to the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany; Pasi Rajala, Political Secretary of State, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland; Antti Lindtman, Chairman, Social Democratic Party of Finland; Andrii Biletskyi, Commander of the 3rd Army Corps, Armed Forces of Ukraine; Ihor Obolienskyi, Commander of the 2nd “Khartia” Corps, National Guard of Ukraine; Denys Prokopenko, Commander of the 1st Azov Corps, National Guard of Ukraine; Oleg Apostol, Commander of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; Yevhen Lasiichuk, Commander of the 7th Rapid Response Corps of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Chairman, Centre for Defence Strategies; Danyil Vakhovskyi, Executive Director, General Cherry; Sean Plankey, CEO, UForce USA; Iryna Terekh, CEO, Fire Point; Danylo Tsvok, CEO, Defense AI Center «A1»; Louis Mosley, CEO, Palantir Technologies UK; Mustafa Suleyman, CEO, Microsoft AI; Eric Schmidt, Former CEO and Chairman, Google; Annette Kroeber-Riel, Vice President of Government Affairs & Public Policy for Europe Google; Valeriy Pekar, Chairman of the Board, NGO “Decolonization”; Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief, The Economist; Gillian Tett, Head, King’s College Cambridge, Columnist, Financial Times; Fareed Zakaria, Host and Bestselling Author, CNN; Nataliya Bugayova, Director, Cognitive Warfare Center and Modern Warfare Fellow, Institute for the Study of War; Krzysztof Czyżewski, President, Borderland Foundation; Natalia Gumenyuk, CEO, Public Interest Journalism Lab; Moritz Schularick, President, Kiel Institute for the World Economy; Niall Ferguson, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Simon Shuster, Staff Writer, The Atlantic; Carlo Masala, Chair for Security and Defence Studies, Bundeswehr University Munich; Yaroslav Hrytsak, Historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Ukrainian Catholic University; Timothy Snyder, Temerty Chair in Modern European History, University of Toronto, Munk School; Chloe Fox, Deputy Editor, Foreign Affairs; Borys Gudziak, Metropolitan Archbishop, Archeparchy of Philadelphia, Ukrainian Catholic Church; Serhii Zhadan, Soldier, 13th Operational Brigade "Khartiia"; Serhiy Stakhovsky, Special Operations Center “A”, Security Service of Ukraine operator and Former Professional Tennis Player; Yurii Fedorenko, Commander of the 429th Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade “ACHILLES”; Olena Apchel, Artillery Reconnaissance Officer, National Guard of Ukraine; Artem Skurativskyi, Head of Air Defense of the 7th Rapid Response Corps of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and other distinguised guests. 

Photos from the YES Annual Meeting 2026 are available  here  

Videos are available at our YouTube channel