Ukraine has dominated the headlines over the past months. In spite of the numerous talks between world leaders, the threat of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has not diminished. Almost eight years since the illegal annexation of Crimea and the start of Russian aggression in the Donbas region, what is at stake now is not only the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, but the question of the security of the entire European continent.

Join us to hear from world-class journalists and authors, James Meek, Nolan Peterson (who will be joining from Ukraine via Zoom), Anna Reid and Paul Mason on the situation at the frontline in Donbas, the reaction of western leaders to the Kremlin’s recent demands, and what the escalation of the war in Ukraine could mean for Europe and the world.

Speakers:

James Meek

James Meek is an award-winning writer and journalist. He reported on the former Soviet Union for The Guardian between 1991 to 1999, based initially in newly-independent Ukraine, and then in Moscow. He has won several awards for his reporting (including Foreign Correspondent of the Year in Britain's Press Awards). Meek is the author of six novels, most recently To Calais, In Ordinary Time, and two books of short stories, as well as Private Island, a collection of essays about privatisation in Britain, which won the Orwell Prize. His novel The People's Act of Love won the Ondaatje Prize, was nominated for the Booker Prize, and has been translated into over 20 languages. Meek is a contributing editor to The London Review of Books.

Paul Mason

Paul Mason is a journalist, writer and film-maker. As economics editor at both BBC Newsnight (2001-13) and Channel 4 News (2013-16) he covered the global financial crisis, the Arab Spring, the Gaza war and the Greek crisis. He writes weekly columns for both the New Statesman and The New European, and contributes regularly to Social Europe and Frankfurter Rundschau. He is a frequent guest on opinion-forming TV and radio shows, including BBC Newsnight, DemocracyNow! BBC Politics Live, Any Questions and BBC Question Time. He is the author of seven books, including How To Stop Fascism: History, Ideology, Resistance (2021).

Nolan Peterson (joining from Ukraine via Zoom)

Nolan Peterson is a war correspondent who has reported extensively from the front lines in eastern Ukraine since August 2014. A former US Air Force special operations pilot with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, Peterson’s observations from Ukraine’s battlefields have influenced policymakers at the highest levels of the US government. A 2004 graduate of the US Air Force Academy, Peterson speaks French and Russian and holds multiple master’s degrees. He resides in Kyiv and is currently a senior editor for Coffee or Die Magazine. Peterson’s military memoir, Why Soldiers Miss War, was published by Casemate Publishers in 2019.

Anna Reid

Anna Reid is a journalist and historian. She worked as Kyiv correspondent for The Economist and the Daily Telegraph from 1993-5, and later covered the country for the Economist Intelligence Unit. From 2002-6 she ran the think tank Policy Exchange's foreign affairs programme. She is the author of Borderland: Journey through the History of Ukraine (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, third edition 2015), The Shaman's Coat: a Native History of Siberia (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002), and Leningrad: Tragedy of a City under Siege, 1941-44 (Bloomsbury, 2011). Anna has been a trustee of the Ukrainian Institute London since 2016.

Moderator:

Olesya Khromeychuk

Olesya Khromeychuk is a historian and writer. She received her PhD in History from University College London. She has taught the history of East-Central Europe at the University of Cambridge, University College London, the University of East Anglia, and King’s College London. She is author of A Loss. The Story of a Dead Soldier Told by His Sister (2021) and ‘Undetermined’ Ukrainians. Post-War Narratives of the Waffen SS ‘Galicia’ Division (2013). She is currently the Director of the Ukrainian Institute London.