Ukraine Strategy Seminar 2026

Falko DROßMANN, MP (Social Democrats) Spokesperson on Defense Policy for the SPD Parliamentary, Deutscher Bundestag, Hamburg/Berlin
Maksym ERISTAVI, writer and journalist
Stefan KÄGEBEIN, Head of Unit Eastern Europe, German Chamber of Commerce and Trade, Berlin
Line RINDVIG, Chief Strategy & Defence Investment Officer at Baryon Fund, Kyiv/Copenhagen
Taras YEMCHURA, Defence Policy Sector Head, Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), Kyiv

Moderation: Mattia NELLES, Co-Founder & Executive Director, German-Ukrainian Bureau, Düsseldorf

Balázs JARÁBIK, Founder, Minority Report, Budapest
Vitalii SHABUNIN, Co-founder and Head of Board, Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC), Kyiv
Oleksiy SOROKIN, Co-founder and Deputy Chief Editor, Kyiv Independent, Kyiv
Victoria VOYTSITSKA, Advocacy Director, International Center for Ukrainian Victory, former Member of Parliament, Secretary at the Committee on Fuel Energy, Nuclear Policies and Security (2014-2019), Kyiv

Moderation: Oleksandr IAKYMENKO, Democratic Governance & EU Integration, Democratic Reporting, Berlin

Oksana HUSS, Research Centre Trustworthy Data Science and Security, University Alliance Ruhr Duisburg and 2026 Partnership for Peace Research Fellow, NATO Defence College, Duisburg
Martin VAN DER PÜTTEN, Chief International and Diplomacy Officer (CIDO), City of Dortmund
Meriam YOL, Chief Operating Officer, Volonterska Foundation, Kharkiv

Moderation: Kateryna PAVLOVA, Fellow, German-Ukrainian Bureau, Kyiv

Arne Bård DALHAUG, Lieutenant General (Ret.), Royal Norwegian Army, President of the Norwegian Defence Association, and Senior Adviser to the Norwegian Atlantic Committee, Oslo
Anders Puck NIELSEN, Military Analyst, Naval Officer, Researcher, Royal Danish Defence Academy
Lesia OGRYZKO, Head of the Reform Support Office of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, Co-founder & Director of the Sahaidachnyi Security Center

Moderation: Elena DAVLIKANOVA, Associate Senior Fellow, Sahaidachnyi Security Center

Meeting point (Reception)

Lead: Natalia ZUBAR, Citizen War Crime Investigator, Kharkiv**

Lead: Gustav GRESSEL, Senior Lecturer and Researcher National Defence Academy, Austrian Armed Forces

Yaryna CHORNOHUZ, Poet, Writer, Translator, and Marine, Servicemember of the 30th Marine Corps, Ukrainian Armed Forces, Kyiv

Moderation: Kateryna RIETZ-RAKUL, Head of Ukrainian Institute in Germany, Berlin

*invited
** prel. confirmed

Antonia COLIBASANU, Lecturer in International Relations at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA) and Chief Operating Officer at Geopolitical Futures, Bucharest
Yevgeniya GABER, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Kyiv
Wilfried JILGE, Senior Researcher, German-Ukrainian Bureau, Berlin
Robin WAGENER, Member of Parliament (The Greens), Member in the Defence and in the Foreign Affair Committee and Head of the German-Ukrainian Parliamentarian Group, Deutscher Bundestag, Berlin/Bad Salzufen

Moderation: Daria MALLING, Project Lead, German-Ukrainian Bureau, Copenhagen

Kristina BERDYNSKYKH, freelance journalist (Il Foglio, Italy), Liberation (France)
Volodymyr DUBOVYK, Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations at the Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University, Germany
Nataliya PRYHORNYTSKA, Co-Founder and Board Member of Open Platform/ Alliance of Ukrainian Organizations, Berlin
Brian WHITMORE, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council and Assistant Professor of Practice, University of Texas-Arlington

Moderation: Inna NELLES, Co-Founder, German-Ukrainian Bureau, Düsseldorf

Inna NELLES, Co-Founder, German-Ukrainian Bureau, Düsseldorf
Mattia NELLES, Co-Founder & Executive Director, German-Ukrainian Bureau, Düsseldorf
Thomas MÜLLER-FÄRBER, Protestant Academy Loccum

*invited
** prel. confirmed