"We Know How to Win": Words of Defiance from Ukraine

Join CEREES and Mile End Institute to celebrate the publication of Words of Defiance by the former Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba

On Friday 24 April, the Centre for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies (CEREES) is delighted to welcome Dmytro Kuleba, the former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister of Ukraine, to Queen Mary. During a distinguished career, Kuleba has served in diplomatic posts in Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, represented Ukraine at the Council of Europe and holds academic posts at the Harvard Kennedy School and Sciences Po.

In this event, in association with the Mile End Institute, Kuleba will be joined by Bjorn Berge (Deputy Secretary General, Council of Europe), Dr Olesya Khromeychuk (Ukrainian Institute London) and the international lawyer, writer and filmmaker Philippe Sands KC to discuss his new book, Words of Defiance, which combines his wartime speeches and an “inside” account of how the war in Ukraine unfolded on the world stage. Our distinguished panel will explore why Russia chose invasion, how the war has progressed, how to counter propaganda and disinformation, and whether there is a still a path to lasting peace.

All are warmly welcome to attend. Tickets are free but must be reserved on Eventbrite in advance.

NOTE: This event will take place on Queen Mary's Mile End campus. The venue will be announced shortly before the event.

Speakers:

Dmytro Kuleba is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine from March 2020 to September 2024 and led the country’s diplomacy in the period immediately after the Russian invasion. He now holds academic posts at the Harvard Kennedy School and Sciences Po and is the author of both War and New Horizons (which featured essays by Ban Ki-moon, Condoleezza Rice and Boris Johnson) and Words of Defiance.

Bjorn Berge is the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe where he is responsible for the Council’s work advancing democracy, human rights and the rule of law and is the co-author of Words of Defiance. Before joining the Council of Europe, he served as international adviser to the Prime Minister of Norway and served as a speechwriter to three Norwegian Foreign Ministers.

Philippe Sands KC is an international lawyer and the author of numerous prize-winning books including East West Street, the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize in 2016, and Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules. He is Professor of Public Understanding of Law at University College London and is on the board of the Hay Festival of Arts and Literature. His most recent book, 38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia, was published in 2025.

Dr Olesya Khromeychuk is a historian and writer who is currently the Director of the Ukrainian Institute London. She is an expert in the history of East-Central Europe and has taught at the University of Cambridge, University College London, the University of East Anglia and King’s College London. She is the author of The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister and ‘Undetermined’ Ukrainians: Post-War Narratives of the Waffen SS Galicia Division.