Yalta European Strategy

17/09/2026

16/09/2026

During the YES Annual Meeting 2026 Peace Through Strength NOW, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland (1995–2005) and Chairman of the YES Board, stated:

"Ukraine’s real strength is its people, its army, and its young generation. It is a well-educated, extremely determined, and patriotic generation with an unbelievable capacity to develop and introduce new technologies. Europe’s unity is also a great strength, and today the majority of support is coming from Europe."

He added: "The worst thing that could happen today, with Putin and his imperialist policy on one side, would be a division between America and Europe. We need to work together, not simply through step-by-step decisions and reactions, but with a strategy for Ukraine. The place of a democratic, sovereign Ukraine is in the North Atlantic Alliance."

16/09/2026

During the YES Annual Meeting 2026 Peace Through Strength NOW, Head of Air Defense of the 7th Rapid Response Corps of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Artem Skurativskyi said that the evolution of Ukraine’s capabilities, provided it receives the necessary tools, means that Ukraine can move from calling for imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine in 2022 to being ready to ensure the safety and security of airspace far beyond Ukraine on its own.

"In 2022, we asked for the skies over Ukraine to be closed. Now I can say with confidence: give us the tools, and we will not only close the skies over Ukraine but also protect the entire world."

16/09/2026

On the panel ‘The Future of War and Global Power: Can the West Innovate Fast Enough?’ during the YES Annual Meeting 2026 Peace Through Strength NOW, Dan Driscoll, Former United States Secretary of the Army, said:

"Within this inflection point, we are at a moment where everything is about to change again. The speed and scale of the AI and computing that is about to hit these weapon systems will be an amazing opportunity for Ukraine to outrun the Russians, out-innovate them, and out-partner them. We are a couple of months away from new solutions changing the very nature of how warfare will occur."

16/09/2026

On the panel ‘The Future of War and Global Power: Can the West Innovate Fast Enough?’ during the YES Annual Meeting 2026 Peace Through Strength NOW, Eric Schmidt, Former CEO and Chairman, Google, discussed how warfare was changing:

"Ukraine, after four and a half years of war, knows what it is doing. The country is organized to win this. What’s missing? Money, and the second is scaling. This is a big war. You need a lot of everything. The correct solution is to use contract manufacturers in the West to assist in getting the necessary defensive and offensive systems to Ukraine."

16/09/2026

On the panel ‘Can Europe With Ukraine Deter Russia?’ during the YES Annual Meeting 2026 Peace Through Strength NOW, Joachim Kaschke, Chief of Central Management Staff and Head of Special Staff on Ukraine, German Federal Ministry of Defence, said:

"Countries must bring industry together via incentives. The capability is necessary — we need interceptors. Despite all efforts to have a scalable solution, we are not there yet, and will need more time to produce a scalable solution."

He added: "Because of the pressure, there is a strong sense of responsibility."

16/09/2026

During the YES Annual Meeting 2026 Peace Through Strength NOW, Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, responded:

"Yes — no doubt. In every process, there are some buts, ifs, and, unfortunately, some delays. We not only can, but should and will deter Russia. For that, there are three very important conditions.

Courage and political will. Compare 2022 to now: at least the countries in this audience have the political will—vis-à-vis Ukraine—unlike the situation in 2014 when Europe overslept on Crimea. Had European nations had this same political will in 2014, or in 2021, the aggressor would have thought twice about this awful and stupid decision. And that would not have been so disastrous for us Ukrainians.

Finance — war investment. The drone industry in Ukraine is underinvested. It is much more cost-effective to invest now than to rebuild from scratch something in your home countries.

Speed, velocity, readiness to react, quick answers. Ukraine is living at high speed. What we are asking from your countries is if you cannot go at our speed, then at least go at half this speed."

16/09/2026

The panel “Ukraine – Historical Innovation Territory” took a deep dive into Ukrainian history, inspired by an ongoing research project during the YES Annual Meeting 2026 Peace Through Strength NOW.

Moderator Niall Ferguson, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, reflected:

"Ukraine has had this exceptional role in modern history of extreme conflict, and we're touching on part of the reason for that. It's topography, it's accessibility, it's desirability, it's being a place where cultures mix, but also collide. And we're also talking about the forces of evil and good that did battle here.”

16/09/2026

On the panel ‘Can We Cement an Innovation Edge Over Russia and Its Partners?’ during the YES Annual Meeting 2026 Peace Through Strength NOW, Sean Plankey, CEO, UFORCE USA, paid tribute to the spirit of innovation that has defined the Ukrainian war effort.

"All innovation is standing on the shoulders of giants. Every time, you're building off some major building block that somebody did before. When we look at Western civilization and innovation, we are all standing on the shoulders of giants, and those giants are the engineers here in Ukraine."