Peace Through Strength NOW!

The following is a press release from the organizers. 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.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. 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 defense 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 Zelensky 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 Zelensky stressed. He emphasized 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 Zelensky concluded. Photos provided by the VictorPinchuk Foundation@2026. Photographers: Valentyna Reostovikova, Nicolas Lobet, Frederic Garrido-Ramirez (PRYZM photography), and Oleksandr Piliugin. Notes The Victor Pinchuk Foundation The Victor Pinchuk Foundation is an independent, private, international organization in Ukraine, established in 2006 by businessman and philanthropist Victor Pinchuk. European Strategy (YES) — a leading forum for discussing Ukraine’s European future in a global context. The Foundation supports a crowdfunding platform to promote philanthropy within The YES Board includes Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland (1995-2005), Chairman of the YES Board; Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014), Prime Minister of Sweden (1991-1994); Co-Chair of ECFR; Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference; Kersti Kaljulaid, President of Estonia (2016-2021); Sanna Marin, Prime Minister of Finland (2019–2023); Victor Pinchuk, Founder and Member of the Board, YES and Founder of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and EastOne group, and Stephane Fouks, Vice President of Havas Group, Executive Chairman of H/Advisors. Official website: yes-ukraine.org Partners of the YES Annual Meeting 2026: General Cherry, With Honor, UFORCE, The International Renaissance Foundation