ABOUT

The purpose of the annual forum is to combine and share experiences on approaches to countering informational aggression and building strategic communications.

This year, together with communicators from Ukraine and European and American countries, we are planning the following:
discuss how to communicate new challenges in the information war with Russia to Ukraine;
to discuss the needs of Ukraine on the international arena in the conditions of decreasing attention to the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Present successful and interesting Ukrainian communication cases.
Share with Western partners the experience of the past period.
AGENDA
Day 1 – April 24
Registration of participants and guests, morning coffee
Speakers



Sonya Koshkina
journalist, editor-in-chief of LB.UA
Moderator
Speakers



Liubov Tsybulska
Advisor at the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security
Moderator
Speakers





Andriy Shevchenko
Head of Mission of the Ukrainian World Congress, former Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine
Moderator
Speakers





Yarema Dukh
Communications expert
Moderator
Speakers




Side events
How to communicate with foreign media about reconstruction and development issues?
How to “pack” the news in a way that will be interesting to international media?
How to find access to the right media?

Alina Frolova
Founder of Media Centre Ukraine
Moderator
Day 2 – April 25
Registration of participants and guests

Ihor Solovey
Head of the Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security
Moderator
1. Ukrainian strategic narrative, its sources and effectiveness, Artem Zakharchenko
2. Peculiarities of informing the world community about the sanctions policy towards the aggressor country, Anatoliy Astafiev
3. Peculiarities of today’s information threats, Oleg Aleksandrov
4. The Anatomy of Russian Disinformation Campaigns Against Ukraine’s Nuclear Energy Sector, Ivan Fanin
5. Presentation of the Center’s research “Kremlin’s Anti-European Narratives: Map of Information Threats”, Serhiy Zhukov
Speakers






Roman Tsymbalyuk
journalist, blogger
Moderator
Speakers





Mykola Balaban
Deputy Head of the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security
Moderator
Speakers




Andriy Zablotskyi
Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications
Moderator
Speakers





Side events

Yarema Dukh
communication expert
Moderator
How to build communication with top Ukrainian media?
Is it appropriate for RSA representatives to engage bloggers in communication?
Speakers

In case of emergency or war

Mykola Tochytskyi
Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine
Ukrainian diplomat and politician. Minister of Culture and Information Policy (since September 5, 2024). Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine (2024). Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2021-2024).

Rémi Duflot
Rémi joined the European institutions in 2004, after a career in investment banking that included private and public sector assignments, including financial system reform missions in CIS countries, Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.
He first served four and a half years at the EU Delegation to Ukraine, as head of operations section. As country officer for European Union–Republic of Moldova relations, first at the European Commission (2008-2010), then at the European External Action Service (2011-2014), he coordinated the visa liberalisation process, the preparation of the EU–Republic of Moldova
Association Agreement, and advised successive EU Special Representatives in the Transnistrian settlement process.
In 2014, Rémi joined the European Commission Support Group for Ukraine, before moving to Kyiv in January 2017 to advise, later deputise for, the Special Representative of the Chairperson- in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group, the OSCE negotiating platform on the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Since 1 January 2021, Rémi has been the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

Olena Semykina
Аdviser to the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine. She is responsible for the entire direction of communications of the Security Service of Ukraine. Previously, she worked as the head of the Investor Relations Department of DTEK.

Liubov Tsybulska
Head of the Hybrid Warfare Analytical Group at Ukraine Crisis Media Centre. Headed the Centre and was involved in the development of the institution from its establishment. She also worked as a journalist, editor and scriptwriter for several Ukrainian TV channels. Was a strategic communications advisor to the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and headed the press service of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

Andriy Shevchenko
Ukrainian public figure, politician, diplomat and journalist. Member of Parliament of Ukraine of the V, VI and VII convocations. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Canada (2015-2021). Representative of Ukraine to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (2017-2021). Winner of the “Reporters Without Borders” Freedom of Expression Award (2015). Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine since February 21, 2023.

Andriy Yusov
Spokesperson for the Defence Intelligence of UkraineDIU
Deputy Head of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, political consultant, analyst and civic activist.

Yarema Dukh
Strategic communications expert, blogger. He has been working in strategic communications since 2014. Co-author of the official Twitter account of Ukraine. Formerly: coordinator of work with foreign media at the Presidential Administration of Ukraine and press secretary of the political party “Holos”.

Alina Frolova
Communications expert, civic activist, public figure, Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine. From June 2015 to September 2019, she was a Strategic Communications Advisor to the Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine. Founder and CEO of RAM 360 Advertising Agency and RAM GROUP (RAM 360 Advertising Agency, CORE reputation management agency, StratCom Ukraine Strategic Communications Centre). She has implemented projects in the areas of marketing services, strategic and government communications, and counteraction to hybrid threats for more than 50 international organisations.

Artem Zakharchenko
Ukrainian writer, scholar, journalist, editor.
He has worked as a journalist and editor for several leading Ukrainian media outlets. In particular, he was the editor-in-chief of Ekonomichna Pravda, a journalist at Investgazeta, editor-in-chief of Focus.ua and the media start-up Vysnovky. Among his most popular publications is “The Feeding Zone”, an article that in the midst of the Revolution of Dignity debunked the myth that Donbas was allegedly “feeding” Ukraine. In 2016, he left practical journalism and started working as a media analyst. He is currently the head of the analytical department at the Content Analysis Centre

Oleksandr Tolokonnikov
Ukrainian media and public figure, journalist, photographer, civil servant.
Since 2023, he has been the Head of the Department of Internal and Information Policy of the Kherson Regional State Administration.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he has been documenting and filming Russian crimes and the course of the war.
Oleksandr Tolokonnikov’s photo exhibitions are held in Ukraine and abroad.

Ivan Fanin
Analyst, Strategic Communications Directorate, SE “NNEGC “Energoatom”

Олександра Матвійчук
Ukrainian human rights activist, winner of the Vasyl Stus and “Defender of Democracy” awards. Chairman of the Centre for Civil Liberties, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. He works on human rights issues in Ukraine and the OSCE region.
Initiator of the #SaveOlegSentsov campaign (renamed #LetMyPeopleGo after Oleg Sentsov’s release) to free Ukrainian political prisoners.
Author of a number of alternative reports for various UN bodies, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE and the International Criminal Court.

Oksana Romaniuk
Director of the Institute of Mass Information, member of the Supervisory Board of the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine and the Commission on Journalistic Ethics. Winner of the “Human Rights Tulip” Award for outstanding and innovative achievements in the fight for human rights in Ukraine.

Yaroslav Hrytsak
Doctor of History, Professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. Director of the Institute of Historical Research at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, guest professor (1996-2009) at the Central European University in Budapest, first vice president (1999-2005) of the International Association of Ukrainian Studies. Editor-in-chief of the scholarly yearbook ‘Ukraine Modern’, member of the editorial board of the journals Ab Imperio, Judaica Ukrainica, “Krytyka”, Slavic Review, member of the supervisory board of Harvard Ukrainian Studies. He is an honorary professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
He has over 500 scientific publications on historical topics. He is also known for his journalistic works.

Heorhiy Tykhyi
MFA spokesperson
In 2019, he began working in government communications: as a press secretary to the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration (October 2019-March 2020), and later as a communications adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba (March 2020-July 2024).
Since July 2024, he has been a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Natalia Ligacheva
Editor-in-Chief of the online media outlet “Detector Media” (since 2015). Member of the Board of the International “Renaissance” Foundation (since 2015). Head of the Board of the NGO “Detector Media” (since January 2004; in 2004-2016, the organisation was called “Telekrytyka”; on April 27, 2016, “Telekrytyka” changed its name to “Detector Media”).

Oleksandr Melnychenko
Representative of the SBU Cyber Security Department, Colonel

Dmitry Zolotukhin
Former Deputy Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine (2017-2019), expert on information warfare and competitive intelligence. At the ministry, he was responsible for information security, the development of a strategic communications system in Ukraine, and the implementation of the provisions of the Information Security Doctrine of Ukraine, which he co-authored during his time as an advisor to the Minister of Information Policy on a voluntary basis.
Founder, director (until 2016) and expert of the NGO “”Institute of Post-Information Society””.
He is the author of the online video course on searching and verifying information on the Internet “”OSINT Academy”” and the “”White Paper on Special Information Operations against Ukraine 2014-2018″” with the support of the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine.

Ігор Соловей
Journalist, media expert and international analyst. He has in-depth knowledge of the media market and its mechanisms. Between 2015 and 2016, Ihor worked as a fact-checker for the East StratCom Task Force. He also contributed to the development of the book “”How Putin’s Propaganda Works”” and the manual “”How to Stop the Kremlin’s Information Aggression””. As a staff writer for Ukrinform, he worked for eight years in Moscow, where he observed the Kremlin’s disinformation campaigns before the events of 2014. As a correspondent for “”Interfax-Ukraine””, he wrote about Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity. Since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine, he has focused on the illegal occupation of Crimea and the war in the East. Ihor has also worked as a reporter covering government events and was responsible for Ukraine’s foreign policy and national security.

Valeriy Pekar
Lecturer at the Business School of the Ukrainian Catholic University (LvBS) and Kyiv-Mohyla Business School (kmbs). Member of the Board of Directors of the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry UFI. Co-founder of the New Country Civil Platform. From 2014 to 2016, he was a member of the National Reforms Council and an advisor to the Minister of Economy. He is the author of more than 300 articles on management, marketing, information technology, futurology and two books, including the bestselling Ukrainian business book “Multicolour Management”.

Denis Kazansky
Ukrainian blogger, political commentator, journalist, writer. Author of the book ‘Black Fever’ (2015) and co-author of “”How Ukraine Was Losing Donbas”” (2020). One of Ukraine’s representatives in the Trilateral Contact Group for the peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine (June 2020 – February 2022).”

Oleksandr Shulga
Doctor of Sociology, Head of the Institute of Conflict Studies and Analysis of Russia.
He has 16 years of advanced experience in quantitative and qualitative sociological research, particularly in the area of potential risk of escalating tensions and instability. He is currently studying and researching the sociological opinion of Russians.”

Sonya Koshkina
Co-owner and editor-in-chief of the “Left Bank” media outlet. Author of the book “Maidan. The Untold Story”. Laureate of the All-Ukrainian award “Woman of the Third Millennium” in the nomination “Rating”.

Mariana Betsa
Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Ukrainian lawyer and diplomat, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Estonia (2018 – 2023). Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (since October 29, 2024). Head of the National Commission of Ukraine for UNESCO since December 21, 2024.

Ben Heap
Ben’s career began as a creative in the British film and television industry, working in commercials and broadcast for 15 years before moving full time into the military. He spent 5 years in Afghanistan, both with the British Army and as a NATO civilian, working in outreach, engagement, and Strategic Communications.
He joined the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence in Riga, Latvia, in 2016. His projects have covered hybrid threats, national capability development, deterrence, attribution, wargaming and crisis communications. He is currently leader of the centre’s Ukraine StratCom Partnership Programme.
The StratCom COE is a multi-nationally constituted and NATO-accredited international military organization. It is not part of the NATO Command Structure, nor subordinate to any other NATO entity. As such, it does therefore not speak for NATO.

Piers Cazalet
Director, Defence and Security Cooperation, NATO HQ
He came to Brussels in July 2012 to start work as Defence Counsellor in the UK Delegation to NATO. Piers oversaw the teams working on capabilities, politics, communications, and resource issues.
In March 2017, Piers joined the International Staff of NATO as Head of Press and Media and Deputy Spokesperson. He leads a team of 25 staff, providing the full range of media services to the Secretary General and NATO HQ more widely, including media engagement and monitoring, media operations, and speechwriting.
Jul 2022 – Jul 2023 – Director, Defence Institution and Capacity Building.
Jan 2023 – Present – Director, Defence and Security Cooperation, NATO HQ.

Sébastien Surun
Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of France in Ukraine

Vitaliy Gordienko
Founder of the YouTube project “Zagin Kinomaniv”. The most popular movie blogger in Ukraine. On the 10th day of the invasion, movie reviewer Vitaliy Gordienko decided to change the subject of his channel “Zagin Kinomaniv”. He started making content about the history of Russian-Ukrainian relations. The video “Why are there no “good Russians?” received over 1 million views and 10,000 comments. During the six months of the invasion, the channel’s audience increased fourfold and the number of views increased by about 30.

Mykyta Poturaiev
Chairman of the VRU Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy.
Ukrainian politician, expert in communications, political, and media consulting.
PhD in political science. He is a co-founder of the public organization Quantum Future Lab. He worked in management positions in the media holding Starlight Media, was the director of Focus Media. Previously, Mr. Poturayev held the position of first deputy chair of the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting.

Сергій Жуков
Analyst at the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security, PhD in History

Mykola Balaban
Deputy Head of the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security.
He worked on project development and research in the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He was the co-founder and the president of NGO Prometheus Centre for Studies of Security Environment; later, he headed the situation centre of the Communications and Public Diplomacy Department of the MFA of Ukraine as an adviser.
He has several publications, including Narrating Conflicts in Post-Truth Era: Facing Revisionist Russia. Ukraine and Georgia in a Comparative Perspective From the book Instrumentalizing the Past. Malkhaz Toria and Mykola Balaban (2022), Nachtigall in the battle for Lviv Ledge. Structure, tasks, actions .Studia z Dziejów Rosji i Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej 10.12775/sdr.2021.en6.04 2022 Vol 56 (3) pp. 85-106.

Andriy Zablotskyi
Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications

Roman Tsymbalyuk
Ukrainian journalist, correspondent of the UNIAN agency in Russia.
Accredited in Russia during the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine. As of the beginning of 2017, he is the only Ukrainian correspondent accredited in Russia.
Takes a firm pro-Ukrainian position, is known for his bold questions to Russian politicians and bold statements in support of Ukraine on popular talk shows on Russian television.

Maryna Bezkorovaina
Country Director, Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Oleksandr Sushko
From 2011 to 2017, he was Chairman of the Board of the International Renaissance Foundation.
In addition, Oleksandr Sushko was the National Coordinator of the Ukrainian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and the first co-chair of the EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform — the bilateral insitution established within the frames of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement to facilitate civil society cooperation and policy impact. (2015-2016).
Areas of expertise: European politics, EU-Ukraine relations, Schengen law and its implications for the EU’s Eastern neighbors, EU visa and migration policy, border management, mobility and international contacts, civil society.

Yaroslava Berezhna
Director of the Department of Mass Communications and Access to Public Information of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration

Oleh Holovatenko
Director of Svoboda.FM TV and Radio Company.
Co-host of the Ukrainian Wave programme for the Lithuanian national radio station LRT.

Dmytro Lykhoviy
Main Directorate of Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine