Ukrainians are looking past NATO to a European security architecture

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The fate of Ukraine and the future of European security hangs in the balance as United States and Russian diplomats prepared to discuss an accelerated peace plan this week.

The uncertainty and dreadful possibilities of this historical moment, with Russia occupying a fifth of Ukrainian soil, dominated the atmosphere of Firewalling the Future, a conference on the future of Ukraine held at Cambridge University on Feb 17.

Organised by programme leader Victoria Vdovychenko and professor of Ukrainian studies Rory Finnin under the auspices of the Centre for Geopolitics, it brought together Ukrainian, European and British diplomats, soldiers and academics.

Dominant among the Ukrainians and Eastern Europeans present was the sentiment that with Trump’s re-election, the international order is irrecoverably lost and needs to be rebuilt.

Some spoke openly of a post-NATO reality in which Europe must form new structures and alliances to fend for itself.