A Trip Report from Ukraine

Want to Be Inspired? Go to Kyiv!

Hey Substack readers, I’m back! After a trip to Ukraine and a vacation in Portugal and Spain (which you all told me to take without writing!), I’m back home at Stanford, fired up, and ready to go again.

I will write some more analytical pieces about my trip to Kyiv in the coming weeks. But today, I am writing an emotional one, about how moving it was to meet so many inspiring Ukrainians during my visit to Kyiv.

Kyiv is far away from California. I flew overnight to Frankfurt, then flew to Warsaw, then drove from Warsaw to the Polish-Ukrainian border (first time in Chełm!), and then took an overnight train to Kyiv. The trip required two nights of sleeping on various modes of transportation. And my family was worried about security so that added additional strains. But the trip was well worth it.

Most of all, I was deeply moved by the resilience, focus, ingenuity, and bravery of the Ukrainians I met. From President Zelenskyy to the students at Taras Shevchenko University, I met a defiant nation, unwavering in their determination to liberate their country from Russian occupiers. I also met soldiers and heard of their hardships. I met friends who had lost loved ones. The sacrifice Ukrainians are enduring to secure their sovereignty and defend their freedom is enormous. I came home even more determined to do what I can to help end this barbaric invasion as fast as possible. Later, I’ll share new ideas for how to do so more effectively. But for now, here are just a few highlights from my inspiring trip.

I was honored to meet with President Zelenskyy and receive in person a medal – Order of Merit, Third Degree – that he had awarded to me a year ago.   

Our International Working Group on Russian Sanctions – also called the Yermak-McFaul Working Group – met with President Zelenskyy and his team to discuss our recent papers (all of which you can access here) as well as new ideas.

I also met other government leaders, including Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, newly appointed Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, Deputy Defense Minister Andriy Shevchenko, Head of Ukraine’s reconstruction agency Mustafa Nayyem, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine Olga Stefanishyna, and many others. I was struck by how Olga was not waiting for the war to end to implement reforms needed for the EU membership, instead pushing full steam ahead now.

Same with Mustafa. He and his team at the reconstruction agency also are not waiting for the war to end. They have already started the process and are rebuilding Ukrainian cities and infrastructure every day.

Besides government officials, I also met entrepreneurs, including those working on drones and other wartime technologies. They are innovating now to speed the end to the war, but also thinking about Ukraine’s future as a leading tech hub for all of Europe. And democracy, including the fight against corruption, is also not on hold because of the war. I met many MPs, human rights advocates, journalists, and NGO leaders already doing incredible work to strengthen Ukraine’s democracy.

And we had a fantastic gathering of Stanford alums! They are all doing terrific things. I am so very proud of this group.

The Yalta European Strategy (YES) conference was also absolutely terrific, bringing together an extraordinary group of speakers and participants from Ukraine and around the world. I have gone to a lot of conferences in my career, but this meeting ranks as one of the best I’ve ever attended. 

Most inspiring, however, were the events I did with students: one with Andriy Yermak at Taras Shevchenko University and another on the sidelines of the YES conference. They asked fantastic questions but also exuded a spirit of optimism about their country. After spending time with young Ukrainians, one can only come away feeling deeply optimistic about Ukraine’s future. I look forward to going back someday and teaching for a longer stint.

Ukrainians will win this war. And then they will rebuild Ukraine to become a thriving market-oriented economy, a consolidated democracy, and a provider of security not only for Ukrainians but also for the rest of NATO. It is not a question of if, but when, and at what cost. That was my biggest takeaway from Kyiv about Ukrainians. The more we do to help them win faster – by providing more and better weapons and implementing more and better sanctions – the smaller that sacrifice will be. That was my takeaway from Kyiv for us.