While it is premature to declare Russia’s invasion of Ukraine over, with Ukrainians dying in the Donbas region every day, it is critical to lay the foundation for what a postwar Ukraine would look like.
Ukraine has a history of discrete events of dissatisfaction with the status quo, heralding important change, but without plans on what is to come next. From its independence from the Soviet Union to the Orange Revolution of 2004 and 2005 to the Maidan “Revolution of Dignity” in 2014, initial momentum toward promising reforms stalled without a concrete plan on how to institutionalize a new, liberal-minded Ukraine. It is thus imperative that Ukrainian policymakers and foreign donors have a list of tangible, specific actions to undertake immediately.
The 2022 Ukraine Recovery Conference, concluding in Lugano, Switzerland, was the first iteration of such a document, bringing donors and Ukrainian authorities together to attempt to find a common language regarding postwar Ukraine. The interest and attendance at the conference showed that the landscape for donor assistance to Ukraine is stronger than it has been in years, galvanized by the humanitarian disaster and the realization that a resilient Ukraine remains a bulwark against a revanchist Russia.
