For three years now, Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine. For three years, Ukraine has endured massive violence, suffering and destruction with resolve and determination. What is clear is that the outcome of the war will be decisive not only for the future of Ukraine but for the shape of the European political and security architecture.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, European capitals went from the much-vaunted ‘geopolitical awakening’ triggered by the shock of war to rising angst over the future of European security, given the military stalemate in the field and the uncertainty surrounding the approach of the incoming Trump administration to ending the conflict. 

In this volatile context, a panel of practitioners and experts will address some of the key questions on the current agenda, right after the third anniversary of Russia’s aggression. Speakers will discuss how the return of President Trump will affect the dynamics of the Russia-Ukraine war and its possible endgame and then they will assess the will and the capacity of European countries to continue supporting Ukraine and providing security guarantees. Finally, the speakers will take a broader look at the implications of the war and of its potential outcome for international security at large, given the connections between the crisis in Ukraine and other theatres of great power rivalry.

Meet our speakers and chair:

Ambassador Pierre Vimont is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Europe Foundation, former French Ambassador to the United States, and Executive Secretary General of the European External Action Service. He is also an Ambassador of France, a lifetime distinction. 

In 2015 he was appointed Personal Envoy of the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. In this capacity he led preparations for the Valletta Conference between EU and African countries which sought to tackle the causes of illegal migration and combat human smuggling and trafficking. Pierre Vimont also served as the special envoy for the French initiative for a Middle East Peace Conference in 2016. French President Emmanuel Macron then appointed him in 2019 as Special Envoy for the architecture of security and trust with Russia.

Mr Charles Grant is Director of the Centre for European Reform (CER). In January 1998 he left The Economist to become the CER’s first – and so far only – director. He is the author of numerous CER reports, including Russia, China and global governance (2012), How to build a modern European Union (2013) and Relaunching the EU (2017). His most recent publications are A European Strategy for Labour (2023), a policy brief, and How should Europe handle China (2024), an essay in the CER’s annual report for 2023. He works on, among other subjects, Britain’s relationship with the EU, the future of the European Union, EU foreign policy, Russia and China. 

Chair:

Karen E Smith is a Professor of International Relations at LSE. Her main area of research is the ‘international relations of the European Union’, and she has written extensively on the formulation and implementation of common EU foreign policies.

More about this event

The Department of International Relations (@LSEIRDept) at LSE is now in its 97th year, and is one of the oldest as well as largest IR departments in the world, with a truly international reputation. The Department is ranked 2nd in the UK and 5th in the world in the QS World University Ranking by Subject 2024 tables for Politics and International Studies.