Pinchuk Foundation

Peace Through Strength NOW!

YES Annual Meeting 2026

700 participants from 28 countries took part in the conference, organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

Frontline commanders, veterans, political leaders, diplomats, security experts and innovators came together. One theme ran through the discussions: strength is not an abstract concept. It means courage, strong decisions, capabilities, speed and the ability to stay ahead.

“The worst thing that could happen today, with Putin and his imperialist policy on one side, would be a division between America and Europe. We need to work together, not simply through step-by-step decisions and reactions, but with a strategy for Ukraine. The place of a democratic, sovereign Ukraine is in the North Atlantic Alliance,” added Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland (1995–2005) and Chairman of the YES Board.

Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland (1995–2005) and Chairman of the YES Board, closed YES 2026, stating: “Ukraine’s real strength is its people, its army and its young generation. It is a well-educated, extremely determined and patriotic generation, with an unbelievable capacity to develop and introduce new technologies. Europe’s unity is also a great strength, and today the majority of support is coming from Europe.”

Sean Plankey, CEO, UFORCE USA, paid tribute to the spirit of innovation that has defined the Ukrainian war effort. “All innovation is standing on the shoulders of giants. Every time, you're building off some major building block that somebody did before. When we look at Western civilization and innovation, we are all standing on the shoulders of giants, and those giants are the engineers here in Ukraine.” YES 2026

Natalia Gumenyuk @ngumenyuk opening the panel discussion on how Ukraine and its partners can sustain their innovation advantage over Russia and its partners, commented: “Something I understood while working on the theme that the Ukrainian way of scaling is not just money and resources, but building digital infrastructure. The drone is not a tool. The drone is not just another weapon. It's a change of doctrines and of the principles by which you wage the war. It requires institutional change, legislations, procurement, training – many things.” YES 2026