From Chornobyl to Zaporizhzhia: Energy Threats Against Civilians

The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, in cooperation with Embassy of Ukraine in the USA

Monday, April 27 | 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Nearly four decades after the Chornobyl disaster exposed the devastating consequences of systemic failure and secrecy, nuclear power plants have once again become focal points of global risk.

Russia’s seizure and militarization of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant raises urgent questions:

Can nuclear infrastructure be turned into a weapon? What lessons from Chornobyl remain unlearned?How real is the threat of another nuclear disaster in the context of war?

Join this timely conversation to gain critical insights into one of today’s most urgent global security challenges.

Speakers

Yuri Kostenko
Author of Ukraine’s Nuclear Disarmament: A History. Former Minister of Environmental Protection of Ukraine and investigator of the causes of the Chornobyl disaster.

Mariana Budjeryn
Senior Researcher at MIT Security Studies Program and author of Inheriting the Bomb (2023). Expert on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

Fedir Alexandrovich
Artist, writer, and protagonist of the documentary The Russian Woodpecker, exploring the causes of the Chornobyl disaster.

Edward Chow
Deputy Chair, FOUN Economic Task Force. Internationally recognized expert on global energy systems and geopolitics.

Opening Remarks

Kateryna Smagliy
Counselor for Political Affairs and Public Diplomacy, Embassy of Ukraine in the United States.

Moderator

Nadia K. McConnell
President and Co-founder of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation. Since the onset of the Chornobyl disaster, she has worked to expose Soviet secrecy and denial, which delayed humanitarian aid. In January 1990, she led one of the first international humanitarian initiatives supporting children affected by the disaster.