Can Ukraine & Russia Get Along Post War?

With Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine since 2014 that took lives of hundreds of thousands of peaceful Ukrainian civilians along with military men and women over the past 9 years, could Ukraine and Russia ever get along? Can atrocious war crimes, genocide, and terroristic acts be forgiven? If yes, then how?

About our Speaker:

Darya Ledesma is a Ukrainian activist, lead speaker at Ukrainian rallies and events in Austin, TX, a co-organizer of various fundraising events for Ukraine, a blogger, and one of the founders of the AHEAD Ukraine initiative. In addition, she is a certified project manager with over 10 years of experience in payments and financial technology industries and a volunteer mentor at the Project Management Institute.

Darya was born and raised in Ukraine in the South Eastern city of Zaporizhzhia. Her home town is the motherland of brave Ukrainian warriors, Cossacks, who were among world’s most masterful warriors in 15-17th centuries. 

In 2011, shortly after she obtained BS and MS degrees in Economics from top Ukrainian universities (Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Taras Shevchenko National University), Darya immigrated to the USA. She lived and worked in Washington D.C. until 2019 when her family relocated to Austin. Throughout her professional career, she has worked for top international companies like Ernst & Young and Western Union.

Darya has been a vocal activist for Ukraine’s fight against Russian interference in Ukrainian political processes. She attended protests in Kyiv during the 2004 Orange Revolution and in Washington D.C. during the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. Darya has been a lead speaker at anti-invasion protests in Austin since the start of the barbaric unprovoked Russian Invasion of 2022. She, along with her fellow Ukrainians, founded a project called AHEAD Ukraine that aims to help Ukrainian educators and students connect with their US counterparts to strengthen collaboration in educational field between the two countries. The project has a very broad mission, as it also includes helping Ukrainian schools and universities with books and equipment which is the current focus of this project. Darya has also recently started her own blog on Youtube where she explains complex Ukrainian-Russian relationship in easy terms and helps clarify most confusing areas of such relationship for Americans.

Darya is married and a mother of two. In her spare time, she loves being with her kids and her husband, relaxing in her backyard and doing yoga.

Notice

For the safety and wellbeing of our members, guests, and TSBVI hosts, masks are required when entering and leaving the building all the way to and from the conference room, and are optional when inside the room itself. TSBVI requests we take this precaution for their students, many of whom are medically fragile.