Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has done the impossible by standing up to a nuclear super power, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has done the unexpected by converting his entire country into a 24-7 war machine.
Please join the Belfer Center’s Russia Matters for a discussion with former Belfer Center Senior Fellow, retired Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan. Ryan, on home leave from his position teaching at the Kyiv School of Economics, will talk about his experiences in Ukraine, the war and where this is all headed.
This event will be on the record.
In-person option is open for Harvard University ID holders only. We will be checking IDs at the door. Attendance will be capped at 50 people. We will inform attendees the day before the event if they are confirmed or on the waitlist. Register here.
Webinar registration (open to the public) can be found here.
Speaker:
- Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan (U.S. Army retired) is a visiting professor at the Kyiv School of Economics specializing in national security studies. He is a career U.S. military officer who served in air and missile defense, intelligence and political-military policy areas. After military service, he was a Senior Fellow and Executive Director for Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Ryan was the founding director of the center’s U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism, where he also founded the Elbe Group. In 2020, Ryan led the Troika writing team in creating the U.S. military’s course, “The Russian Way of War,” and in 2024, he served as a contributing author to the U.S. European Command’s publication, “How Russia Fights.”
Moderators:
- Graham Allison is the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard University. He is a leading analyst of national security with special interests in nuclear weapons, Russia, China, and decision-making. Allison was the “Founding Dean” of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and until 2017, served as Director of its Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
- Simon Saradzhyan is the founding director of the Russia Matters Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He also previously served as assistant director of the center’s U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism.
