As International attention increasingly turns towards the prospects for negotiations, fundamental questions remain about the conditions required for a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine. The event will look at the need for any eventual settlement to uphold Ukraine's sovereignty and avoid legitimising any aggression. The speakers will discuss the requirement of any settlement to protect prisoners of war and civilian detainees and provide a meaningful pathway towards justice and accountability. The event will also highlight the principles that should guide international engagement and any future settlement to ensure that peace is both durable and consistent with international law.

Mariana Betsa is Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, a career diplomat with over 25 years of experience in international relations, international law and human rights. She also serves as President of the National Commission of Ukraine for UNESCO and Representative of Ukraine to the UNESCO Executive Board. From 2015 to 2018, she served as Spokesperson and Head of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. She subsequently served as Ukraine's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Estonia from 2018 to 2023, before becoming Ambassador-at-Large for the Global Ukrainian Community in 2023. In October 2024, she was appointed Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. She graduated with honours from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in 1999, obtaining a Master's degree in International Law.

Maksym Butkevych is a Ukrainian human rights defender, journalist and war veteran. He has worked extensively in journalism, including with the BBC World Service in London, and co-founded the independent Ukrainian radio station Hromadske Radio. He also co-founded the ZMINA Human Rights Centre and coordinated the No Borders Project, supporting refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Butkevych joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He was captured by Russian forces and subsequently sentenced to 13 years in prison on fabricated charges. He was released in October 2024 after spending two years and four months in Russian captivity. In 2025, he co-founded the Principle of Hope Charitable Foundation, which focuses on supporting prisoners of war and civilians held in Russian captivity. That same year he was awarded the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in recognition of his human rights work, and the Order for Courage, Third Class, by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.