“Debaltseve” and the narrative of the Donbas War in the British and Ukrainian media
Date and time:
Tuesday 24 January, 2017
18:30 - 20:30
Location:
Community Centre
154 Holland Park Avenue
London
W11 4UH
Eugene Stepanenko, a Ukrainian war correspondent and TV presenter, brings to London a documentary telling the story of the battle for Debaltsevo. In February 2015, it witnessed a tense stand-off between Ukrainian and Russian troops and the local militia allied with them. Virtually encircled and facing massive artillery fire and a tank-guided offensive, Ukrainians were forced to withdraw to prevent a massive loss of life.
The re-worked version of the film will be premiered at this event and will be followed by a panel discussion with Eugene Stepanenko, the director, Roland Oliphant, the Daily Telegraph correspondent in Ukraine, and Samir Puri, a lecturer at the War Studies Department at King's College, London.
The discussion will be moderated by Marina Pesenti, Director, Ukrainian Institute London. Held in partnership with the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, London Branch.
This event will be held in English.
FREE
Speaker
Eugene Stepanenko
Eugene Stepanenko spent more than 15 years in St. Petersburg, Russia, he now lives in Ukraine and together with Yuri Makarov leads the project "War and Peace" ("Війна і мир") on the state-owned TV channel UA: First. Eugene has been on the front line in the east since 2014 in a variety of roles: with the National Guard of Ukraine, looking after Chief of a volunteer mobile hospital, as a spokesman for Mariupol Defence Headquarters as a part of the Anti-Terrorist Centre. He served in the special purpose unit at different points in the Donbas. In civilian life, he is a film director, engaged in film production, creation of the cycle TV projects. He has graduated from the French film school and worked as director-producer on the TV channel "TV 100" and "First Caucasian Informational."
Speaker
Roland Oliphant
Roland Oliphant is the Daily Telegraph's Moscow correspondent. He has covered the Maidan protests, the annexation of Crimea, and the war in Donbas. He has lived in and reported from the former Soviet Union for the best part of a decade. Roland holds an MA in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh. He has reported from both sides of the lines in Donbas. On his last assignment, he spent several days with a Ukrainian infantry unit on the front line near Novoluhansk. His 2015 report on the battle of Debaltsevo is here.
Speaker
Samir Puri
Samir Puri is a lecturer in the Department of War Studies. He holds a BA in History and Politics from Warwick University, an MA (distinction) in War Studies from King’s College London, and a PhD from Cambridge University. His doctoral dissertation examined different strategies for dealing with armed groups in Pakistan and Turkey. He spent six years working for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2009-15). In 2014-15 he was seconded to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in eastern Ukraine. His duties involved patrolling in the field and reporting on ceasefire violations and weapons withdrawals in line with the Minsk process.
