An inside view of the war in Ukraine

ERIE, Pa. — The Public Policy Initiative at Penn State Behrend will host a discussion with Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of Ukraine’s Parliament, on Jan. 23. The program, which will be delivered via Zoom, will explore daily life during war in Ukraine, including the impact of airstrikes on civilian infrastructure.

The program, which begins at 9 a.m., is free and open to the public.

Goncharenko, a graduate of Odesa National Medical University, joined the Odesa Regional Council in 2010. During the referendum in Crimea, in 2014, he visited the peninsula and opposed the separation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Goncharenko was elected to Ukraine’s Parliament in 2014. He is a member of the European Solidarity political group and has served in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where he has advocated for human rights in Crimea and in the occupied lands of Donbas.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Goncharenko has advocated for the country internationally, speaking at Harvard University, Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania, among other institutions. He first visited Penn State Behrend in 2023.

To learn more about the Public Policy Initiative and its programming, visit the Public Policy Initiative website.