"60 minutes with Volodymyr Zelensky": an exceptional exchange with the youth of France

A delegation made up of around twenty students from Langues O' was present in the amphithéâtre Boutmy at Sciences Po. The lecture was simultaneously translated into French by Iryna Dmytrychyn, senior lecturer in Ukrainian language and civilization at Inalco. Indeed, Inalco currently hosts 30 Ukrainian students and is the only French institution to teach Ukrainian.

Exchange between the Ukrainian President and students from French universities

The Ukrainian President began his speech by recalling a painful historical context. Just last year, Ukraine was celebrating the 30th anniversary of its independence gained on August 24, 1991.

"Today is the 77th day of the full-scale war against Russia, which began in the 77th year after the end of the greatest war Europe has ever known"

On the occasion of his speech, at Inalco and throughout France, auditoriums were opened to enable all French students to follow the Ukrainian President's speech live. In this "temple of knowledge ", the words of the Ukrainian President take on a very special meaning.

"Students are the future, they are the ones who decide the future of France, Ukraine and the world. This meeting must be a discussion, I want to hear from you!"

More than a speech, the Ukrainian President wanted to establish areal dialogue with the students. To this end, he formulated a series of questions aimed at the youth of France concerning the place of NATO and the European Union, the notion of justice, the commitment of French students, and of course the terrible consequences of the war in Ukraine.

His questions, however, were not limited to geopolitical considerations, and enabled the entire assembly, as well as the 30,000 Internet users following this online conference, to put themselves in the shoes of these 12 million displaced Ukrainians and the "intrepid youth" of Ukraine who have been resisting to defend their freedoms for almost three months. He concluded his speech by talking about his 18-year-old daughter, who was against his candidacy for the presidential election in April 2019:

"Would you want one of your parents to be president of a country that is fighting, defending itself for its right to live?"

This is how nine students from the various partner universities were able to ask their questions and try to answer those posed by Volodymyr Zelensky. Among the Inalco students present, Zoriana Haniak, a Ukrainian-Polish bilingual degree student and president of the Association des Etudiants Ukrainiens en France, had the opportunity to exchange views with the President, who stressed his pride in the political commitment of this student of Ukrainian origin, so representative of the young people who are fighting at this very moment to defend their freedoms.

"I ask you to be the best student you can be"

Finally, Arancha González, Dean of Sciences Po's School of International Affairs (PSIA), concluded this conference by retaining the crucial messages from this discussion with President Zelensky. Firstly, the strength of the Ukrainian people, as well as their inalienable determination to want to live in peace, and finally, the shared attachment of the French and the Ukrainians to an international system based on rules and institutions.

"We must make this reality known, because it is in this reality that the Ukraine is being attacked"

As Sciences Po Director, Mathias Vicherat, reminded us at the start of this discussion, student and university initiatives are numerous.

"This aggression comes crashing down on the arch of values of the university world and the educational community founded on the idea that by training ourselves, by working to understand the world, we will manage to transform it and make it better. As universities, we collectively carry within us the tragic lessons of our contemporary history, but also a humanistic vision of the world"

View the video "60 minutes with Volodymyr Zelensky - live from Kiev"

Inalco and its Fondation have already taken part in this mobilization by launching a call for solidarity to enable the hosting by Inalco of academics whose ability or freedom to carry out their mission is hampered due to the war in Ukraine. Highly focused on Inalco's competencies, this campaign differs in scale and temporality from the extraordinary surge of solidarity generated by the crisis in Ukraine.

Edited by: Cecile Leblond / Inalco Foundation