Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor gave the keynote address for the Colorado State University International Symposium Feb. 28 at the Lory Student Center.

His address focused on what the war in Ukraine looked like over the past year, what the future of the conflict may entail and why the war matters to the United States.

CSU’s International Symposium is a multi-day event designed to allow CSU students, faculty and staff to share what they are doing internationally, said Kathleen Fairfax, organizer of the event and vice provost for international affairs.

Fairfax said the symposium also tries to include a big speaker to bring an international current event to campus. This year the organizers were thrilled to bring in Taylor to share his perspective and background on the war that currently racks the country.

Taylor served as ambassador to Ukraine 2006-09 and as the U.S. chargé d’affaires in Ukraine in 2019, according to the United States Institute of Peace.

“The war today is a slugfest. … It’s more than a stalemate. It’s really a battle back and forth between the Russians who invaded a year ago and the Ukrainians who are defending their land. I say it’s a slugfest because it’s not stable; the (front) line moves a little bit this way and that way.” -William Taylor, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine

The crowd for the address filled the seats allocated for the event well before it was set to start, forcing organizers to remove the divider between ballrooms in the LSC to create more space. 

Many audience members were wearing pro-Ukraine shirts, pins and hats to show their support for the country, and several members of the crowd mentioned their involvement in organizing aid for Ukraine.

Associated Students of CSU President Rob Long and Speaker of the Senate Nick DeSalvo commended the Office of International Programs for their choice of speaker for the keynote address.

Long did, however, say the crowd appeared to have an average age of over 40, indicating a lack of student engagement.

The address was moderated by Leigh Paterson, senior editor and reporter for KUNC, a Northern Colorado community radio station.

Paterson started the address by asking Taylor about his view on the beginnings of the war and the current state of the war.

Taylor said he had been in Ukraine three weeks before the invasion began, speaking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and that despite U.S. intelligence reports showing Russian President Vladimir Putin was gearing up for invasion, it was still hard for them to imagine Putin would invade another sovereign nation in this day and age.

Taylor said he was horrified when the invasion began but heartened that the Ukrainian people united behind Zelenskyy.

“The war today is a slugfest,” Taylor said. “It’s more than a stalemate. It’s really a battle back and forth between the Russians who invaded a year ago and the Ukrainians who are defending their land. I say it’s a slugfest because it’s not stable; the (front) line moves a little bit this way and that way.”

There are two likely conclusions for the war, according to Taylor: a short scenario and a long scenario.

In the short scenario, the Ukrainian military breaks through the Russian lines and forces the Russians to the table for a diplomatic solution.

In the long scenario — which Taylor said is, unfortunately, more likely — both sides exhaust their militaries, resulting in a situation similar to North Korea and South Korea in which the war never explicitly ends but fighting slows to a stalemate.

The Russians have damaged the Ukrainian economy, Taylor said, mining Ukrainian farmland and bombing infrastructure that estimates say will cost $500 billion to rebuild — a cost that should largely be covered by Russia.

“It turns out that the Russian Central Bank, by mistake actually, in retrospect, stored $300 billion in western banks, (or in) G7 banks,” Taylor said. “That money should be seized. It’s now frozen; it should be seized and put into an account: an international fund that will fund this reconstruction.”

Following the address, members of the crowd expressed appreciation for the ambassador’s insight and hopeful attitude in his remarks as well as an outpouring of support for Ukraine.

In a short interview following the address, Taylor encouraged graduating college students looking to support Ukraine to do so from both the private and public sectors, explaining that there will need to be both private and public participation in the eventual rebuilding of the country.

Taylor also commented on the recent anti-Ukrainian behavior of CSU students at a Mountain West men’s basketball game.

“They’re free to express themselves,” Taylor said. “But I know the Ukrainian people. They are an inspired people, and they’ve been united now in this fight for their own freedom, and I think we should support them.”

Reach Grant Coursey at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @grantcoursey.