Marking four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Special Meeting of the Black Sea Security Forum in Odesa brought together more than 70 high-level policymakers, senior military leaders, diplomats, members of parliament, security experts, and international journalists from the United States, the United Kingdom, Türkiye, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria,Italy, including a delegation led by the Vice-President of the European Parliament.
The discussion focused on four key lessons of the war, assessing decisive strategic choices and future regional risks. Participants also met with local authorities, the Odesa Sea Port Administration, and local volunteers, gaining first-hand insight into maritime security and civilian resilience in wartime.
Ukraine proved that creativity can overturn military hierarchies — destroying a fleet without having one, redefining naval and drone warfare. But the next lesson was harsher: innovation without a system can hardly compete with mass, scale, and industrialization.
Ukraine survived with its own resistance combined with partnerships and solidarity of its partners and allies. But four years of the full-scale war also revealed a harder truth: the global order is shifting, and ultimately every country is judged by its own strength.
