As the violence in Ukraine’s capital threatens to push the country into civil war, the Atlantic Council will host a webcast discussion with Amb. Oleh Shamshur, foreign policy advisor to Ukrainian opposition leader Vitaliy Klitschko. The session, on Friday, February 21 at 9:00 AM EST/4:00 PM EET, will be moderated by Damon Wilson, the council’s executive vice president.

Amb. Shamshur will speak from Kyiv about the latest developments and how the United States and European Union might help avert a civil war and keep open the prospect of a European future for Ukraine. Amb. Shamshur is a senior advisor to UDAR, the political party headed by Vitaliy Klitschko that is one of the main components of the opposition movement confronting Ukraine’s government. He also is a former deputy foreign minister of Ukraine and served as ambassador to Washington from 2005 to 2010, following Ukraine’s Orange Revolution. During that time, Amb. Shamshur worked closely with Mr. Wilson, then a director at the National Security Council responsible for Ukraine.