Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Monday via Zoom with higher education leaders from around the United States, including University of Virginia President Jim Ryan, for a discussion about how the U.S. and Ukraine can work together to promote education, which included discussion about combatting disinformation. The Association of American Universities hosted the conversation.
For months now, the embattled Ukraine, bolstered by aid from the U.S. and other countries, has been fighting back against Russian invasion. Still, the war continues to devastate the country.
Zelenskyy, speaking through a translator, opened the program with remarks about rebuilding the Ukrainian university system. He said that many people had not appreciated the educational choices they had in their lives previously. He added that people have a choice before them now, to be observers or actors in their own lives.
After his remarks, the president took questions from the U.S. academics.
Ryan asked Zelenskyy what role American universities could play in combating misinformation and disinformation about the war.
Zelenskyy said information had been weaponized. He called the dissemination of false news and reports a “pollution of the information space.”
“I don’t know what is more powerful – heavy metals and artillery, or these information attacks,” he said.
Russia has had a strong presence in European media, and some European media platforms repeated a story promulgated by Russia as a justification for their invasion, alleging that Ukraine is a Nazi state, Zelenskyy said.
“Thank God for freedom of speech, freedom of expression,” he said, adding that it allows people to gather and review information and make judgments for themselves. “They could analyze and compare. You have multiple sources of information and you can think, having analyzed and considered it, and weigh the opportunities. That is what you have the intellect for.”
But while there are multiple venues for information in the West, Zelenskyy warned that Russia is limited.
“It is very difficult for modern-day Russia,” he said. “They have no independent media left. People are just fed, not a la carte information – this is like a cafeteria where you are just served what they choose to give you.”
Zelenskyy told Ryan that informed people can make choices and urged Western universities to teach students how to analyze information.
“For yourselves and your students, you have to explain that analysis is key,” Zelenskyy said. “[The students] have to analyze, and as young people they have the patience, they have the stamina and they can analyze, and they can find the truth and make their informed choice. When you understand what truth is, you can choose equitably.”
Ryan also asked Zelenskyy how he was holding up as the leader of a besieged country.
“You have been an unbelievable model of courage,” Ryan said. “I am sure it is taking an enormous toll, and on a personal level I wanted to express my concern and support.”
Zelenskyy thanked Ryan for his remarks, but said he doesn’t think of himself as a model of bravery. He said he was inspired by his people and is attempting to be a responsible adult.
“I think every adequate person in my shoes would do the same,” Zelenskyy said. “I am the president, the leader and that is the only way to be.”
The education leaders on the livestreamed conference, which had about 5,300 viewers, discussed a variety of education-related issues with the Ukrainian president, including how American students can support their Ukrainian counterparts, how school faculty and staff are able to communicate with students, and what programs there are to prepare for the future of Ukraine.
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Article Information
November 24, 2024
