Yuna Potomkina, Partner and Head of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice at Asters, as well as Deputy Chair of the UBA Mediation Committee, is featured as a guest in the latest episode of the “Prospects for Peace in Ukraine” miniseries of the Lawyering Peace podcast by PILPG.

In the episode, she shares insights from her experience as a legal advisor to the Ukrainian delegation in the political subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk and reflects on what an effective negotiation process to end the war in Ukraine should look like.

In her view, successful negotiations are not a one-off event, but rather a carefully designed architecture — involving clearly defined participants, transparent mandates, international mediation, and legal accountability mechanisms. She emphasized that Ukraine should not only participate in such a process, but also shape its rules.

“We are dealing with an asymmetric conflict. Russia is the aggressor state and a permanent member of the UN Security Council. This places unique demands on the format of negotiations,” Potomkina noted.

She stressed that peace cannot be sustainable without justice. Any agreement must be rooted in international law and include clear mechanisms for accountability. She also highlighted the important role lawyers play in providing legal frameworks, assessing risks, and drafting enforceable agreements.

A particular focus of the discussion was the issue of trust: “This deficit is a result of war crimes, past failures, and deep skepticism. For a peace process to be meaningful, these concerns must be addressed at the design stage,” she said.

In conclusion, Yuna Potomkina expressed confidence that Ukraine, through its legal expertise, can shape not only the content of peace agreements but also the very principles of a new architecture for peace in Europe.

The full podcast episode is available on YouTube.