The theme of “hope” was chosen long before this year’s deterioration of Washington-Kyiv relations, but participants at an international Ukrainian studies conference said that hope is needed more than ever — not only in Ukraine but in the United States itself.

Religious leaders, scholars, artists and diplomats have been gathering at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana since Thursday for a three-day conference focused on “Revolutions of Hope: Resilience and Recovery in Ukraine.”

But hope may be hard to summon at a conference that brought together supporters of Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s ongoing military assaults. It came just a week after a disastrous Oval Office meeting in which U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — followed by the U.S. pausing military aid and intelligence-sharing.

Those at the conference said it’s important that Ukraine and its supporters maintain hope — not as a pie-in-the-sky sentiment but as a force that energizes their resistance.

“Today, our enemy is trying to make Ukraine a symbol of failure and ruin,” said Taras Dobko, rector of Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. “To live by hope in such a country means to be on a mission, to bring hope where it hurts, where things fall apart and where anxiety overwhelms.”

But, he added, hope is motivating Ukrainians to resist. “Hope is not only a spiritual resource, not only a source of strength for individuals in difficult times, but also a strategic security asset.”

The conference, organized by Notre Dame’s Nanovic Institute for European Studies in tandem with Ukrainian Catholic University, included speakers, an art exhibition and prayers for peace.

The conference also featured remarks from the top-ranking Ukrainian Catholic official in the United States as well as Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, who warned that Russia is trying to delegitimize Ukraine’s claims to statehood.

“It is the war on multiple fronts,” Ambassador Oksana Markarova said in a pre-recorded video statement played at the conference Thursday. “Our brave soldiers and civilians defend Ukraine’s physical and spiritual integrity while we diplomats, scholars and experts continue our efforts on information fronts by educating American and international societies about what is really at stake and why Ukraine resists so persistently and so relentlessly, even in the most difficult situations.”

Markarova did not mention last Friday’s disastrous Oval Office meeting, which she attended.

But she said it’s important to recognize that “appropriation of Ukraine’s culture and denial of our national identity remains the key avenue of Russia’s criminal war against Ukraine.”

She said it’s important to “restore historical justice and deny Russia any claims over Ukraine and our statehood.”

Ukrainians’ initiative in defending themselves against Russia “deserves respect,” said Archbishop Borys Gudziak, in his keynote presentation at the conference. Gudziak heads the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia and is president of Ukrainian Catholic University.

Ukraine is not asking for pity, he said, but added: “When a bully is attacking it, it needs a little bit of solidarity.”

Gudziak said that hope has motivated Ukrainians to fight or do vital civilian work such as repairing war-damaged power grids, recognizing that “my life is important, but maybe there’s something bigger than my life.”

He added that the temptation to despair is wide these days.

“I walked the halls of Washington a lot in the last few weeks,” Gudziak said. “There’s a lot of scared people, talented diplomats in the State Department who don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow in all these government offices.”

He said it’s important to honor workers’ human dignity during this time.

“I hope that today Ukraine can give America hope to not be afraid,” he said. “Say what is true. Witness. Make the stand for the immigrants, for the poor, for the unjustly fired. Because it’s easy to get crushed by fear. There’s great trepidation today in Ukraine, but there’s also a trust, a trust in God.”

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