On November 17, 2026, at 19:00, a meeting with Peter Zalmayev — a native of Donetsk, an American political scientist, journalist, director of the New York-based organization Eurasia Democracy Initiative, and host of the international program The WEEK — will take place at the Ukrainian Cultural Center at the Embassy of Ukraine in Israel. The discussion will focus on the war in Ukraine, US and European politics, Ukraine-Israel relations, and international disinformation. Participation is free, but prior registration is required.
Author: Victoria Katsman, NAnews — News of Israel.
In the past two years, Peter Zalmayev has visited, according to the organizers, 45 countries. He met with politicians, journalists, and public figures, appeared on television, and spoke with people who sometimes only know about the war in Ukraine from local media reports.
Now Israel is on his itinerary. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, November 17, at 22 Yirmiyahu Street, Tel Aviv. The organizers promise not a lecture with pre-prepared answers, but an open conversation in which guests can also participate.
The Israeli stage of this trip is of particular interest. Zalmayev is well acquainted with the history of Ukrainian-Jewish relations, participated in the work of the American Jewish Committee and international projects dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust. Long before the current war, he speculated on what experience Ukraine could learn from Israel.
Who is Peter Zalmayev
Peter Zalmayev (Peter Zalmayev, in Ukrainian — Пітер Залмаєв) was born in Donetsk in 1976, when the city was still part of the Ukrainian SSR.
In 1994, he moved to the USA on a study scholarship. He later obtained American citizenship and graduated from Columbia University in New York, where he earned a master’s degree in international relations at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). His specialization was political processes in the countries of the former Soviet Union. He also completed a program at the Harriman Institute, which conducts research on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia.
Zalmayev began his professional career in the human rights field. From 2000 to 2006, he led the Central Asia and Caucasus program at the International League for Human Rights.
Later, he headed the Eurasia Democracy Initiative (EDI) — a New York-based non-governmental organization working on issues of democracy, human rights, political freedoms, and the development of civil society in post-Soviet states.
He regularly commented on international politics for BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and Ukrainian media, published analytical materials, and participated in international conferences.
In 2016, Zalmayev returned to live in Ukraine. On the TV channel “Pryamiy,” he co-hosted the program The Week with Taras Berezovets, dedicated to world politics.
His biography turned out to be directly connected with the war. After the start of hostilities in Donbas in 2014, he had to evacuate his parents. And in February 2022, when Russian troops launched a full-scale invasion, he took his wife and two young children to western Ukraine and returned towards Kyiv to report on the events.
This story was published in April 2022 by the Harriman Institute at Columbia University.
Zalmayev also has a lesser-known side of his activities. In 2019, he released a bilingual Ukrainian-English book “Довідник (не)молодого батька” — Manual of a (Not-so-young) Father, dedicated to fatherhood and relationships with children.
Jewish roots, American Jewish Committee, and Ukrainian-Jewish dialogue
For the Israeli audience, this part of Zalmayev’s biography is especially interesting.
In a 2016 interview, when asked about his origins, he replied that his family combined Ukrainian, Jewish, and Russian roots. Thus, the conversation about Ukrainian-Jewish relations for him is connected not only with professional activities but also with personal history.
In 2011, Zalmayev joined the board of directors of the New York branch of the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
AJC is one of the well-known American Jewish public organizations. It deals with combating anti-Semitism, protecting Jewish communities, and international relations, including strengthening ties between Israel and other states.
As part of AJC, Zalmayev participated in contacts with Jewish communities of the former USSR, public organizations, and government representatives. His membership is confirmed by biographical materials from international conferences. Whether he holds this position in November 2026 is not separately established.
Another important part of his work is cooperation with the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, an international initiative dedicated to the history, culture, and mutual understanding of Ukrainians and Jews.
Babyn Yar: why it is important for Israel
In 2016, when the 75th anniversary of the mass killings of Jews at Babyn Yar was commemorated, Zalmayev participated in the preparation of an international program of commemorative events in Kyiv.
He was involved in the international contacts of the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter project. The program included a youth conference with participants from different countries, including Israel, a scientific symposium, a memorial concert, and a competition for memorial space concepts.
Babyn Yar is one of the most well-known sites of mass extermination of Jews during the Holocaust. On September 29–30, 1941, the Nazis shot more than 33,000 Jews of Kyiv there. Later, this place became a site of murder for other groups of victims of the Nazi occupation.
Zalmayev considered preserving the memory of Babyn Yar as part of forming modern Ukrainian identity and an honest conversation about the shared history of Ukrainians and Jews.
Zalmayev’s participation is documented in the materials of the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter about the 75th anniversary program of Babyn Yar.
His cultural interests are also connected with Ukrainian-Jewish history. In 2016, Zalmayev participated in the Bruno Schulz writer’s festival in Drohobych. He said he became interested in the work of this Polish-Jewish writer, born in the territory of modern Ukraine, after reading an article by Israeli writer David Grossman.
What Peter Zalmayev said about Israel
Even in 2016, Zalmayev publicly compared the situation in Ukraine and Israel.
In one of the interviews, he spoke about the ability of Israeli society to maintain national solidarity despite differences between immigrants from different countries, cultural contradictions, and constant security threats.
In his opinion, Ukraine could learn a lot from Israel’s experience in forming a common civic identity.
This was his assessment a decade ago, even before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and subsequent events in the Middle East.
Today, circumstances have changed significantly. Israel and Ukraine are experiencing different wars, facing threats of missile and drone attacks, discussing issues of external military aid, international pressure, and information confrontation.
However, the similarity of certain threats does not mean that the two states have the same interests or the same foreign policy.
It is precisely these differences, as well as possible points of cooperation, that will be one of the topics of the meeting in Tel Aviv.
Why Zalmayev visited 45 countries
Since the end of 2024, Peter Zalmayev has been conducting a large-scale international trip dedicated to the perception of the war in Ukraine.
His itinerary included African countries, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific island countries, and European states.
He met with local politicians, journalists, public figures, appeared on radio and television, and spoke with people who do not necessarily share Ukraine’s position.
In June 2025, the Tanzanian publication The Citizen reported on his trip to Africa. At that time, Zalmayev explained that he wanted to understand how residents of different countries perceive the war and why the positions of societies and governments may differ.
In February and August 2026, Spanish-language media wrote about his international journey. In November, during a trip to Melilla, he again spoke about the need to maintain international attention on Ukraine.
According to the organizers of the meeting in Israel, over two years, Zalmayev visited 45 countries. Over the next two years, he intends to visit another 45.
This is not an official diplomatic mission of the Ukrainian or US government. It is about public and journalistic work, in which Zalmayev presents his own assessment of what is happening, based in part on personal experience of living in Ukraine during the war.
What will be discussed on November 17 in Tel Aviv
The organizers highlighted three main directions of the conversation.
First — the attitude of the US and Europe towards the war in Ukraine. How the positions of political elites are changing, what is happening with international support for Ukraine, and how sustainable the attention of Western countries to the war remains.
Second — common threats and interests of Ukraine and Israel. This is the most important topic for the local audience. Israel has its own regional security problems, relations with the US and other countries, as well as a complex history of interaction with Russia and Ukraine. The discussion will allow hearing how these circumstances are assessed by a person familiar with both socio-political environments.
Third — international communication and disinformation. How political manipulations spread, why perceptions of the war differ in different countries, and what needs to be done to ensure that events in Ukraine do not disappear from the international agenda.
After the main part, an open dialogue is planned. Visitors will be able to ask Zalmayev their own questions.
For Israelis, this is also an opportunity to learn how Israel is perceived in Ukraine today, what Ukrainian and American public organizations are discussing, and what role the dialogue of Jewish communities of the two countries can play.
Where and when the meeting will take place: address and free registration
The meeting is organized by the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Tel Aviv, Zoryan Kis, and other co-organizers.
Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2026.
Time: 19:00–22:00.
Place: Ukrainian Cultural Center at the Embassy of Ukraine in Israel.
Address: 22 Yirmiyahu Street, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Participation cost: 0 ₪. Free entry.
Entry condition: mandatory pre-registration.
Register for the meeting with Peter Zalmayev — Google Forms
The event is announced as public. The language of the meeting is not specified in the published announcement. Possible program changes can be followed on the Ukrainian Cultural Center’s Facebook page.
Other concerts, meetings, film screenings, and cultural events can be found on sTDe | NAnews — Israel event poster.
Peter Zalmayev is coming to Tel Aviv, not for the first time encountering Israeli issues. Behind him is work in American Jewish organizations, participation in preserving the memory of Babyn Yar, a journalistic career in the USA and Ukraine, and now dozens of trips around the world.
On November 17, 2026, the Israeli audience will have the opportunity to hear his assessments not in a television interview, but in a direct conversation — and to ask about what remains complex and not always clear in the relations between Ukraine, Israel, and the USA.