How did Ukraine’s 2026 Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen advance humanitarian diplomacy, soft power, resilience, and international cooperation?
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Diplomatic Legal Hub
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2026/09/22
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Independent Journalist and DLH Coordinator
Overview
Ukraine’s 2026 Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen highlighted humanitarian diplomacy, soft power, resilience, and regional cooperation during wartime. Held in Kyiv, it brought together presidential spouses, heads of state, experts, and international partners, while situating the Summit within Ukraine’s formal public-diplomacy architecture and broader foreign-policy objectives for international cooperation.
Humanitarian Diplomacy and the Summit Platform
Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine, has spearheaded several humanitarian and public diplomacy efforts. One of these is the gathering of presidential spouses to leverage international networks and policy frameworks – non-binding, but focused on core issues of humanitarian policy, human rights, and issues intersecting with humanitarian law. The Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen is one formal platform in Ukraine for these efforts .The Summit was launched by Zelenska in 2021 with permanent status established in 2023.
The 2026 Summit and Expert Conference
As a foreign independent journalist, I attended the Summit. I can comment here as a Coordinator of the Diplomatic Legal Hub because these efforts matter to our work as a hub. The Summit was held at Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv on August 24th, 2026, during Ukraine’s Independence Day, the 35th anniversary of restored independence. The theme was “World 2026: Finding Stability in Times of Uncertainty.”
An expert conference took place the day before, entitled “A Mosaic of Experiences: An International Dialogue on Resilience,” at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. More than 200 participants from academia, business, government, and international organizations took part. The Summit was co-organized with the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the Coordination Center for Mental Health, the “How Are You?” programme, and WHO, with UNICEF as an official partner.
International Participation
High-profile participants alongside Mrs. Zelenska included Aleš Musar of Slovenia, Diana Nausėdienė of Lithuania, Mirabela Grădinaru of Romania, Sirje Karis of Estonia, Suzanne Innes-Stubb of Finland, and Tamara Vučić of Serbia. Several representatives from Belize, Czechia, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Israel, and Türkiye also participated remotely. In total, First Ladies and Gentlemen from 14 countries were represented.
Heads of State and the “Stay Together” Session
Not merely spouses, Presidents Alar Karis, Alexander Stubb, Gitanas Nausėda, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy participated in a “Stay Together” session. Zelenskyy framed the event as humanitarian diplomacy. Given the participation, the core group included countries with immediate regional security and potential humanitarian concerns regarding Russian aggression.
Regional Historical and Security Context
For those outside Ukraine reading this, many of the nation-states that gained or restored independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union have domestic populations with acute historical memories of Russian imperial and Soviet aggression. Therefore, they gather together more readily around humanitarian and security concerns for good reason. Zelenskyy called humanitarian diplomacy one of the pillars of high-level politics.
Public Diplomacy and Soft Power
In this regard, the Summit can be seen as part of Ukraine’s foreign-policy and public-diplomacy architecture; Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Public Diplomacy Strategy for 2026–2030 formally recognized the Summit Global Platform as a flagship public-diplomacy initiative. This sends a strong national and political signal that the event is being used for soft-power influence. In this space, soft power becomes a platform for furthering cooperation.
Legal Authority and the Role of First Ladies and Gentlemen
Heads of state and heads of government have not merely distinct social roles but separate legal definitions based on state authority. Under Article 7 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers represent the state in concluding treaties without having to produce full powers; i.e., they have ex officio authority to perform acts relating to the conclusion of treaties. A First Lady who is not a head of state does not have this authority by virtue of that role alone, hence, the focus is on humanitarian, diplomatic, and policy issues, with an emphasis on interstate cooperation.
Regional Cooperation and the Global Vocabulary of Resilience
This brings the Summit into full focus as an international, strongly regional in its European participation, event for high-profile professionals, including diplomats, politicians, military officials, journalists, and others, to coordinate soft power efforts; it is an important contribution to regional cooperation in wartime. A thematic focus was the Global Vocabulary of Resilience. This included social practices and institutional models, with accompanying resilience vocabulary for 38 countries. Examples included Australia’s mateship, Norway’s dugnad, Estonia’s Tiigrihüpe, Germany’s Erinnerungskultur, South Africa’s Ubuntu, and Ukraine’s concept of Sofiynist.
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