Lesia Ogryzko

An expert in international relations and international security, Lesia has built a career that spans international organizations, Ukrainian state institutions, and the non-governmental sector.

While working at the Reform Support Office of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, she focused on public administration reform. She is currently engaged in international cooperation and the development of Ukraine’s defense ecosystem at the Ministry of Defense’s Reforms Support Office.

Previously, Lesia worked with the United Nations, particularly on Government relations, political cooperation and human rights issues. At the onset of the war in 2014, she co-founded the Ukrainian office of Save the Children, the world’s largest international humanitarian organization.

Lesia is currently a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and is Board Member of RISE Ukraine, the country’s largest expert coalition focused on reconstruction. In the past, she also worked with the Spanish think tank FRIDE and Ukraine’s Centre for Defence Strategies.

She holds two master’s degrees: one in International Relations with a specialization in International Security from the Institute of International Relations at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and another in European Public Affairs from Maastricht University in the Netherlands.