2026-02-09 16:57
publication
2026-02-09 16:57
Award named after The Ewald von Kleist Award for 2026, presented by the Munich Security Conference, will be awarded to the Ukrainian nation on Saturday, the organizers announced on Monday. According to their announcements, the laudatory speech will be delivered by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
“The Munich Security Conference (MSC) will award the Ewald von Kleist Prize 2026 to the brave Ukrainian nation, expressing deep appreciation for its courage, sacrifice and unwavering determination to defend its own freedom and the freedom of all of Europe, as well as paying tribute to those who lost their lives or were injured,” reads the text of the message sent to the editorial offices accredited for this year's conference, including PAP.
The award will be received on Saturday at the residence of the Bavarian kings, the Residence in Munich, by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will make a short statement. According to the organizers' announcement, the Polish Prime Minister will deliver the laudatory speech.
By the time the telegram was sent, PAP had not received confirmation on this matter from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.
Announcing the decision, MSC head Wolfgang Ischinger, quoted in the statement, noted that “the Ukrainian nation has been fighting for its freedom, independence and dignity for over a decade, first in Crimea and Donbas after the Russian invasion in 2014, and then throughout the entire territory of the country after Russia launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.”
He added that in recent months this fight “has become even more difficult when Ukrainians had to face the double blow of winter frosts and Russian missiles deliberately aimed at civilian energy infrastructure.”
“Despite the enormous difficulties, brutality that Ukrainians face and the constant sacrifices they make, the determination of the Ukrainian people to defend the freedom of their country – and indeed of all of Europe – remains steadfast,” Ischinger emphasized.
Award named after The Ewald von Kleist Award has been awarded by the MSC since 2009. Its winners include: former German Chancellors Helmut Schmidt and Angela Merkel, former US Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and John Kerry, former NATO Secretary General Javier Solana, current EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, OSCE and UN.
The next edition of MSC, one of the most important forums on international security policy, will be held on February 13-15. Several dozen presidents and heads of government, as well as numerous foreign and defense ministers, are expected at the conference. As PAP learned, the Polish authorities in Bavaria will be represented by, among others, Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski.
After two years of exclusion, politicians from the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is leading in most polls in Germany, were invited to the conference. This year's edition will be held without the participation of US Vice President JD Vance, who gave a loud and controversial speech in Munich a year ago. This time the American delegation will be headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The detailed conference program will be presented on Thursday.
From Berlin Mateusz Obremski (PAP)
mobr/ akl/ js/ mhr/
