Dr. Fiona Hill about Ukraine
Los Angeles, March 5, 2025
On the eve of the now historic meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on February 28, 2025, I was invited to listen to Dr. Fiona Hill, a specialist of European and Russian affairs (see her prestigious bio below).
Dr. Fiona Hill was in Los Angeles on a private visit, but one of the board members of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council had the brilliant idea to have Hill share her knowledge and insights about the situation in Ukraine. As we are all aware, the now 3-year war is not only affecting Ukraine and Russia, but the entire planet, and for many different reasons.
Hill was introduced by Board Chair Honorable Maria Contreras-Sweet. Contreras-Sweet served as an Obama cabinet member, California state cabinet official and investor/entrepreneur. The 45-minute debate was moderated by former Ambassador to Hungary, Colleen Bell. By the way, this was a perfect gathering for Women’s History Month.
The mission of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall (LAWACTH) is to educate our members and the public on the most important international, national, and regional issues through engaged nonpartisan conversation. You can join the efforts by becoming a board member.
“We will see what happens, of course, tomorrow when Zelenskyy comes”
I asked Dr. Hill about the meeting with President Emmanuel Macron and President Donald Trump that took place on February 24th, 2025. Her conclusion is above…
We now know, as the meeting was televised live from The White House. So, there is no guessing or suspicion to the unfolding of the 2 hours and 22 minutes that are today reshaping the world’s order.
If you have time, you may listen to my question and the answer from Dr. Hill.
Well done, Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall with the reunion! It made us all feel in the heart of this world’s turning point. We can only wish the best, and that there won’t be an escalation as some fear.
DR. FIONA HILL
Fiona Hill is a senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe within the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. She also holds the position of chancellor at Durham University in the United Kingdom, and was recently elected to the Harvard University Board of Overseers.
Hill served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the U.S. National Security Council from 2017 to 2019, as well as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the U.S. National Intelligence Council from 2006 to 2009. She gained further prominence through her testimonies before Congress in 2019 during the first impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
Hill is the author of the bestselling memoir “There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century” (2021) and co-author of “Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin” (first edition 2013, second edition 2015) and “The Siberian Curse: How Communist Planners Left Russia Out in the Cold” (2003), both with Clifford G. Gaddy.
Prior to joining Brookings in 2000, Hill was director of strategic planning at the Eurasia Foundation in Washington, D.C. At Brookings, she directed the Center on the United States and Europe from 2009 to 2017.
Hill holds a master’s in Soviet studies and a doctorate in history from Harvard University where she was a Frank Knox Fellow. She also holds a master’s in Russian and modern history from St. Andrews University in Scotland, and has pursued studies at Moscow’s Maurice Thorez Institute of Foreign Languages.
AMBASSADOR. COLLEEN BELL
Ambassador (retired) Colleen Bell is a senior leader at the State of California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) serving as the Director of the California Film Commission where she oversees California’s Film and Television portfolio. Prior to her State service, Bell served as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary from 2014 to 2017.
She currently serves on the boards of LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Atlantic Council, Pacific Council on International Policy, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ms. Bell is a graduate of Sweet Briar College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy. She also attended St. Andrews University in Scotland, where she studied International Relations.
