New Atlanticist

A ‘Dirty War’ in Donetsk

By Irena Chalupa

An Execution-Style Killing Deepens the Brutality in Ukraine’s Conflict Until last week Volodymyr Rybak, 42, was a municipal councilor in Horlivka, a coal-mining city 20 miles northeast of Donetsk. Rybak opposed the takeover of his city’s government by the gunmen who have proclaimed a separatist Donetsk People’s Republic in southeastern Ukraine. On April 17 he […]

Intelligence Chief: 100 Russian Officers Are Leading Ukraine’s Uprisings

By James Rupert and Irena Chalupa

Ukrainian Security Agency Seeks to Arrest Russian Army Colonel Coordinating Subversion As many as one hundred Russian military intelligence officers and special forces troops are leading the seizures of towns and local governments in Ukraine’s Donetsk province, the Ukrainian intelligence chief said today in his first public account of the crisis. Russia’s military intelligence agency, […]

Weekend Violence in Ukraine Threatens Peace Efforts

Last week’s agreement in Geneva, meant to avert wider conflict in Ukraine, was faltering as the new week began. Pro-Moscow separatist gunmen show no sign of surrendering government buildings they have seized. The images below are from the cities of Donetsk and Slaviansk. A gunbattle in Slaviansk left an uncertain number dead.

Slaviansk: Gunfights, Disappeared Journalist—and the Mayor is Missing

By Irena Chalupa and James Rupert

Ukraine Crisis Centers on City North of Donetsk Slaviansk, a district center of about 120,000 people in northwestern Donetsk province, is increasingly the simmering epicenter of Ukraine’s crisis – and not only because of the gunbattle yesterday that has re-escalated tensions in the east. The masked soldiers and militiamen who control access to the city […]

Amid Chaos, a Humiliating and Dangerous Defeat for Ukraine

By Irena Chalupa

In Russia’s takeover of southeast Ukraine – which President Vladimir Putin is characterizing as a recovery of old Russian provinces lost in the 1920s – this week’s ineffectiveness and weakness of Ukraine’s government and armed forces are visible almost everywhere.

As China Builds Ability to Attack Satellites, Here is How US Should Respond

By Bharath Gopalaswamy and Dylan Rebstock

As searchers in the Indian Ocean inch toward finding the disappeared Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, a reminder of the rising role of China in space is that the critical first step in learning the plane’s fate was an innovative analysis of routine satellite data – and that Chinese space assets played an unusually prominent role […]

The Unthinkable Happens in Europe: Russia Invades Ukraine

By Taras Kuzio

Russia has invaded Ukraine. This is the only conclusion to be reached from evidence that has built up in the past few days. Groups of armed men wearing soldiers’ uniforms and working in military formations have fanned out throughout Donetsk province (oblast), and to some extent the adjoining Luhansk province, taking over police stations, Ukrainian […]