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As the world watches the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold, UkraineAlert delivers the best Atlantic Council expert insight and analysis on Ukraine twice a week directly to your inbox.

editor’s picks

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Jun 3, 2022

Imperial myths and genocidal realities: 100 days of Putin’s Ukraine War

By Nestor Barchuk

Putin’s Ukraine war relies on a series of propaganda myths that reflect modern Russia’s failure to break with its imperialistic past. If Europe wants to achieve a lasting peace, it must work toward a post-imperial Russia.

Conflict Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

May 31, 2022

Memo to Henry Kissinger: Appeasing Putin means enabling genocide

By Stephen Blank

Appeasing Russia will not end the war in Ukraine or secure peace in our time. On the contrary, it will embolden Putin, prolong Ukraine’s pain, weaken the West, and destabilize the entire world, writes Stephen Blank.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

May 30, 2022

Now is the right time to launch a Digital Marshall Plan for Ukraine 

By Anatoly Motkin

As the world explores the challenges of rebuilding Ukraine, one smart option may be to initiate a Digital Marshall Plan that will play to Ukraine's existing tech strengths while securing the country's modernization.

Conflict Cybersecurity

UkraineAlert

May 27, 2022

South Ukraine holds the key to Putin’s dreams of a new Russian Empire

By Taras Kuzio

The biggest European battles since WWII are currently raging in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region but the ultimate outcome of the Russo-Ukrainian War is likely to be decided hundreds of miles to the south.

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

May 27, 2022

Ukraine’s sports stars aim to provide nation with a wartime morale boost

By Mark Temnycky

Ukraine's national football team will take on Scotland in a 2022 World Cup playoff match on June 1 in Glasgow as they seek to provide their compatriots back home with a much-needed wartime morale boost.

Conflict Resilience & Society

UkraineAlert

May 24, 2022

Putin’s Mariupol Massacre is one of the 21st century’s worst war crimes

By Paul Niland

The Russian destruction of Mariupol ranks among the gravest crimes against humanity of the twenty-first century and sends a clear message to the international community that can be no compromise peace with Putin.

Conflict Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

May 24, 2022

The Putin puzzle: Why is the Russian dictator so obsessed with Ukraine?

By Bohdan Vitvitsky

Vladimir Putin has sought to justify his invasion of Ukraine by claiming the country has no right to exist but in reality modern Ukraine enjoys a level of democratic legitimacy that far exceeds his own authoritarian regime.

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

May 22, 2022

Centuries of Russian oppression have forged Ukraine’s remarkable resilience

By Pete Shmigel

Centuries of traumatic experience with the horrors of Russian imperialism have shaped today’s Ukraine in ways that may actually contribute to Putin's defeat and help Ukrainians to build a better future for their country.

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

May 21, 2022

Appeasement is the worst possible policy for both Ukraine and Russia

By Dennis Soltys

Western advocates of appeasement in Ukraine such as French President Emmanuel Macron fail to appreciate the deep-rooted imperial ambitions underpinning Vladimir Putin's campign to extinguish Ukrainian independence.

Conflict Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

May 18, 2022

Putin’s Black Sea blockade leaves millions facing global famine

By Andriy Zagorodnyuk

Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports is strangling the country’s economy and also threatening to spark a global food security crisis by preventing Ukrainian agricultural exports from reaching international markets.

Conflict Economy & Business

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The views expressed in UkraineAlert are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

The Eurasia Center’s mission is to enhance transatlantic cooperation in promoting stability, democratic values, and prosperity in Eurasia, from Eastern Europe and Turkey in the West to the Caucasus, Russia, and Central Asia in the East.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Nov 30, 2021

Nord Stream 2 will test new German government’s European solidarity

By Olga Bielkova

If the new German government does not block Vladimir Putin's Nord Stream 2 pipeline weapon, Ukraine will be irreversibly weakened while Germany and Europe as a whole will be sleepwalking into a perpetual gas crunch.  

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Nov 28, 2021

EU regulations may yet disarm Vladimir Putin’s pipeline weapon

By Diane Francis

Russian President Vladimir Putin is pushing hard to secure fast track certification for his Nord Stream 2 pipeline, but these efforts will likely prove no match for the EU’s anti-trust laws and regulatory system.

European Union Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion

UkraineAlert

Nov 27, 2021

Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine obsession could spark a major European war

By Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Alexander Khara

Russian President Vladimir Putin's Ukraine obsession could spark the largest European conflict since WWII. With Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border, Western leaders must demonstrate their readiness to back Ukraine and impose crushing costs on the Kremlin.

Conflict Cybersecurity

UkraineAlert

Nov 23, 2021

How to Deter Russia Now

By Daniel Fried, John E. Herbst, Alexander Vershbow

With Russian troops once more massing on the Ukrainian border, the United States and Europe must make clear to the Kremlin that they stand with Ukraine and will impose serious costs in the event of an offensive.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Nov 23, 2021

Vladimir Putin is testing the “weak” West in Ukraine and Poland

By Taras Kuzio

Russia's current military build-up on the Ukrainian border is part of Vladimir Putin's hybrid war against the democratic world and an attempt to exploit what many in the Kremlin perceive to be Western "weakness."

Belarus Conflict

UkraineAlert

Nov 21, 2021

Vladimir Putin’s slow-motion annexation of east Ukraine continues

By Peter Dickinson

As international leaders and the world’s media speculate over Moscow’s latest military build-up on the Ukrainian border, Russian President Vladimir Putin is quietly proceeding with the slow-motion annexation of east Ukraine.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Nov 20, 2021

Defensive Putin accuses West of ignoring Russian red lines

By Anders Åslund

Russian President Vladimir Putin's November 18 foreign policy speech to Russian diplomats was one of the most defensive performances of his 21-year reign, argues Anders Åslund.

Conflict National Security

UkraineAlert

Nov 18, 2021

Why wartime Ukraine’s defense minister must be a civilian

By Andriy Zagorodnyuk

The recent appointment of Oleksiy Reznikov as Ukraine’s new defense minister is a step in the right direction away from the Soviet model towards NATO standards of civilian control over the Ukrainian armed forces.

Defense Industry Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Nov 16, 2021

New book recounts prisoner torture in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine

By Andrew D’Anieri

A new book by Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Aseyev seeks to raise international awareness of the secret prisons in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine where detainees are subjected to grave human rights abuses.

Conflict Human Rights

Event Recap

Nov 16, 2021

What happened to the Kyiv Post?

By Eurasia Center

On November 8, a single article appeared on the Kyiv Post's website. It's message: The newspaper would shut down for a "for a short time." But there might be more to the story. Melinda Haring dives in with former writers and editors with the Kyiv Post.

Civil Society Media