Stay Updated

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

Feb 8, 2022

With Putin poised to invade, Zelenskyy must prioritize Ukrainian unity

By Kira Rudik

With Russian troops poised to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it is time for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to put personal rivalries to one side and unite the country's political forces, says Kira Rudik.

Conflict Corruption

UkraineAlert

Feb 8, 2022

Ukraine prepares to unplug from Russian electricity amid invasion fears

By Aura Sabadus

Amid mounting fears of a full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine remains determined to proceed with a planned trial disconnection from the Russian electricity grid in order to progress towards European energy integration.

Conflict Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Feb 7, 2022

Still not too late for Germany to honor its commitment to Ukraine

By Eugene Czolij

Germany says a sense of "historical responsibility" over Nazi crimes prevents Berlin from adopting a firmer stand against Russia. Many in Ukraine ask why this logic does not also apply to the millions of Ukrainian WWII victims.

Conflict Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion

UkraineAlert

Feb 7, 2022

US delegation: America stands with Ukraine against Russian threat

By Eurasia Center

The Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center organized a delegation to visit Kyiv on January 30-February 1 planned around a major public event organized in concert with Yalta European Strategy and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, a partner of the Eurasia Center.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Feb 4, 2022

Russia demands security guarantees but what Putin really wants is Ukraine

By Iulian Romanyshyn

Russian President Vladimir Putin claims to seek security guarantees and an end to NATO expansion but the crisis he has recently engineered is really all about reasserting Kremlin control over Ukraine, says Iulian Romanyshyn.

Conflict Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Feb 3, 2022

Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine playbook echoes the traditional tactics of Russian imperialism

By Łukasz Adamski

Putin's hybrid war against Ukraine has been portrayed as innovative but Moscow’s approach also echoes more traditional tactics from the golden age of Russian imperialism and the era of Soviet expansionism.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Feb 2, 2022

The new Ukraine needs a new census

By Andrew D’Anieri

Ukraine has not conducted a national census in more than two decades and must address this issue in order to provide up-to-date information reflecting the dramatic changes taking place within Ukrainian society.

Conflict Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2022

US delegation tells Ukrainians: Your fight is our fight

By Peter Dickinson

A high-level American delegation arrived in Kyiv on January 30 for a visit designed to demonstrate US solidarity and support for Ukraine as the country faces up to the threat of a potential full-scale Russian invasion.

Conflict Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Jan 30, 2022

Ukraine Crisis: Western sanctions must target Putin’s propagandists

By Yevhen Fedchenko

As Putin threatens a new invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s disinformation apparatus is playing a central role in the march to war. The international community must recognize this role and react accordingly.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Jan 30, 2022

Ukraine Crisis: Will Putin deploy his energy weapons against Europe?

By Aura Sabadus

In recent months, Russia has frequently been accused of using energy supplies as a geopolitical weapon. With international tensions now rising, such tactics may soon become more prominent.

Conflict European Union

spotlight

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.

Follow us on social media
and support our work

Content

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

UkraineAlert

Nov 15, 2021

Escalating Belarus border crisis could pose a security threat to Ukraine

By Bohdan Nahaylo

The escalating migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border poses a potential threat to Ukraine, which shares a long and vulnerable 1,000 km border with Belarus and could serve as an alternative route into the EU.

Belarus Conflict

UkraineAlert

Nov 15, 2021

New US-Ukraine Charter underlines American commitment to Ukrainian security

By Anders Åslund

The new US-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership adopted on November 10 underlines American support for Ukrainian security and US concerns over the possibility of further Russian aggression.

Disinformation Non-Traditional Threats

UkraineAlert

Nov 15, 2021

Ukraine’s Anti-Oligarch Law: President Zelenskyy’s populist power grab?

By Kira Rudik

Ukraine's anti-oligarch law is being trumpeted by President Zelenskyy's supporters as a move to reduce the influence of Ukraine’s oligarch elite. However, it looks more like a populist ploy to strengthen presidential powers, writes Holos leader Kira Rudik.

Corruption Media

UkraineAlert

Nov 11, 2021

Time to rediscover eastern Ukraine’s surprisingly cosmopolitan past

By Peter Dickinson

Moscow has long cultivated the myth of eastern Ukraine as an indivisible part of Russia’s ancestral heartlands but in reality the region has a surprisingly cosmopolitan past that makes a mockery of Kremlin propaganda claims.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Nov 9, 2021

Nord Stream 2: Germany must listen to Ukrainian security concerns

By Olga Bielkova

Ukraine has requested a role in the German process to certify Nord Stream 2 amid fears in Kyiv that the pipeline could pave the wave for an escalation in ongoing Russian military aggression against Ukraine.

Conflict Energy Markets & Governance