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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

Sep 14, 2023

Putin’s North Korean “pariah summit” underlines his international isolation

By Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin’s recent meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was a “Pariah Summit” that underlined the scale of Russia’s international isolation as a result of the country’s criminal Ukraine invasion, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2023

Now is the time for businesses to look at Ukraine

By Andy Hunder

Ukraine’s reconstruction promises to be the largest national recovery project in Europe since World War II and will create unique business opportunities, writes AmCham Ukraine’s Andy Hunder.

Conflict
Economy & Business

UkraineAlert

Sep 12, 2023

Russia seeks to legitimize occupation of Ukraine with sham elections

By Mercedes Sapuppo, Olivia Yanchik

In early September, Russia staged sham parliamentary elections in occupied regions of southern and eastern Ukraine as Moscow attempted to legitimize its earlier illegal annexation of five Ukrainian provinces.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Sep 12, 2023

US expected to decide soon on long-range missiles for Ukraine

By Benton Coblentz

ATACMS missiles would greatly increase Ukraine’s ability to strike the logistical networks supporting Russia’s invasion and would make it increasingly difficult for Putin’s army to operate inside Ukraine, writes Benton Coblentz.

Conflict
Maritime Security

UkraineAlert

Sep 7, 2023

Ukraine’s partners cannot remove Putin but they can stop legitimizing him

By Richard Cashman

As long as Vladimir Putin is in power, Russia will remain a rogue state. Western policies that legitimize him through fear of a potential post-Putin Russia are perverse, writes Richard Cashman.

Conflict
Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Sep 6, 2023

Belarus dictator weaponizes passports in new attack on exiled opposition

By Hanna Liubakova

Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka has banned the country’s embassies from issuing or renewing passports in a move that critics see as his latest escalation against Belarus’s exiled pro-democracy opposition, writes Hanna Liubakova.

Belarus
Civil Society

UkraineAlert

Sep 5, 2023

Removal of defense minister shows wartime Ukraine is changing

By Melinda Haring

The removal of Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in early September came following a series of minor but damaging corruption scandals and signaled a zero tolerance approach to graft in wartime Ukraine, writes Melinda Haring.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Sep 4, 2023

Jewish president picks Muslim defense minister: Ukraine’s diverse leadership debunks Russia’s “Nazi” slurs

By Peter Dickinson

Ukraine now has a Jewish president and a Muslim minister of defense, underlining the diversity of the country’s leadership while exposing the absurdity of Russia’s “Nazi Ukraine” propaganda, writes Peter Dickinson.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 31, 2023

Russia is losing in Ukraine but winning in Georgia

By Giorgi Kandelaki

If Putin is able to reassert Russian dominance over Georgia while continuing to occupy 20% of the country, he will be encouraged to believe that a similar outcome will eventually prove possible in Ukraine, writes Giorgi Kandelaki.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 31, 2023

Putin’s Russia must not be allowed to normalize nuclear blackmail

By Olivia Yanchik

Vladimir Putin has used nuclear threats to intimidate the West and reduce the flow of military aid to Ukraine. If this trend does not change, Russia will succeed in normalizing nuclear blackmail as a foreign policy tool, writes Olivia Yanchik.

Arms Control
Conflict

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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Nov 8, 2020

Why a Biden presidency is very good news for Ukraine

By Anders Åslund

After Joe Biden’s US presidential election victory was declared, President Zelenskyy was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate him. He was wise to do so. Ukraine has much to gain from a Biden presidency, as does Zelenskyy personally.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Nov 5, 2020

Ukraine caught between constitutional crisis and counter-revolution

By Mattia Nelles

Ukraine finds itself caught between a constitutional crisis and a counter-revolution after the country's Constitutional Court canceled key anti-corruption reforms passed following the 2014 Revolution of Dignity.

Corruption
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Nov 4, 2020

Why war-torn east Ukraine votes for pro-Russian parties

By Mykhaylo Shtekel

Pro-Russian parties did well in eastern Ukraine during local elections on October 25 as Kremlin-friendly politicians continued to dominate the region despite six years of undeclared war with Moscow.

Conflict
Elections

UkraineAlert

Nov 3, 2020

Ukrainian local election results reflect country’s decentralized democracy

By Michael Druckman

Ukraine's recent local elections were primarily a referendum on the quality of local governance in the country, and the result was a resounding vote of confidence in the existing municipal authorities.

Elections
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 2, 2020

Winners and losers of Ukraine’s local elections

By Brian Mefford

Incumbent mayors emerged as the big winners of Ukraine's recent local elections with voters preferring familiar faces to rival candidates representing the country's major national political parties.

Elections
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 1, 2020

Zelenskyy vows to thwart Kremlin counter-revolution

By Anders Åslund

A new ruling by Ukraine's Constitutional Court threatens to dismantle the entire anti-corruption framework established since 2014 and derail years of historic progress towards Euro-Atlantic integration.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Oct 29, 2020

Reform-minded Russian industrialists can help the US contain Vladimir Putin

By Stephen Blank

Independent and reform-minded Russian industrialists are potentially important allies for the United States and other Western powers as they seek to push back against Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adventurism.

Oil and Gas
Russia

UkraineAlert

Oct 29, 2020

Kremlin memory wars and the search for a unifying Ukrainian national identity

By Olesya Khromeychuk

Ukraine's post-Soviet quest for an inclusive national identity capable of uniting the country has had to contend with memory wars fueled by domestic political rivalries and renewed Russian imperial ambitions.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Oct 25, 2020

Ukrainian local elections: Zelenskyy fairytale is over

By Anders Åslund

Ukraine's October 25 local elections served as a vote of no confidence in President Zelenskyy's ruling Servant of the People party and reflected a deep sense of disillusionment with all national political parties.

Democratic Transitions
Elections

UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2020

Ukraine’s gas market reforms can fuel change across Eastern Europe

By Aura Sabadus

Ukraine’s post-2014 energy sector experience is both a success story and a role model. It is also proving increasingly persuasive in a neighborhood where energy sector reform is long overdue.

Eastern Europe
Energy Markets & Governance