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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

Aug 23, 2023

Ukraine’s fight against Russian imperialism is Europe’s longest independence struggle

By Peter Dickinson

The war unleashed by Vladimir Putin eighteen months ago is best understood as the latest chapter in a dark saga of Russian imperial aggression against Ukraine that stretches back centuries, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

Fast Thinking

Aug 23, 2023

What Prigozhin’s plane crash tells us about Putin’s Russia

By Atlantic Council

Atlantic Council experts share their insights on the apparent death of Wagner Group founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin.

Conflict
Europe & Eurasia

UkraineAlert

Aug 22, 2023

Putin weaponizes history with new textbook justifying Ukraine invasion

By Taras Kuzio

A new Kremlin-approved history textbook for Russian schoolchildren offers an unapologetically imperialistic view of Russia’s past while attempting to justify the current invasion of Ukraine, writes Taras Kuzio.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Aug 22, 2023

Belarus dictator Lukashenka must face justice for role in Russia’s Ukraine war

By Katie LaRoque

It is time for a serious conversation on how to hold Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka accountable for his participation in Russia’s brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, writes Katie LaRoque.

Belarus
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2023

Ukraine’s state authorities must follow private sector in unlearning old habits

By Roman Waschuk

To achieve individual, business, and national goals of renewal, Ukrainians need their government to be just as nimble and adaptive as the country’s private sector, writes Ukraine’s Business Ombudsman Roman Waschuk.

Conflict
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2023

Ukraine’s vibrant tech ecosystem is a secret weapon in the war with Russia

By Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s secret weapon in the war against Russia is a vibrant and sophisticated tech ecosystem including around 300,000 IT professionals and hundreds of defense tech startups, writes Mykhailo Fedorov.

Cybersecurity
Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2023

Putin must not be allowed to turn the Black Sea into a Russian lake

By Melinda Haring

Western countries must take urgent action to prevent Vladimir Putin from turning the Black Sea into a Russian lake, warns Melinda Haring.

Conflict
European Union

UkraineAlert

Aug 15, 2023

Ukraine strikes back against Russia as world’s first drone war escalates

By Marcel Plichta

Recent drone attacks in Moscow and on Russian shipping in the Black Sea are an indication that Ukraine is becoming increasingly bold as it seeks to strike back in what is the world’s first ever drone war, writes Marcel Plichta.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Aug 12, 2023

Winter is coming: Is Ukraine’s power grid ready for new Russian attacks?

By Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Last winter, Russia launched a six-month bombing campaign to methodically destroy Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure. With a new winter heating season now fast approaching, is Ukraine prepared for a repeat?

Conflict
Energy Transitions

UkraineAlert

Aug 11, 2023

Why Putin’s Russia cannot accept its borders

By Glenn Chafetz, John Sipher

Vladimir Putin’s attempts to justify the invasion of Ukraine as a just war to reunite historically Russian lands reflect the expansionist ideology at the heart of modern Russia’s imperial identity, write Glenn Chafetz and John Sipher.

Conflict
Disinformation

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

Oct 20, 2020

Battle for borshch: Ukraine lays claim to soup dish amid identity war with Russia

By Mark Raczkiewycz

Popular soup dish borshch has recently emerged as the latest battleground in Ukraine’s struggle to assert an independent national identity and shake off centuries of Russian imperial domination.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Oct 20, 2020

Time for Europe to rethink the Trans-Balkan pipeline

By Sergey Makagon

A strategic asset with a transit capacity of 27 bcm per year, the Trans-Balkan gas corridor can and should be a guarantee of energy security for Southeastern Europe. It is time for the EU to rethink its approach.

European Union
Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2020

NBU Governor: Ukraine’s robust banking sector is poised for privatizations

By Kyrylo Shevchenko

The Ukrainian banking sector has passed the coronavirus test and proven that it has never been in more robust shape. This bodes well for a series of planned privatizations of state-owned banks.

Coronavirus
Economy & Business

UkraineAlert

Oct 14, 2020

Political pressure threatens Ukraine’s gas sector reforms

By Aura Sabadus

The early October resignation of American citizen Amos Hochstein from the Naftogaz supervisory board is sparking alarm over the future direction of the state-owned Ukrainian energy sector giant.

Energy Markets & Governance
Energy Transitions

UkraineAlert

Oct 13, 2020

Ukraine’s pro-Russian forces plotting winter of discontent

By Bohdan Nahaylo

With President Zelenskyy's party set to do badly in Ukraine's October 25 local elections, the country's oligarchic and pro-Russian forces are hoping to regain the political momentum with a winter of discontent.

Democratic Transitions
Elections

UkraineAlert

Oct 13, 2020

Britain and Ukraine unveil new strategic partnership

By Bate C Toms

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent state visit to the UK was the most consequential foreign relations act of his presidency to date and saw the unveiling of a new strategic partnership.

Cybersecurity
Maritime Security

UkraineAlert

Oct 13, 2020

Putin’s pipeline is a strategic weapon. It must be stopped

By Members of the Ukrainian parliament

As the struggle over the Kremlin's Nord Stream 2 pipeline continues, a group of Ukrainian MPs has issued a joint letter highlighting the international security threat posed by the strategic energy project.

European Union
Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2020

UK and Ukraine sign historic post-Brexit free trade deal

By Vasyl Myroshnychenko

The jury is still out on the economic impact of Brexit, but Ukraine emerged in early October as an unlikely early beneficiary of Britain’s EU exit by signing a landmark partnership agreement including free trade.

Economy & Business
Trade and tariffs

UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2020

Russo-Ukrainian War: Time for Zelenskyy to turn from populism to pragmatism

By Taras Kuzio

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy won election last year with populist promises of peace with Russia, but the realities of ongoing Kremlin aggression mean a more pragmatic approach is now necessary.

Conflict
Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

UkraineAlert

Oct 8, 2020

Ukraine’s reforms in doubt as political climate changes

By Anders Åslund

A recent reprimand and public expression of no confidence in two key reformers at the National Bank of Ukraine highlights the changing political climate in the country as post-2014 reforms face reversal.

Democratic Transitions
Political Reform