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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

Feb 18, 2020

How Kyiv views the 12 step plan

By ROK Movement Against Capitulation / (Рух Опору Капітуляції)

Russia must take political and material responsibility for the consequences for the crime it committed: aggression and the occupation of the Ukrainian territory.

Conflict
Crisis Management

UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2020

Unsolved Maidan massacre casts shadow over Ukraine

By Bohdan Nahaylo

As Ukraine marks the sixth anniversary of the Maidan massacre the country is still waiting for justice. Could something akin to the kind of truth and reconciliation commissions that have proven effective in other countries also work in Ukraine?

Democratic Transitions
Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2020

Russian escalation dampens hopes for peace in Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

Russian hybrid forces in eastern Ukraine launched a series of artillery bombardments and localized advances early on February 18. What does this latest escalation mean for the already faint hopes of an end to the six-year conflict?

Conflict
Russia

UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2020

Ukraine in a smartphone: Zelenskyy’s digital dream

By Anatoly Motkin

President Zelenskyy has called for a digital revolution to transform Ukraine into a “country in a smart phone” but is greater e-government the answer to Ukraine’s long struggle against corruption and dysfunction within state institutions?

Democratic Transitions
Internet

UkraineAlert

Feb 17, 2020

Why we welcome debate on Ukraine

By Eurasia Center

Ukraine can best advance its aspirations by ensuring all its citizens enjoy the right to express their views free from intimidation.

Political Reform
Rule of Law

UkraineAlert

Feb 14, 2020

Flawed peace plan for Ukraine doesn’t pass muster

By Eurasia Center

A distinguished international group of American, European, and Russian former government officials and think tank experts has taken advantage of the Munich Security Conference to issue a statement recommending twelve steps to bring greater security to Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic region. For years, the Kremlin has tried to change the conversation on Ukraine, and they may have found their opening in Munich. In response, twenty-nine former US diplomats, government officials, and experts point out their errors.

Conflict
Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2020

Nation-building Ukraine marks a year of Orthodox independence

By Peter Dickinson

Ukraine has recently marked one year of Orthodox independence. The country’s religious landscape has yet to change dramatically, but the significance for Ukraine’s nation-building journey cannot be overstated.

Civil Society
Russia

UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2020

Putin forever: Ukraine faces the prospect of endless imperial aggression

By Taras Kuzio

Vladimir Putin’s plans to change the Russian Constitution offer a strong indication that he intends to remain in charge of the country for the rest of his life. For Ukraine, this means coming to terms with the reality of endless imperial aggression.

Conflict
Russia

UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2020

World must not forget Putin’s Crimean crime

By Suleiman Mamut

When Vladimir Putin seized Crimea six years ago, he challenged the basic principles of international law. This should make Crimea a vital issue on the international agenda – but the occupied peninsula has long since disappeared from the headlines.

Conflict
Non-Traditional Threats

UkraineAlert

Feb 11, 2020

Bohdan out, Yermak in: What next for Ukraine?

By Peter Dickinson

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired his controversial chief of staff Andriy Bohdan and replaced him with key adviser Andriy Yermak. What will this mean for the future direction of the Zelenskyy presidency?

Politics & Diplomacy
Ukraine

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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

Jul 6, 2020

Czar Putin wants a new age of empires

By Nataliia Popovych and Danylo Lubkivsky

In both word and deed, Putin has made it clear that he rejects today’s rules-based international order and seeks to reverse the verdict of 1991. His vision for a new age of empires represents an existential challenge to the West.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Jul 2, 2020

Analysis: Ukraine’s central bank governor quits post citing “political pressure”

By Peter Dickinson

National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Governor Yakiv Smolii submitted his resignation on July 1 in what was widely seen as a major blow to Ukraine’s reform agenda. What does this mean for the country’s future direction?

Economy & Business
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2020

Ukraine’s central bank chief resigns leaving Zelenskyy’s reform credentials in tatters

By Anders Åslund

Ukraine’s reform agenda suffered a serious blow on July 1 when Yakiv Smolii, the highly respected governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), resigned due to what he called “systematic political pressure.”

Financial Regulation
Macroeconomics

UkraineAlert

Jun 30, 2020

Ukraine’s powerful Interior Minister Avakov under fire over police reform failures

By Liliane Bivings

Ukraine's post-2014 police reforms were initially hailed as a success but have since unraveled alarmingly. Many now blame powerful Interior Minister Arsen Avakov for blocking genuine law enforcement reform.

Political Reform
Rule of Law

UkraineAlert

Jun 29, 2020

How fake news helped hide Soviet genocide in Ukraine

By Georgiy Kent

Stalin’s man-made famine in 1930s Ukraine ranks as one of the worst crimes of the twentieth century but it remains relatively unknown. The new movie "Mr. Jones" seeks to counter decades of disinformation.

Disinformation
Media

UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2020

Russia is quietly occupying Ukraine’s information space

By Taras Kuzio

Viktor Medvedchuk is Ukraine's leading pro-Kremlin politician and a personal friend of Vladimir Putin. Medvedchuk's expanding media empire is sparking concerns over Russian influence in Ukraine's information space.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Jun 25, 2020

How Russia weaponizes the language issue in Ukraine

By Iryna Matviyishyn

Critics of Ukraine's 2019 Language Law claim that it goes too far in promoting the Ukrainian language at the expense of Russian. Others claim attempts to politicize language policy will only help Putin.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Jun 24, 2020

The US is defending Europe by blocking Putin’s pipeline

By Diane Francis

Berlin has slammed US plans to impose harsh new sanctions on Vladimir Putin's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, but critics see the project as a direct threat to European security and energy independence.

European Union
Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Jun 24, 2020

Ukraine needs EU rules to avoid global gas imbalances

By Aura Sabadus

More than 50 European companies may be barred from exporting gas to Ukraine during the peak storage season if the Ukrainian and Slovak gas transmission system operators fail to reach a solution for an alternative transport route during an unplanned pipeline outage this summer.

Central Europe
Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Jun 23, 2020

What John Bolton tells us about President Trump’s Ukraine policy

By Anders Åslund

Former White House national security advisor John Bolton's new book “The Room Where It Happened” is an extraordinary read that portrays President Trump as being deeply hostile towards Ukraine.

Politics & Diplomacy
Russia