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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.

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Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Nov 6, 2018

Russia Shows its Military Might in the Black Sea and Beyond

By Ruslan Minich

Since illegally annexing Crimea in 2014, Russia has drastically increased its military presence in the Black Sea region. The Kremlin’s dominance may be temporary given NATO’s greater capacities, but so far, NATO’s response has been limited. “Russia has practically covered all of the Black Sea region,” says Hryhorii Perepelytsia, the head of the Kyiv-based Foreign […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 6, 2018

Why Is the Sea of Azov So Important?

By Stephen Blank

Having illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, Moscow lost no time in seizing Ukrainian energy assets in and around the region. The Kremlin is now conducting another experiment in economic and military operations, but this one has profound implications beyond Ukraine. Before the seizure of Crimea, both Ukraine and Russia agreed to regard the Sea of […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 2, 2018

Making Sense of Russia’s New Draconian Sanctions on Ukraine

By Anders Åslund

On November 1, the Russian government imposed severe economic sanctions on 322 Ukrainian individuals and 68 Ukrainian companies. These are the most extensive sanctions imposed by any country in the tit-for-tat confrontation between Russia and Western countries over Ukraine. Curiously, these sanctions are explicitly only economic, declaring that any assets on the territory of the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 1, 2018

Russia Understands Ukraine’s Geopolitical Importance but Does the West?

By Peter Dickinson

As Ukraine prepares to mark five years since the start of the country’s Euromaidan protests, the repercussions continue to reverberate across the globe. What began as an ordinary protest movement soon morphed into a revolution that sparked a Russian invasion and ushered in a new Cold War. Without the Euromaidan, Russia and the West would […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 1, 2018

Ukrainian Populists Still Think They Can Be Pro-EU but Anti-IMF. They’re Wrong.

By Taras Kuzio

Ukrainian voters have long believed that in her drive for power, long-time politician Yulia Tymoshenko will do and say anything. This is not unusual for populists who routinely make promises that cannot be met and are flexible with the truth. That characteristic has been on display since Tymoshenko announced her intention to run for the […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2018

Georgia, Where Everything Old Is Maybe New Again?

By Luis Navarro

On October 28, Georgians went to the polls to elect their fifth president, possibly for the last time. Neither candidate, both former foreign ministers, won outright. An unprecedented run-off is slated for December 2.    The United National Movement (UNM) presidential candidate Grigol Vashadze achieved an unexpectedly strong showing (37.7 percent) against the ruling Georgian […]

Russia The Caucasus

UkraineAlert

Oct 30, 2018

10 Names Russia Hopes You’ll Never Know

By Vitalii Rybak

Since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Moscow and its proxies have put dozens of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar political prisoners behind bars. However, there are many other people in Russian prisons who have been incarcerated for their unwillingness to bow down to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime. The fabrication of these cases has been refined […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 30, 2018

Five ways to entice Ukrainians to come home

By Andy Hunder

Approximately five million Ukrainians, roughly 25 percent of the country’s economically active population, work abroad.

Macroeconomics Migration

UkraineAlert

Oct 29, 2018

How Ukraine’s Presidential Race Is Shaping Up

By Mykola Vorobiov

Ukraine’s presidential race is in full swing, even though the official campaign period has not yet begun. At this point, incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko may make the second round; no candidate is expected to take 50 percent in the first round. If elections were held now, Tymoshenko would take […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2018

Three More Reasons to Be Bullish on Ukraine

By Melinda Haring

Ukraine’s civil society is realizing an unfortunate fact: reforming the country is going to be more of a marathon than a sprint. Consequently, pro-reform advocates have had to adjust their expectations. Describing her hopes for the speed of change in Ukraine, Anticorruption Action Center executive director Daria Kaleniuk said that she and her colleagues now […]

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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UkraineAlert

Sep 6, 2020

Has Vladimir Putin poisoned his pet pipeline project?

By Diane Francis

Germany had long resisted US calls to abandon the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, but the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has now sparked a dramatic shift in German opinion.

Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Sep 3, 2020

Ukraine quietly launches a gas market revolution

By Oleksandr Kharchenko

A gas market revolution has just taken place in Ukraine. This significant development has occurred without much fanfare, but it comes following five long years of intense political battles.

Energy Markets & Governance Oil and Gas

UkraineAlert

Sep 1, 2020

Pro-Kremlin MPs and oligarchs wage lawfare on Ukraine’s reform agenda

By Tetiana Shevchuk

Ukraine’s Constitutional Court has declared the 2015 appointment of Artem Sytnyk as director of the country’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) unconstitutional, placing the country's reform agenda in doubt.

Corruption Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Aug 25, 2020

How Ukraine can go from brain drain to brain gain

By Anton Waschuk and Andriy Kamenetskyy

Highly skilled Ukrainians continue to leave the country in order to further their careers. Greater efforts are required to keep this key demographic in the country for the benefit of the wider Ukrainian economy.

Economy & Business Education

UkraineAlert

Aug 22, 2020

Top Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskiy faces growing international legal troubles

By Diane Francis

Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskiy is facing growing international legal troubles as a range of investigations into alleged corrupt practices at his former bank PrivatBank continue to gain momentum.

Corruption Financial Regulation

UkraineAlert

Aug 21, 2020

Navalny joins long list of poisoned Putin critics

By Peter Dickinson

Expert Opinion: What does the suspected poisoning of Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny tell us about the current political climate in Putin’s Russia?

Russia

BelarusAlert

Aug 20, 2020

Lukashenka is wrong to use Ukraine as a cautionary tale

By Paul Niland

Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka has warned that pro-democracy protests will turn Belarus into another Ukraine - but Ukaine's woes are due to Russian aggression not the country's 2014 revolution.

Belarus Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 20, 2020

Vladimir Putin’s forever war against Ukraine continues

By Taras Kuzio

While geopolitical attention focuses on Belarus, Putin’s hybrid war in neighboring Ukraine continues. It has already sparked the outbreak of a new Cold War, and there is currently no end in sight to the conflict.

Conflict Disinformation

BelarusAlert

Aug 17, 2020

Alarm bells in Ukraine as Lukashenka calls on Putin to rescue his crumbling regime

By Bohdan Nahaylo

Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka is on the verge of being swept out of office by a wave of pro-democracy protests. He has called on Putin to save his regime, sparking alarm in neighboring Ukraine.

Belarus Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 13, 2020

Front line communities and Ukraine’s local elections

By Andreas Umland

Ukraine plans to hold nationwide local elections in October 2020, but areas close to the front lines of the conflict with Russia in the east of the country will not participate. How can these regions be best managed?

Conflict Democratic Transitions