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

Apr 26, 2019

What is wrong with the Ukrainian economy?

By Anders Åslund

Construction is booming in Kyiv, Ukraine, but not the rest of the economy. A major reason is that Ukrainians with some extra savings do not put their money into banks but buy additional apartments instead. Others keep their savings in cash. On average, Ukrainian MPs keep $700,000 at home. Those who have a lot of […]

Financial Regulation
Fiscal and Structural Reform

UkraineAlert

Apr 25, 2019

10 ways the west should engage with Ukraine after 2019 elections

By Chatham House

Five years after the annexation of Crimea and the instigation of conflict in the Donbas, the reasons for continued sanctions on Russia have not gone away. Crimea is still occupied. War grinds on in the Donbas. Ukraine held presidential elections this spring and will hold parliamentary elections in the fall. Whatever the results, events in […]

Defense Policy
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Apr 25, 2019

What Zelenskiy’s victory means for Ukraine

By David J. Kramer

The temptation in Kyiv and elsewhere is to look past Sunday’s overwhelming victory by upstart Volodymyr Zelenskiy over incumbent Petro Poroshenko and try to divine what it means for Ukraine. This piece will yield to that temptation—but after acknowledging the importance of what happened Sunday and throughout the election campaign. Free and fair elections in […]

Democratic Transitions
Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 24, 2019

How history will judge Poroshenko

By Alexander J. Motyl

The majority of Ukraine’s voters and pundits detest President Petro Poroshenko who lost his chance at a second term on April 21. However, history will prove them wrong and judge him as Ukraine’s most successful leader. Indeed, Poroshenko will go down in the annals as the man who consolidated Ukraine’s state, nation, democracy, and the […]

Democratic Transitions
Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 23, 2019

Why Poroshenko lost

By Dennis Soltys

On April 21, television star Volodymyr Zelenskiy crushed incumbent president Petro Poroshenko in the second round of Ukraine’s presidential election. Even though Zelenskiy has never held elected office, voters were so tired of corruption and economic stagnation that they were willing to take a risk. Zelenskiy ran an unusual campaign. He made few programmatic promises […]

Democratic Transitions
Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 23, 2019

Transition challenges for an outsider president

By Adrian Karatnycky

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, elected to Ukraine’s presidency Sunday in a landslide, may be one of the least prepared leaders to head a democracy in world history. Not only is he an outsider, whose main experience of politics has been to play a president in a satirical television program, he has done little to prepare for the job. […]

Democratic Transitions
Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 18, 2019

How the west helped put a comedian in reach of Ukraine’s presidency

By Mary Mycio

With polls putting Ukraine’s incumbent president Petro Poroshenko far behind TV actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy ahead of Sunday’s run-off election, it is worth considering how the West helped put this secretive comedian, backed by oligarchs, on the cusp of becoming commander-in-chief of a country at war with the Kremlin. A case in point occurred in February, […]

Conflict
Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 18, 2019

Don’t believe the hype. Presidential elections aren’t what matters in Ukraine

By Melinda Haring

There’s election fever in Kyiv, and with less than a week before Ukrainians go to the polls to likely elect an inexperienced comedian as their next president, the outcome is all but certain. Volodymyr Zelenskiy should easily defeat incumbent President Petro Poroshenko on April 21.      The far more interesting question is who will […]

Democratic Transitions
Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 17, 2019

What does it mean to be Ukrainian today?

By Bohdan Nahaylo

The day of judgement in the Ukrainian presidential election is almost upon us. This is not just a contest between two political contenders and their supporters, representing different backgrounds, styles, and constituencies, or even visions, but something more fundamental. It is a clash between the old and the new. Between traditional Ukraine, in the political […]

Defense Policy
Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 16, 2019

Three predictions for Ukraine’s presidential run-off

By Brian Mefford

Voters knew the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election on March 31 was a freebie, but they will make their vote count in the run-off on April 21. It was clear to the public that there would be no candidate who would receive 50 percent in round one, so Ukrainians were able to vote their […]

Elections
Ukraine

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 4, 2019

Why Andriy Bohdan is the wrong man for the time

By Yuri Polakiwsky

Despite his age, Bohdan has shown himself to be yesterday’s man. His personal profile is not indicative of the values that the public expects from its new generation of political leaders.

Democratic Transitions
Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Nov 1, 2019

Is Nord Stream 2 a done deal?

By Melinda Haring

The controversial natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany—Nord Stream 2—cleared its last obstacle this week.

Energy Markets & Governance
Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2019

Another one to watch

By Melinda Haring

Ukraine needs more people with rich experience like Leonid Antonenko's to dig into the data and speak out.

Civil Society
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2019

Mariupol forum puts eastern Ukraine on investors’ maps

By Andy Hunder

Zelenskyy and his team delivered a clear and concise message in Mariupol: they are committed to their people in eastern Ukraine.

Economy & Business
International Markets

UkraineAlert

Oct 30, 2019

What are Ukrainians willing to compromise for peace?

By Maria Zolkina

A strong demand for peace and the direct impact of the conflict do not make those who live in the government-controlled areas of the Donbas sympathetic to the most painful compromises.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Oct 29, 2019

This should be Zelenskyy’s next big push

By Sergii Bondarchuk

Ukraine now has a chance to take the radical steps needed to re-build the SBU and establish a genuine security service under firm democratic control.

Corruption
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Oct 28, 2019

Assessing Zelenskyy’s first six months

By Oleksiy Goncharenko

In general, it seems that Zelenskyy believes all complex issues have simple solutions.

Democratic Transitions
Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2019

Ukraine’s new parliament is moving fast but is it getting anywhere?

By Melinda Haring

Ukraine’s new parliament has been in session for more than fifty days and it’s been operating at a frantic pace, so we’ve culled together a list of the best and worst based on conversations with MPs, judges, attorneys, economists, and other experts.

Civil Society
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2019

Is Ukraine’s new judicial reform a step forward?

By Olena Halushka and Halyna Chyzhyk

Ukraine’s new judicial reform is not ideal but urgent and long-awaited.

Civil Society
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Oct 22, 2019

The real cost of Russian gas

By Evgeniia Chirikova

As a result of the Nord Stream 2 project, Europeans will get more climate-friendly gas and Russians will choke on coal dust.

Geopolitics & Energy Security
Oil and Gas