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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

Explainer: Five things about the Ukraine controversy you need to know (plus a freebie)

UkraineAlert Sep 30, 2025

Putin’s dream of demilitarizing Ukraine has turned into his worst nightmare

By Peter Dickinson

Putin had hoped to demilitarize and decapitate the Ukrainian state, but his self-defeating invasion has inadvertently created the militarily powerful and fiercely independent Ukraine he feared most of all, writes Peter Dickinson.
Conflict Defense Technologies
Explainer: Five things about the Ukraine controversy you need to know (plus a freebie)

UkraineAlert Oct 2, 2025

Drone superpower Ukraine is teaching NATO how to defend against Russia

By David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s unrivaled experience of drone warfare makes it a key partner for NATO and an indispensable ally in the defense of Europe as the continent faces up to the mounting threat posed by an expansionist Russia, writes David Kirichenko.
Conflict Defense Technologies
Explainer: Five things about the Ukraine controversy you need to know (plus a freebie)

UkraineAlert Oct 14, 2025

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are a European problem

By Aura Sabadus

Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure are no longer just a Ukrainian problem. Moscow’s bombing campaign will become a wider European issue unless more support is offered to Kyiv, writes Aura Sabadus.
Conflict Drones

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Sep 9, 2025

What is the Coalition of the Willing actually willing to do in Ukraine?

By Mykola Bielieskov

European troops in Ukraine could serve as a meaningful element within a broader deterrence package, but Coalition of the Willing leaders should focus on making the Ukrainian military strong enough to deter the Kremlin, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict
European Union

UkraineAlert

Sep 4, 2025

Ukrainian bombing campaign turns Russia’s sheer size into a weakness

By David Kirichenko 

For centuries, Russia’s sheer size has been its greatest asset. Ukraine now intends to transform this vastness into a weakness with a long-range bombing campaign targeting Putin’s economically vital but vulnerable energy industry, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Drones

UkraineAlert

Sep 3, 2025

Europe’s best security guarantee against Russia is the Ukrainian army

By Elena Davlikanova, Yevhen Malik

With Europe militarily unprepared and deeply reluctant to confront the Kremlin, a strong Ukraine currently looks to be by far the most realistic deterrent against further Russian aggression, write Elena Davlikanova and Yevhenii Malik.

Conflict
Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Sep 2, 2025

Putin’s failed summer offensive shatters the myth of inevitable Russian victory

By Peter Dickinson

The failure of Putin’s summer offensive should help to debunk the persistent myth of inevitable Russian victory and persuade Western leaders to increase their support for the Ukrainian war effort, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Sep 2, 2025

Hungary has alternative energy options but chooses to rely on Russia

By Aura Sabadus

Ukraine’s recent strikes on the Kremlin’s Druzhba oil pipeline are not only an attack on Russia’s war economy. They are also a wake-up call for Hungarians highlighting the role being played by their country in the funding of Russia’s invasion, writes Aura Sabadus.

Conflict
Economic Sanctions

UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2025

Putin wants to capture Ukraine’s crucial fortress belt without a fight

By Mykola Bielieskov

As US-led efforts to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine struggle to gain momentum, Vladimir Putin’s latest territorial demands include the surrender of strategically vital and heavily fortified Ukrainian land in the east of the country, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2025

Russia attacks Zelenskyy’s legitimacy to derail US-led Ukraine peace talks

By Serhii Savelii

Moscow’s efforts to portray Zelenskyy as illegitimate fall apart when weighed against Ukraine’s Constitution and the country’s political practice, along with international precedents and legal tradition, writes Serhii Savelii.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Aug 25, 2025

Putin’s hybrid war against Europe continues to escalate

By Maksym Beznosiuk

While international attention focuses on faltering US-led efforts to broker a peace deal and end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s broader hybrid war against Europe continues to escalate, writes Maksym Beznosiuk.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Aug 21, 2025

Putin is facing a fuel crisis as Ukraine escalates attacks on Russian refineries

By David Kirichenko

Historically, Russia’s sheer size has always been considered one of its main strengths. By launching waves of airstrikes across the country, Ukraine now intends to exploit this vastness and transform it into Russia’s greatest weakness, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Aug 21, 2025

Sorry, Trump, but Putin will not pursue peace until he is facing military defeat

By Elena Davlikanova, Yevhen Malik

Following the recent Alaska and White House summits, it should now be abundantly clear that Russia will continue to reject Trump’s peace overtures until Putin faces significantly more pressure to end the war, write Elena Davlikanova and Yevhen Malik.

Conflict
European Union
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spotlight

Resilience in the face of adversity

Ukraine’s transformation

Ukraine has moved tentatively toward an open society and market economy since independence. The country has held several democratic elections and made halting progress in addressing corruption and state control in its economy. Since the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Ukraine has undertaken significant governance and economic reform and moved decisively toward a Europe-Atlantic foreign policy. Since 2022, Ukraine has resiliently continued to advance some reforms despite fighting for its very existence against the full-scale Russian invasion.

Learn more about Ukraine
Explainer: Five things about the Ukraine controversy you need to know (plus a freebie)

UkraineAlert Dec 5, 2024

Ukraine’s entrepreneurial class can drive the country’s economic recovery

The Ukrainian SME sector has demonstrated remarkable wartime resilience and is poised to be at the forefront of efforts to create a modern, innovative, postwar economy, writes Anton Waschuk.

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Explainer: Five things about the Ukraine controversy you need to know (plus a freebie)

UkraineAlert Oct 1, 2024

Ukraine needs international investors to maintain defense tech momentum

By Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s rapidly expanding defense tech sector can play a game-changing role in the war against Russia but Ukrainian companies need international investment, writes Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.
Artificial Intelligence Conflict
Explainer: Five things about the Ukraine controversy you need to know (plus a freebie)

UkraineAlert Jun 13, 2024

Ukraine officially embraces English as historic westward pivot continues

By Oleksiy Goncharenko

By officially embracing English, Ukrainians aim to support their country’s historic pivot away from Moscow and return to the European community of nations, writes Oleksiy Goncharenko.
Civil Society Conflict

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

Sep 26, 2019

Explainer: Five things about the Ukraine controversy you need to know (plus a freebie)

By Melinda Haring

Many of the names in the Ukraine controversy are new to general readers, so we attempt to answer a few basic questions. If you have others, please drop us a line on Twitter.

Democratic Transitions
Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2019

Gontareva: “Too many have sacrificed and died to let oligarchs run the country again.”

By Diane Francis

Support for the National Bank of Ukraine and Gontareva from the West has been overwhelming, but if Zelenskyy cannot take on Kolomoisky, then his landmark election and reform agenda will be added to the trash heap of failed Ukrainian presidents and support for the country will erode.

Civil Society
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Sep 24, 2019

What’s at stake with the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting

By Paul Grod

Ukraine is at risk of coming to the negotiation table with a weak hand, unless the United States throws its full support behind it and encourages Europe to do the same.

Conflict
Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Sep 24, 2019

Culture wars, Odesa style

By Konstantin Akinsha

Roytburd’s case is important for many reasons, but first, it unites politicians from different camps. He is supported by both top Poroshenko and Zelenskyy people.

Civil Society
Human Rights

UkraineAlert

Sep 23, 2019

The Kremlin is betting we will forget these names

By Vitalii Rybak

The release of prisoners was a big win, but activists worry that those who remain behind will be forgotten.

Conflict
Crisis Management

UkraineAlert

Sep 23, 2019

Ukraine’s place in the geopolitical puzzle is shifting. That was the point.

By Maksym Panchenko

We don’t know what Zelenskyy gave up to get the prisoners back, but it probably wasn’t small. Ukrainian detainees have been one of Putin’s major pressure points on Ukraine for five plus years.

Conflict
Crisis Management

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2019

How to lose friends and allies

By Diane Francis

If Kolomoisky is not renounced and investigated, the world will turn its back on Ukraine. But the Russians and oligarchs won’t.

Corruption
Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Sep 18, 2019

The promise and peril of Ukraine’s borders

By Ruslan Minich

Many Ukrainians work abroad, and Ukraine’s western regions feel the labor shortage most acutely.

Economy & Business
Migration

UkraineAlert

Sep 18, 2019

What holds Ukraine back

By Yuri Polakiwsky

It’s time for prison terms and the assertion of the rule of law. It also is time to draw the proverbial line in the sand, that the corrupt oligarchical practices in the economy, in politics, and in greater Ukrainian society will no longer be tolerated.

Corruption
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Sep 18, 2019

More haste, less speed?

By Bohdan Nahaylo

The focus needs to be broadened to include the entire range of oligarchs and not simply keep the spotlight on Kolomoisky.

Democratic Transitions
Political Reform
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