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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

Mar 27, 2025

Sanctions will remain an essential tool to deter future Russian aggression  

By Ilona Khmeleva 

Ukraine needs security guarantees to prevent a renewal of Russia’s invasion following any peace deal, but the threat of severe sanctions can also help deter the Kremlin from further military aggression, writes Ilona Khmeleva.

Conflict Economic Sanctions

UkraineAlert

Mar 26, 2025

If Trump wants peace in Ukraine, he must increase the pressure on Putin

By Doug Klain

Weeks after Ukraine backed a US proposal for an unconditional ceasefire, Russia continues to stall and push for further concessions. If Trump wants to secure peace, he must increase the pressure on Putin, writes Doug Klain.

Conflict Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Mar 25, 2025

Ukraine’s growing military strength is an underrated factor in peace talks

By Serhii Kuzan

Any discussion on the future course of the war against Russia and the terms of any peace deal must take into account the fact that Ukraine is a now major military power in its own right, writes Serhii Kuzan.

Conflict Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Mar 20, 2025

Putin is ruthlessly erasing Ukrainian identity in Russian-occupied Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin is pursuing policies in Russian-occupied Ukraine that almost certainly meet the definition of ethnic cleansing and may qualify as genocide, writes Peter Dickinson.

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

Mar 20, 2025

Silencing Voice of America will only strengthen autocrats around the world

By Mercedes Sapuppo

United States President Donald Trump’s decision to shut down US-funded media outlets including Voice of America will boost authoritarian regimes around the world, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Democratic Transitions Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Mar 20, 2025

Trump’s energy sector ceasefire could be good news for Putin’s war machine

By David Kirichenko 

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has backed US President Donald Trump’s proposal for a partial ceasefire on energy sector attacks, but this may be a strategic step rather than an indication of his readiness to end the invasion of Ukraine, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict Drones

UkraineAlert

Mar 18, 2025

Putin backs Trump’s partial ceasefire but insists Ukraine must be disarmed

By Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin has backed Donald Trump’s call for a partial ceasefire but his insistence on disarming Ukraine reveals his continued determination to complete the conquest of the country, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Mar 18, 2025

Britain takes the lead as Europe seeks to boost support for Ukraine

By Alina Hrytsenko

With the future of US support for Ukraine in doubt, Britain is leading European efforts to bolster the Ukrainian war effort and deny Putin an historic victory that would place the whole of Europe in peril, writes Alina Hrytsenko.

Conflict Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Mar 13, 2025

Ukraine’s innovative defense tech sector is the country’s trump card

By David Kirichenko

From the Black Sea to deep inside Russia, Ukraine’s innovative and rapidly expanding defense tech sector is proving to be the country’s secret weapon as it fights for survival against one of the world’s strongest military superpowers, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Mar 13, 2025

Vladimir Putin does not want peace. He wants to subjugate Ukraine.

By Mykola Bielieskov

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s evasive response to US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire proposal underlines his commitment to continue with an invasion that aims to extinguish Ukraine as a state and nation, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict Disinformation

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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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

May 14, 2019

Ukraine’s most urgent need

By Peter Dickinson

Ukrainians have considerable experience of the hope that comes with new beginnings and the disillusionment that often follows. The country has lived through repeated false dawns over the past three decades, only for the same old bad habits to come creeping out of the shadows and reassert their debilitating grip on the nation. The arrival […]

Democratic Transitions Elections

UkraineAlert

May 14, 2019

Even if Ukraine’s reformers unify, so what?

By Melinda Haring

Five years after the Euromaidan street protests, Ukrainians are still waiting for transformative leaders and justice. On May 20, political newcomer Volodymyr Zelenskiy will be sworn in as president. But that won’t necessarily result in a significant change for the country: Ukraine’s next president is inexperienced and his links to oligarchs are troubling. Its parliament, […]

Civil Society Elections

UkraineAlert

May 13, 2019

Will Ukraine become a giant Moldova?

By James Brooke

Without a red-tape slashing revolution, Ukraine will become a big Moldova—a bedroom country for migrant workers building the dynamic economies of eastern Europe.

Future of Work International Markets

UkraineAlert

May 8, 2019

Zelenskyy’s first big test

By Basil Kalymon

A key issue has emerged in the post-election drama in Ukraine. In a disturbing interview given by Andrij Bohdan, lawyer, confidant, and political advisor to President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he reveals that he continues to act as a lawyer for oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskiy with regard to the nationalization of PrivatBank. This assertion, if accepted by the […]

Corruption Financial Regulation

UkraineAlert

May 8, 2019

Reality check

By Bohdan Nahaylo

Ukraine’s presidential election was a veritable political earthquake. The fault line between the old and the new, the real and the illusory, and pseudo-nationalism and grassroots patriotism, has been dramatically exposed. The old political establishment was shaken to its very foundations, and the strong tremors and shockwaves continue to be felt. The shifting political tectonic […]

Elections Nationalism

UkraineAlert

May 6, 2019

Why we can’t get enough of Ukraine

By Francis Fukuyama

The impact one can have on building institutions like the modern state, the rule of law, and democracy is limited. The area where it’s easiest is the third category, building democracy. The first two, building the modern state and building a real rule of law, are much harder, and those are the areas that have been […]

Corruption Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

May 6, 2019

The illusions of Putin’s Russia

By Anders Åslund

The best defense of the West against Putin’s authoritarian and kleptocratic regime is transparency, shining light on this anonymous wealth.

Corruption Financial Regulation

UkraineAlert

May 3, 2019

Children as a tool: how Russia militarizes kids in the Donbas and Crimea

By Iryna Matviyishyn

With an eye to the future, officials in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine are waging a campaign of “patriotic education” aimed at reaching the hearts and minds of those most susceptible to ideological persuasion: children. Russia has always used the militarization of public life to indoctrinate local populations and continues that practice today. Currently, thousands […]

Conflict Human Rights

UkraineAlert

May 2, 2019

Time for Ukraine to compete with Russia

By Grigory Frolov

Showman Volodymyr Zelenskiy will soon be sworn in as president of Ukraine. Last month he crushed incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in a remarkable landslide. Zelenskiy’s victory was noteworthy in Ukraine, but it’s also making headlines across the former Soviet Union. While Zelenskiy is inexperienced and his policies aren’t well defined, he knows how to engage […]

European Union Inclusive Growth

UkraineAlert

May 2, 2019

Ukraine’s new language law rights historic wrongs

By Andrej Lushnycky

For centuries the Ukrainian language was relegated to the status of a “peasant language” by the foreign rulers of the lands that make up the country today and by foreign scholars in Europe and abroad who perpetuated this Russian imperial falsehood. More recently, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited a Soviet political […]

Civil Society Nationalism