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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

Jan 23, 2025

European Parliament and United States condemn ‘sham’ Belarus vote

By Mercedes Sapuppo

The European Parliament has condemned this weekend’s presidential election in Belarus as a “sham” designed to keep the country’s long-serving dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka in power, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Belarus Conflict

UkraineAlert

Jan 21, 2025

Ukrainian parliament prepares to vote on Bulgarian nuclear reactor purchase

By Stephen Blank

Ukraine is poised to purchase a pair of Soviet-era nuclear reactors from Bulgaria in a deal that highlights the country’s struggle for greater energy security amid Russia’s ongoing bombardment of civilian infrastructure, writes Stephen Blank.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Jan 21, 2025

Donald Trump’s promise of strong US leadership should begin with Ukraine

By Arseniy Yatsenyuk

By resolutely backing Ukraine, President Trump can prevent the slide toward World War III and reestablish US leadership in a world threatened by Putin’s Axis of Autocrats, writes former Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2025

Ukraine’s escalating air attacks bring Putin’s invasion home to Russia

By Maria Avdeeva

Ukraine has begun 2025 with a series of increasingly ambitious long-range air attacks against strategic military and industrial targets that are succeeding in bringing Putin’s invasion home to Russia, writes Maria Avdeeva.

Conflict Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Jan 15, 2025

Europe has a window of opportunity to shape Ukraine peace efforts

By Doug Klain

With the incoming Trump administration still formulating its approach to ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine, European leaders now have an historic window of opportunity to shape the future of European security, writes Doug Klain.

Conflict Economic Sanctions

UkraineAlert

Jan 15, 2025

Appeasement will only fuel Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions in Ukraine

By Anastasiia Marushevska

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is an old-fashioned colonial war rooted in centuries of Russian imperial history that cannot be ended by limited territorial concessions or other attempts at appeasement, writes Anastasiia Marushevska.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Jan 14, 2025

No peace without security: Ukraine needs guarantees against new Russian invasion

By Peter Dickinson

Ukraine is ready to make territorial concessions but insists that any peace deal must include credible long-term security guarantees to prevent a new Russian invasion, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Jan 9, 2025

Abandoning Ukraine would plunge the entire world into an era of instability

By Victor Liakh

If Western leaders choose to sacrifice Ukraine in a misguided bid to placate Putin, the shift from a rules-based international order to the law of the geopolitical jungle will be complete, writes Victor Liakh.

Conflict Freedom and Prosperity

UkraineAlert

Jan 9, 2025

Ukraine hopes robot army can counter Russia’s battlefield advantages

By David Kirichenko

As Ukrainian commanders prepare for a fourth year of Europe’s largest war since World War II, they are hoping their country’s growing arsenal of robotic systems can help counter Russia’s often overwhelming advantages in both manpower and firepower, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Jan 7, 2025

Putin begins 2025 confident of victory as war of attrition takes toll on Ukraine

By Mykola Bielieskov

Donald Trump has vowed to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but Vladimir Putin begins 2025 more confident of victory than ever and with little interest in a negotiated peace deal, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict Defense Policy

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UkraineAlert

Jun 17, 2019

Why are donors afraid of the prosecutor’s office?

By Yuri Polakiwsky

It’s no secret that the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine has failed to be transformed in the post-Maidan period. But who is to blame? A high-level diplomat representing a G-7 country recently lamented that Ukraine’s major western partners deserve a large share of the blame for not providing direct assistance to the office. “You don’t […]

Corruption Elections

UkraineAlert

Jun 13, 2019

One Ukraine? Think again.

By Roman Solchanyk

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent landslide victory in Ukraine’s presidential election over incumbent Petro Poroshenko has spawned intense speculation. The most intriguing is the assertion that we are witnessing the long-awaited emergence of a “new” Ukraine that is no longer divided along overlapping regional, ethnic, and linguistic fault lines because Zelenskyy won in all of the country’s […]

Elections Nationalism

UkraineAlert

Jun 9, 2019

Zelensky, Zelenskiy, Zelenskyy: spelling confusion doesn’t help Ukraine  

By Peter Dickinson

It would be unfair to expect Ukraine’s novice president to take over the reins of Europe’s largest country seamlessly. However, knowing how to spell his own name in English would seem a more realistic expectation. This did not appear to be the case during the first days of his administration, or at least that was […]

Disinformation Media

UkraineAlert

Jun 4, 2019

How Kolomoisky does business in the United States

By Anders Åslund

The PrivatBank case shows that dirty money is not necessarily concentrated in the big cities and in real estate but can penetrate the real economy.

Corruption Financial Regulation

UkraineAlert

Jun 4, 2019

Seven dangers of engaging with the occupied Donbas—and opportunities for the new Ukrainian president

By Petro Burkovskyi

Ukraine’s new president says he wants to end the Russian-backed war in the country’s east. However, it won’t be easy. There are at least seven dangers of engaging with the occupied territories of the Donbas. The first danger is that a class of highly educated and trained leaders is completely absent. All key positions, whether […]

Conflict Corruption

UkraineAlert

Jun 4, 2019

Cheap gas is too costly

By Oleh Havrylyshyn

On May 20, Volodymyr Zelenskiy was inaugurated Ukraine’s seventh president. In his inaugural address, he demonstrated a resoluteness that should put an end to the annoying journalistic cliché of a “comedian-president.” Taking such firm actions as dissolving parliament and requesting the resignations of key officials within minutes of taking office in front of the very […]

Central Europe Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Jun 4, 2019

Zelenskyy’s golden opportunity to challenge the oligarchs and bring real news to Ukraine’s airwaves

By Janek Lasocki

Over the past five years, the foundations have been laid for a quality public service broadcaster. If successful, it could make a profound difference to public debate in Ukraine.

Democratic Transitions Elections

UkraineAlert

Jun 3, 2019

The right man for the right time  

By Andy Hunder

“God probably has a great sense of humor,” reckons Borys Gudziak, president of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv. The US-born archbishop transformed what was designed to be the Soviet communist party’s atheist ideology center in western Ukraine into a thriving catholic university. The irony of this transformation is not lost on him. Only […]

Civil Society Nationalism

UkraineAlert

May 31, 2019

What Ukraine’s new president cannot afford to overlook

By Bohdan Nahaylo

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s resounding victory in April underscored Ukrainians’ desire for change. Proclaiming his commitment to overhauling the entire system, the new president has announced five short-term priorities: change the electoral law, restore criminal liability for unlawful enrichment, and remove the parliamentary immunity of deputies, as well as reform the legal system and eradicate corruption. […]

Conflict Human Rights

UkraineAlert

May 30, 2019

A tale of two bridges

By Andrii Osadchuk

On May 25, Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko and his brother jumped up and down on a smart, new glass bridge in Kyiv, Ukraine. The video went viral and thousands crowded the pedestrian bridge that connects Volodymyr Hill with Khreschatyk Park. Destined to become one of the most popular attractions in the city as a result […]

Corruption Political Reform