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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

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

UkraineAlert Jul 1, 2025

Putin’s escalating air offensive is overwhelming Ukraine’s defenses

By Mykola Bielieskov

Russian aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities are expanding rapidly and killing growing numbers of civilians. Kyiv must urgently find technological solutions to defend against Putin’s escalating air offensive, writes Mykola Bielieskov.
Conflict Defense Industry
How the west helped put a comedian in reach of Ukraine’s presidency

UkraineAlert Jun 23, 2025

‘All of Ukraine is ours’: Putin’s Russian imperialism is now on full display

By Peter Dickinson

Putin declared last week that “all of Ukraine is ours.” The Kremlin dictator’s revealing comments highlight the resurgent Russian imperialism driving Europe’s largest invasion since WWII, writes Peter Dickinson.
Conflict Disinformation
How the west helped put a comedian in reach of Ukraine’s presidency

UkraineAlert Jun 12, 2025

Putin’s peace plan is a blueprint for the end of Ukrainian statehood

By Tetiana Kotelnykova

Russia’s peace plan sends a clear signal that Moscow wants to erase Ukraine as a state and as a nation. If Western leaders wish to avoid this catastrophic outcome, they must convince Putin that the alternative to a negotiated peace is a Russian defeat, writes Tetiana Kotelnykova.
Conflict Freedom and Prosperity

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Jun 10, 2025

Ukrainian innovations are redefining the role of drones in modern war

By Vitaliy Nabukhotny

Ukraine’s audacious drone strikes on Putin’s bomber fleet at airbases across Russia have been hailed as a watershed moment in military history, leading to claims that Ukraine is “redefining modern warfare,” writes Vitaliy Nabukhotny.

Conflict Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Jun 5, 2025

Russian hybrid warfare: Ukraine’s success offers lessons for Europe

By Maksym Beznosiuk

As the Kremlin continues to escalate its hybrid war against Europe, Ukraine’s unique experience since 2014 of combating Russian hybrid warfare offers important lessons, writes Maksym Beznosiuk.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Jun 5, 2025

Trump’s Russia policy must be rooted in realism

By Agnia Grigas

The Trump administration favors a realist approach to international relations, but a pragmatic assessment of Russia’s capabilities and objectives is needed to achieve the stated goal of bringing the war in Ukraine to an end, writes Agnia Grigas.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Jun 3, 2025

Putin’s punitive peace terms are a call for Ukraine’s complete capitulation

By Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin’s punitive peace terms for Ukraine would leave the country at the mercy of the Kremlin and confirm his unwavering determination to erase Ukrainian statehood, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Jun 3, 2025

After Ukraine’s innovative airbase attacks, nowhere in Russia is safe

By David Kirichenko

Ukraine carried out one of the most audacious operations in modern military history on June 1, using swarms of smuggled drones to strike four Russian airbases simultaneously and destroy a significant portion of Putin’s bomber fleet, writes David Kirichenko.

Artificial Intelligence Conflict

UkraineAlert

May 29, 2025

UN probe: Russia’s ‘human safari’ in Ukraine is a crime against humanity

By Peter Dickinson

UN investigators have concluded that a coordinated Russian campaign of deadly drone strikes targeting civilians in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region is a crime against humanity, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Drones

UkraineAlert

May 29, 2025

Judicial reform must be at the heart of Ukraine’s postwar recovery

By Oleksandr Vasiuk

Amid the horror and the trauma of Russia’s ongoing invasion, Ukrainians now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to achieve transformational change in the country’s justice system. We must not miss this chance, writes Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Vasiuk.

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

May 29, 2025

Fiber optic drones could play decisive role in Russia’s summer offensive

By David Kirichenko

Russia’s emphasis on fiber optic drones is giving it a battlefield edge over Ukraine and may help Putin achieve a long hoped for breakthrough in his coming summer offensive, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

May 27, 2025

Russia is extinguishing all traces of Ukrainian identity in occupied Ukraine

By Kateryna Odarchenko

Throughout occupied Ukraine, the Russian authorities are seeking to consolidate their control by eradicating all traces of Ukrainian statehood and national identity while imposing a reign of terror on the civilian population, writes Kateryna Odarchenko.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

May 27, 2025

Russia’s summer offensive could spark a new humanitarian crisis in Ukraine

By Viktor Liakh, Melinda Haring

As the Russian army gears up for a major summer offensive, Ukraine could soon be facing its most serious humanitarian crisis since the initial phase of the full-scale invasion more than three years ago, write Viktor Liakh and Melinda Haring.

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

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

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

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

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

UkraineAlert

Apr 16, 2019

Is Zelenskiy really the Kremlin’s best hope in Ukraine?

By Peter Dickinson

In the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election, the leading pro-Russian candidate secured 11 percent of the vote. Compare this to 2010 when pro-Kremlin candidate Viktor Yanukovych received 49 percent. This dramatic decline reflects the scale of the damage done to Russian interests in Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s ongoing war. Russian aggression has alienated millions […]

Conflict Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 9, 2019

Will the elections give the Ukrainian economy the kick It needs?

By Anders Åslund

Between the two rounds of the presidential election, a strange calm has grasped Kyiv. The election billboards are gone, and so are the many local protests. The only drama takes place on the Internet, where the two remaining candidates duel with videos. This is a propitious moment to take the temperature of the Ukrainian economy. […]

Democratic Transitions Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 8, 2019

Ukrainians are world champions at coping with crisis

By Peter Dickinson

The ability to recover from national crises is plugged into Ukraine’s DNA.

Democratic Transitions Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 5, 2019

What Ukraine needs from the west isn’t just cash

By Danylo Lubkivsky

In 2019, Ukraine celebrates the centennial anniversary of the unification of its national lands. On January 22, 1919, the Act of Union marked a historic milestone: for the first time in centuries, the Ukrainian people had revived their nation and unified most of its territories. Then Russian aggression destroyed our freedom, like it did again […]

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Apr 4, 2019

Zelenskiy wins first round but that’s not the surprise

By Mattia Nelles

The results of the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election did not surprise many. The four exit polls were remarkably close to one another and to the last comprehensive polls. They all displayed a similar picture: Volodymyr Zelenskiy would face off in the run-off with Poroshenko, who beat Tymoshenko. With the votes now counted, Zelenskiy […]

Conflict Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 4, 2019

How Poroshenko could win and Zelenskiy could lose

By Alexander J. Motyl

The first round of Ukraine’s presidential election went overwhelmingly to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, but his victory in round two is by no means self-evident—especially if his rival, incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, plays his cards right. Ironically, Poroshenko’s three main strengths are Zelenskiy’s three main weaknesses. Poroshenko has a distinguished record (with a variety of blemishes, of […]

Elections Ukraine
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