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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.

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Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Aug 20, 2024

Kursk offensive could help free Ukrainians in Russian captivity

By Olivia Yanchik

Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk Oblast has resulted in the surrender of unprecedented numbers of Russian soldiers, raising hopes of a large-scale prisoner exchange, writes Olivia Yanchik.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Aug 15, 2024

The Kremlin is cutting Russia’s last information ties to the outside world

By Mercedes Sapuppo

Recent measures to prevent Russians from accessing YouTube represent the latest escalation in the Kremlin’s campaign to dominate the domestic information space and eliminate all independent media in today’s Russia, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Aug 15, 2024

Ukraine’s invasion of Russia exposes the folly of the West’s escalation fears

By Oleksiy Goncharenko

Ukraine’s invasion of Russia has shown that Putin’s talk of red lines and his nuclear threats are just a bluff to intimidate the West, writes Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Aug 13, 2024

New US-Ukraine partnership proposal from influential senators is a recipe for bipartisan success

By Andrew D’Anieri

Senators Richard Blumenthal and Lindsey Graham came to Kyiv this week with an ambitious bipartisan vision for the future of US-Ukrainian relations, writes Andrew D’Anieri.

Conflict Economy & Business

UkraineAlert

Aug 13, 2024

Belarus’s political prisoners must not be forgotten

By Hanna Liubakova

New sanctions unveiled in August have highlighted the plight of Belarus’s approximately 1,400 political prisoners, but much more must be done to increase pressure on the Lukashenka regime, writes Hanna Liubakova.

Belarus Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 13, 2024

Ukraine’s Kursk offensive proves surprise is still possible in modern war

By Mykola Bielieskov

Ukraine’s Kursk offensive has succeeded in demonstrating that surprise is still possible despite the increased transparency of the modern battlefield, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Aug 11, 2024

Ukraine’s invasion of Russia is erasing Vladimir Putin’s last red lines

By Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s invasion of Russia has erased the last of Vladimir Putin’s red lines and made a complete mockery of the West’s frequently voiced escalation fears, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Aug 8, 2024

Ukraine continues to expand drone bombing campaign inside Russia

By Marcel Plichta

Ukraine’s long-range drone bombing campaign targeting military and industrial sites inside Russia has had a dramatic series of successes over the last few weeks, writes Marcel Plichta.

Conflict Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Aug 8, 2024

F-16 jets will help defend Ukrainian cities from Russian bombardment

By Olena Tregub

The first batch of F-16 fighter jets arrived in Ukraine in late July and are now expected to be used primarily in an air defense role against Russian missile and drone attacks, writes Olena Tregub.

Conflict Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Aug 6, 2024

Russia is destroying monuments as part of war on Ukrainian identity

By Yevhenii Monastyrskyi, John Vsetecka 

Russia is destroying monuments as part of its war on Ukrainian identity throughout areas under Kremlin control, says Yevhenii Monastyrskyi and John Vsetecka. 

Conflict Defense Industry

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Content

UkraineAlert

Mar 14, 2019

Brilliant, broke, and Ukrainian? Harvard still wants to hear from you

By Melinda Haring

Eighteen-year-old Tetiana Tsunik, who grew up in a tiny village in eastern Ukraine, won a full ride to the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, a well-regarded prep school. There she’s taking two Advanced Placement courses plus six others. She’s part of the debate club, and is editor-in-chief of two student publications. Last summer, she spent […]

Civil Society Migration

UkraineAlert

Mar 12, 2019

Complications in Tbilisi’s friendship with Kyiv

By Tamar Chapidze and Andreas Umland

Georgia and Ukraine have become close political allies over the last two decades. That closeness may be currently under threat, however. Despite the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s groundbreaking autocephaly, or independence, from the Russian Orthodox Church at the beginning of 2019, the Georgian Orthodox Church has failed to congratulate Ukrainian authorities or take any official position […]

Civil Society Nationalism

UkraineAlert

Mar 12, 2019

Why the West should be worried about Ukraine’s flagging fight against graft

By Oleksandra Drik

The last week of February was a great one for corrupt officials in Ukraine. They finally got off scot-free. Ukraine’s Constitutional Court (CCU) eliminated criminal liability for illicit enrichment. This decision is a major step back in Ukraine’s struggle to fight high-level corruption. (Incidentally, the US Ambassador to Ukraine agrees with this assessment.) And the […]

Corruption Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Mar 7, 2019

What a $2.8 Million scheme to rip off the state says about corruption in Ukraine

By Matthew Kupfer

Fictional houses, “dead souls,” but real embezzlement — it sounds like the plot of a horror film. But it’s actually a corruption scheme that ran for over eight years in Ukraine’s Kirovograd Oblast. From 2009 to 2017, the management of the regional gas distribution company, Kirovogradgaz, inserted hundreds of fictional addresses into its electronic billing […]

Corruption Oil and Gas

UkraineAlert

Mar 6, 2019

Could Zelenskiy be a reformer?

By Alexander J. Motyl

Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy tops the polls in Ukraine and may be the next president. Some argue that Zelenskiy is the country’s only shot at reform and that he might be able to break the old system.     Could Zelenskiy be a reformer? The short answer is: No. Here’s why. The American political scientist, Samuel Huntington, […]

Elections Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2019

European involvement with Nord Stream 2 is a deal with the devil

By Stephen Blank

Apart from the bypassing of Ukraine and the potential corrupting of German politics, Nord Stream 2 essentially forces German and Eastern European states and customers to subsidize Russian state expenses and unwittingly assist in Naftogaz’s destruction.

Energy Markets & Governance European Union

UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2019

Their brand is crisis

By Melinda Haring

Exactly five years ago, the country’s most important independent crisis communications center was set up in Kyiv in less than forty-eight hours. It started with a text message and a series of phone calls. Shortly after the protesters in the Maidan won and former Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych fled on February 22, 2014, Russia’s “little […]

Civil Society Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Mar 4, 2019

Why do so few presidential candidates support NATO and EU membership?

By Taras Kuzio

Out of forty-two candidates who are running for president in the Ukrainian elections on March 31, only eleven support NATO and EU membership. This represents a lower proportion of supporters than the over 300 deputies who voted on three occasions to change the constitution to include those two goals. Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party and the Radical […]

Defense Policy Elections

UkraineAlert

Mar 4, 2019

Who is ready to lead Ukraine?

By Kostiantyn Romashko

It’s election season in Ukraine. While there are forty-two candidates officially registered, the competition, according to recent polls, comes down to three: incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and newcomer and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy. In January, UkraineAlert examined the foreign policy views of the five leading candidates. Now we narrow the focus […]

Defense Policy Elections

UkraineAlert

Mar 1, 2019

No good deed goes unpunished in Ukraine

By Olena Halushka and Olena Shcherban

Ukraine is in danger of backsliding, big time, and few people realize just how serious it is. This week, the Constitutional Court eliminated a law which made corrupt officials liable for illicit enrichment. This will immediately result in the closure of sixty-five high-profile criminal cases. The court decision may jeopardize Ukraine’s relations with international institutions. […]

Corruption Political Reform