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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

Why the Sajdik Plan for the Donbas Will Not Work

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

Why the Sajdik Plan for the Donbas Will Not Work

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

Why the Sajdik Plan for the Donbas Will Not Work

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

Oct 28, 2025

UN report: Russia targets civilians in systematic bid to depopulate Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Russia is deliberately targeting Ukrainian civilians in a deadly drone strike campaign that aims to depopulate large parts of the country and constitutes a crime against humanity, according to a new United Nations report, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Oct 23, 2025

Russia’s ‘human safari’ in southern Ukraine is a warning to the world

By
Oleksandr Tolokonnikov

Russia’s escalating campaign of drone attacks on the civilian population of Ukraine’s Kherson region highlights the destructive power of modern drone technologies, writes Oleksandr Tolokonnikov.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Oct 23, 2025

US voices concern over Chinese support for Russia’s Ukraine invasion

By
Katherine Spencer

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has raised concerns over Chinese components in Russian military drones amid fresh allegations of Beijing’s mounting support for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, writes Katherine Spencer.

China
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2025

Budapest summit postponed as Putin rejects Trump’s ceasefire proposal

By
Peter Dickinson

Just days after US President Donald Trump announced plans for a new summit with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, their proposed Budapest meeting has been thrown into doubt by Russia’s rejection of a ceasefire in Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Economic Sanctions


UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2025

Vladimir Putin’s war machine may finally be running out of fuel

By
Vladyslav Davydov

Ukraine’s deep strikes on Russia’s energy industry have exposed Putin’s Achilles heel and helped demonstrate that the Russian economy is far more fragile than many in Moscow would like us to believe, writes Vladyslav Davydov .

Conflict
Drones


UkraineAlert

Oct 16, 2025

Putin seeks more foreign fighters amid mounting Russian losses in Ukraine

By
David Kirichenko

With fewer and fewer Russians ready to volunteer for the war in Ukraine, Putin is seeking to recruit more foreign fighters from across Africa, Asia, and beyond, writes David Kirichenko.

Africa
Americas


UkraineAlert

Oct 16, 2025

Ukraine’s drone sanctions are working but don’t expect a Russian revolt

By
Christopher Isajiw

Ukraine’s long-range drone strike campaign has brought Putin’s invasion home to Russia but mounting domestic problems are unlikely to spark a rebellion against the Kremlin dictatorship, writes Christopher Isajiw.

Conflict
Drones


UkraineAlert

Oct 14, 2025

Tomahawk missiles are Russia’s latest red line. Will Trump call Putin’s bluff?

By
Peter Dickinson

Time and again since 2022, Moscow has declared a new red line while warning of the West of nuclear escalation, only to then do nothing when their red lines are crossed. Trump can now call Putin’s bluff over Russia’s latest red line by providing Ukraine with Tomahawks, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Technologies


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


UkraineAlert

Oct 9, 2025

Putin the geopolitical gangster is trying to intimidate Europe

By
Peter Dickinson

Putin the geopolitical gangster is trying to intimidate Europe into abandoning Ukraine with an escalating campaign of gray zone aggression designed to highlight the continent’s vulnerability to Russian attack, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Drones

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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

Why the Sajdik Plan for the Donbas Will Not Work

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.

Read More

Why the Sajdik Plan for the Donbas Will Not Work

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

Why the Sajdik Plan for the Donbas Will Not Work

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

Feb 11, 2019

Why the Sajdik Plan for the Donbas Will Not Work

By Maksym Khylko

In the last year, there hasn’t been any new momentum in the effort to bring peace to Ukraine. Amid this long-lasting stalemate, the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung recently published an interview with Martin Sajdik, special representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, under the ambitious title “We Have a New Plan […]

OSCE
Russia

UkraineAlert

Feb 8, 2019

Legal Threats to Minister Imperil Ukraine’s Health Care

By Melinda Haring

Ulana Suprun just wants to get back to work turning around Ukraine’s feeble healthcare system. But she can’t focus on reforms now: the fifty-six-year-old radiologist turned health minister of Ukraine is under attack. Worst of all, she’s not sure who is behind it. On February 5, Kyiv’s Regional Administrative Court ruled to suspend Suprun’s authority […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 7, 2019

Is the Kremlin Really Afraid of a Farmer?

By Vitalii Rybak

Birthdays are typically lavish affairs in Ukraine. But not for Volodymyr Balukh, who will spend his third birthday in prison for the simple act of displaying a Ukrainian flag in Crimea. On February 8, the Ukrainian farmer turns 48. His case shows how Moscow harshly punishes Ukrainians in Crimea who have the temerity to protest […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 6, 2019

Q&A: Why Are Ukraine’s Last Reformers Being Kicked Out?

By Melinda Haring

Less than two months before Ukraine’s presidential election, two independent-minded officials are being forced out. On February 5, Kyiv’s Regional Administrative Court ruled to suspend Detroit born physician Ulana Suprun’s authority to make any decisions or sign any documents as the acting minister of health. The court pointed to a regulation that limits an acting […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 3, 2019

Rating Ukraine’s Presidential Candidates

By Alexander J. Motyl and Dennis Soltys

Three candidates have the most plausible chance of winning the first round in Ukraine’s March 31st presidential election: President Petro Poroshenko; former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko; and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a politically untested comedian whose popular television show, Servant of the People, portrays him as an intrepid corruption fighter. Zelenskiy’s popularity can be explained as a […]

Russia
Ukraine
This is the picture

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2019

Two Big Problems with Ukraine’s Elections that No One Else Has Spotted

By Mykola Vorobiov

There are many reasons to worry about Ukraine’s elections this year. The 2019 elections may be as defining as those in 2014, when Ukraine left the Russian world for good. However, so far, most analysts have missed two factors that may play an outsized role. First, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is not only a sitting […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2019

Russia looks to strike at Ukraine’s south again?

By Andreas Umland

An escalation at the Azov Sea will threaten social stability in southeastern Ukraine.

Conflict
Maritime Security

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2019

Poroshenko Runs on Stay the Course Platform

By Ruslan Minich and Vitalii Rybak

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko finally announced that he will seek reelection at a packed forum on January 29 in Kyiv. Held on the anniversary of the battle of Kruty when students and Cossacks died defending Kyiv from Bolshevik forces in 1918, organizers were hoping to stress the symbolism: Ukraine started to move away from Russia […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 31, 2019

The Right Person at the Right Time

By Carl Gershman

Editor’s note: Nadia Diuk died on January 23, 2019. She worked at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) for thirty-two years. Carl Gershman, president of the NED, delivered this eulogy at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington on January 31, 2019  In the days since Nadia passed, the National Endowment […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 31, 2019

Ukraine Needs Carrots and Sticks to Fight Corruption

By Oleksandr Danylyuk

There is no silver bullet when it comes to defeating systemic corruption in any country. Despite many opportunities, Ukraine has failed to achieve economic success due to its entrenched corruption which offsets the positive effects from many of the hard-earned and difficult reforms we have implemented since independence.

Ukraine
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