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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

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

spotlight

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

Oct 22, 2018

Good News: Ukraine Finally Gets New IMF Agreement

By Anders Åslund

On October 19, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that it had finally reached a staff-level agreement with Ukraine on renewed lending. Ukraine hasn’t received any IMF funds since April 2017. Experts had warned that without an IMF tranche, Ukraine’s economy might face a serious financial crisis this fall.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 18, 2018

Church Splits, and Putin Loses Big

By Stephen Blank

Ukraine has just won a tremendous victory by obtaining the right of autocephaly, or the right to constitute the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as fully independent and free of any subservience to Moscow. This victory represents a shattering blow to Vladimir Putin’s pretenses of a Russian world (Russkii Mir) and the entire arcana imperii (Imperial relics) […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2018

The New Cold War Could Learn a Lot from the Old One

By John E. Herbst

Territories between great powers—borderlands—have always been areas of strife. So it is with the countries caught between Russia and the West, those that were once part of the Soviet Union or firmly within its sphere of influence. Much of Europe has consolidated and, with the United States, established a lasting liberal democratic order, but Russia […]

Moldova The Caucasus

UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2018

How Ukraine Can Avoid Disaster in 2019

By Taras Kuzio

Ukraine’s 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections are the most important since the country became independent nearly three decades ago. If next year’s elections follow those held in 2014 when five pro-reform political forces won a constitutional majority, Ukraine’s European integration and withdrawal from the Russian world will be assured by the next election cycle in […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 16, 2018

Ukraine, Anti-Semitism, Racism, and the Far Right​

By Adrian Karatnycky

October 14 saw the latest in a string of annual mass marches by the far right in Ukraine. As many as 10,000 people participated, mainly young men, chanting fiercely. A nighttime torchlight parade with signs proclaiming “We’ll return Ukraine to Ukrainians,” contained echoes of Nazi-style symbolism. Lax law enforcement and indifference by the security services to the operations of the far right is being noticed by extremists from abroad who […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 15, 2018

What Really Happened in Constantinople Last Week

By Cyril Hovorun

Last week Ukraine’s Orthodox Church got confirmation that it will likely receive the independence from Moscow that it has long sought. The issue is complex, and the terminology foreign to most readers. The issue of the Ukrainian church is similar to an iceberg. What appears above the surface is political, but the largest part underneath […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 14, 2018

Kyiv Patriarchate Vs. Moscow Patriarchate: David Triumphs Over Goliath

By Margo Gontar

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church will become independent. It’s hard to overestimate the significance of this change; Moscow will no longer have power over it. And that’s exactly what Russia cannot tolerate.

Civil Society Russia

UkraineAlert

Oct 11, 2018

Three more reasons why I’m optimistic about Ukraine

By Melinda Haring

There are plenty of principled, young and not-so-young people, in the pipeline.

Civil Society Corruption

UkraineAlert

Oct 9, 2018

Why Can’t Ukraine Kill Corruption?

By Mykola Vorobiov

Ukraine still struggles to overcome its core disease of corruption. Since the 2014 Euromaidan, a number of anticorruption institutions have been created in close cooperation with Western partners, including the United States. Among them are the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP), the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), and the Anti-Corruption […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 9, 2018

Vakarchuk Says Ukraine Needs New Leaders, But Will He Be One?

By Melinda Haring

For months now, political junkies and ordinary Ukrainians have debated whether their beloved rock star Slava Vakarchuk will run for president in 2019. He’s got massive name recognition throughout the country. Even more, he’s one of the only reform-minded candidates who might be able to unify Ukraine’s fractious opposition. Last week I caught up with […]

Ukraine