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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

Dec 20, 2022

The partition of Ukraine would only encourage Putin’s imperial ambitions

By Benton Coblentz

Advocates of appeasement believe the best way to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine is by offering Ukrainian land in exchange for peace but this will only encourage Putin's imperial ambitions, writes Benton Coblentz.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Dec 19, 2022

2022 REVIEW: Why has Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion gone so badly wrong?

By Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin hoped his invasion of Ukraine would result in a quick and historic victory. Instead, he ends 2022 with Russia's reputation as a military superpower in tatters. Why has the invasion of Ukraine gone so badly wrong?

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

Dec 15, 2022

Memo to Macron: Russia doesn’t need security guarantees but Ukraine does

By Peter Dickinson

French President Emmanuel Macron has been widely criticized for calling on Europe to offer Russia security guarantees at a time when the Kremlin is using fake security concerns to justify the invasion of Ukraine.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Dec 15, 2022

Individual Russians must be held accountable for war crimes in Ukraine

By Stanislav Aseyev

Unless steps are taken to hold individual Russians accountable for the war crimes they have committed in Ukraine we will witness similar atrocities elsewhere, warns Ukrainian author and journalist Stanislav Aseyev.

Conflict Freedom and Prosperity

UkraineAlert

Dec 14, 2022

Vladimir Putin’s failing invasion is fueling the rise of Russia’s far right

By Stanislav Shalunov

As Vladimir Putin's disastrous invasion continues to unravel, battlefield defeats in Ukraine are having a radicalizing effect on Russian domestic audiences and fueling the rise of the country's ultra-nationalist far right.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Dec 13, 2022

Vladimir Putin: 2022 Loser of the Year

By Peter Dickinson

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is the biggest loser of 2022. His disastrous decision to invade Ukraine has left Russia internationally isolated and shattered the country's reputation as a military superpower.

Belarus Central Asia

UkraineAlert

Dec 12, 2022

Fresh challenges threaten to reverse Ukraine’s judicial reform progress

By Mykhailo Zhernakov, Nestor Barchuk

Ukrainians are currently fighting against Russian invasion but far from the battlefield judicial reforms that hold the key to Ukraine’s transformation into a nation governed by the rule of law are at risk of unraveling.

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

Dec 9, 2022

Zelenskyy urges special tribunal for Russian aggression against Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging the international community to establish a special tribunal for the crime of aggression in order to prosecute Russia’s political and military leadership.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Dec 8, 2022

Shakhtar’s young Ukrainians roar as foreign soccer stars flee Putin’s war

By David Kirichenko

Ukrainian soccer giant Shakhtar Donetsk suffered an exodus of foreign stars following Russia's full-scale invasion but the club managed to mount an impressive Champions League campaign by relying on young Ukrainian talent.

Conflict Crisis Management

UkraineAlert

Dec 7, 2022

Melinda Haring: Ukraine’s unquenchable thirst for freedom inspires me

By Melinda Haring

Melinda Haring signs off on eight years at the Atlantic Council with love letter to Ukraine recounting how the East European country captured her heart with its intoxicating lust for life and unquenchable thirst for freedom.

Civil Society Conflict

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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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

May 14, 2019

Even if Ukraine’s reformers unify, so what?

By Melinda Haring

Five years after the Euromaidan street protests, Ukrainians are still waiting for transformative leaders and justice. On May 20, political newcomer Volodymyr Zelenskiy will be sworn in as president. But that won’t necessarily result in a significant change for the country: Ukraine’s next president is inexperienced and his links to oligarchs are troubling. Its parliament, […]

Civil Society Elections

UkraineAlert

May 13, 2019

Will Ukraine become a giant Moldova?

By James Brooke

Without a red-tape slashing revolution, Ukraine will become a big Moldova—a bedroom country for migrant workers building the dynamic economies of eastern Europe.

Migration Moldova

UkraineAlert

May 8, 2019

Zelenskyy’s first big test

By Basil Kalymon

A key issue has emerged in the post-election drama in Ukraine. In a disturbing interview given by Andrij Bohdan, lawyer, confidant, and political advisor to President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he reveals that he continues to act as a lawyer for oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskiy with regard to the nationalization of PrivatBank. This assertion, if accepted by the […]

Corruption Financial Regulation

UkraineAlert

May 8, 2019

Reality check

By Bohdan Nahaylo

Ukraine’s presidential election was a veritable political earthquake. The fault line between the old and the new, the real and the illusory, and pseudo-nationalism and grassroots patriotism, has been dramatically exposed. The old political establishment was shaken to its very foundations, and the strong tremors and shockwaves continue to be felt. The shifting political tectonic […]

Elections Nationalism

UkraineAlert

May 6, 2019

Why we can’t get enough of Ukraine

By Francis Fukuyama

The impact one can have on building institutions like the modern state, the rule of law, and democracy is limited. The area where it’s easiest is the third category, building democracy. The first two, building the modern state and building a real rule of law, are much harder, and those are the areas that have been […]

Corruption Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

May 6, 2019

The illusions of Putin’s Russia

By Anders Åslund

The best defense of the West against Putin’s authoritarian and kleptocratic regime is transparency, shining light on this anonymous wealth.

Corruption Financial Regulation

UkraineAlert

May 3, 2019

Children as a tool: how Russia militarizes kids in the Donbas and Crimea

By Iryna Matviyishyn

With an eye to the future, officials in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine are waging a campaign of “patriotic education” aimed at reaching the hearts and minds of those most susceptible to ideological persuasion: children. Russia has always used the militarization of public life to indoctrinate local populations and continues that practice today. Currently, thousands […]

Conflict Human Rights

UkraineAlert

May 2, 2019

Time for Ukraine to compete with Russia

By Grigory Frolov

Showman Volodymyr Zelenskiy will soon be sworn in as president of Ukraine. Last month he crushed incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in a remarkable landslide. Zelenskiy’s victory was noteworthy in Ukraine, but it’s also making headlines across the former Soviet Union. While Zelenskiy is inexperienced and his policies aren’t well defined, he knows how to engage […]

European Union Inclusive Growth

UkraineAlert

May 2, 2019

Ukraine’s new language law rights historic wrongs

By Andrej Lushnycky

For centuries the Ukrainian language was relegated to the status of a “peasant language” by the foreign rulers of the lands that make up the country today and by foreign scholars in Europe and abroad who perpetuated this Russian imperial falsehood. More recently, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited a Soviet political […]

Civil Society Nationalism

UkraineAlert

Apr 29, 2019

Vladimir Putin does Shakespeare

By Stephen Blank

Vladimir Putin’s newest display of talent is his excelling in theatrics. He recently elected to play Macbeth or Richard III. Having nothing left to offer Russia as the indices of immiseration pile up, Putin’s recourse to imperial theatrics has dramatically accelerated. But ultimately this performance, like those of his predecessors on stage and in reality, […]

Conflict Human Rights