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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

Aug 23, 2021

Is Ukraine’s split from Russia now irreversible?

By Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s split from Russia ranks as one of the most consequential European events since the Soviet collapse. But is this geopolitical divorce now final, or could Moscow still force Kyiv back into Russia's orbit?

Conflict Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Aug 21, 2021

How modern Ukraine was made on Maidan

By Peter Dickinson

Since 1991, Ukraine's two post-Soviet Maidan revolutions have helped define the country as an emerging democracy that seeks to escape from the orbit of authoritarian Russia and embrace Euro-Atlantic integration.

Civil Society Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Aug 19, 2021

Making the most of Ukraine’s tech talent

By Constantine Yevtushenko

Ukraine's IT sector is playing an increasingly important role in the country's economic growth. The key now is to build the right ecosystem to allow Ukraine's tech talent to flourish, says Constantine Yevtushenko.

Digital Policy Economy & Business

UkraineAlert

Aug 19, 2021

Ukraine shines a spotlight on Putin’s Crimean crime

By Peter Dickinson

Representations of forty countries are set to gather in Kyiv on August 23 for the inaugural Crimea Platform summit to address the ongoing Russian occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula.

Conflict Russia

UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2021

Biden and Merkel must confront Putin’s imperial ambitions in Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent essay "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" argued that Russians and Ukrainians are "one people," but an overwhelming majority of Ukrainians do not agree.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Aug 16, 2021

Afghanistan collapse sparks wave of alarm in Ukraine

By Alyona Getmanchuk

The complete collapse of the US-backed Afghan government in recent weeks has sparked alarm in Ukraine and led to questions over the future of the country's own strategic partnership with America.

Afghanistan Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 15, 2021

The West must not force a Russian “peace” on Ukraine

By Volodymyr Vasylenko

By appeasing Russia in Ukraine and pressuring Kyiv to accept peace on the Kremlin's terms, the democratic world risks turning Minsk into a new Munich, argues veteran Ukrainian diplomat Volodymyr Vasylenko.

Conflict International Norms

UkraineAlert

Aug 12, 2021

Ukraine must do more to protect civilians living close to the conflict contact line

By Beatrice Godefroy, Suleiman Mamutov

With little hope of a breakthrough towards peace in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities must focus their attention on protecting civilians caught up in the ongoing conflict.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Aug 12, 2021

Countering Putin’s passport policies in Ukraine

By Vitaliy Nabukhotny

Moscow has weaponized the distribution of Russian passports as part of its hybrid campaign to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty. How should Ukraine and the international community fight back?

Conflict Non-Traditional Threats

UkraineAlert

Aug 9, 2021

Remembering Yevhen Marchuk

By Peter Dickinson

Ukrainian politician Yevhen Marchuk passed away on August 5 at the age of eighty. Marchuk was one of the country’s most prominent public figures during the early years of Ukrainian independence, founding the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) before serving as both Prime Minister and Defense Minister.

Politics & Diplomacy Ukraine

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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.

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 26, 2019

What is wrong with the Ukrainian economy?

By Anders Åslund

Construction is booming in Kyiv, Ukraine, but not the rest of the economy. A major reason is that Ukrainians with some extra savings do not put their money into banks but buy additional apartments instead. Others keep their savings in cash. On average, Ukrainian MPs keep $700,000 at home. Those who have a lot of […]

Financial Regulation Fiscal and Structural Reform

UkraineAlert

Apr 25, 2019

10 ways the west should engage with Ukraine after 2019 elections

By Chatham House

Five years after the annexation of Crimea and the instigation of conflict in the Donbas, the reasons for continued sanctions on Russia have not gone away. Crimea is still occupied. War grinds on in the Donbas. Ukraine held presidential elections this spring and will hold parliamentary elections in the fall. Whatever the results, events in […]

Defense Policy Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Apr 25, 2019

What Zelenskiy’s victory means for Ukraine

By David J. Kramer

The temptation in Kyiv and elsewhere is to look past Sunday’s overwhelming victory by upstart Volodymyr Zelenskiy over incumbent Petro Poroshenko and try to divine what it means for Ukraine. This piece will yield to that temptation—but after acknowledging the importance of what happened Sunday and throughout the election campaign. Free and fair elections in […]

Democratic Transitions Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 24, 2019

How history will judge Poroshenko

By Alexander J. Motyl

The majority of Ukraine’s voters and pundits detest President Petro Poroshenko who lost his chance at a second term on April 21. However, history will prove them wrong and judge him as Ukraine’s most successful leader. Indeed, Poroshenko will go down in the annals as the man who consolidated Ukraine’s state, nation, democracy, and the […]

Democratic Transitions Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 23, 2019

Why Poroshenko lost

By Dennis Soltys

On April 21, television star Volodymyr Zelenskiy crushed incumbent president Petro Poroshenko in the second round of Ukraine’s presidential election. Even though Zelenskiy has never held elected office, voters were so tired of corruption and economic stagnation that they were willing to take a risk. Zelenskiy ran an unusual campaign. He made few programmatic promises […]

Democratic Transitions Elections

UkraineAlert

Apr 23, 2019

Transition challenges for an outsider president

By Adrian Karatnycky

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, elected to Ukraine’s presidency Sunday in a landslide, may be one of the least prepared leaders to head a democracy in world history. Not only is he an outsider, whose main experience of politics has been to play a president in a satirical television program, he has done little to prepare for the job. […]

Democratic Transitions Elections

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