Stay Updated

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

Ukraine emerges from isolation

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
Ukraine emerges from isolation

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
Ukraine emerges from isolation

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

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

UkraineAlert

Dec 6, 2022

Russia must stop being an empire if it wishes to prosper as a nation

By Taras Kuzio

Post-Soviet Russia never shed the imperial identity inherited from the Soviet and Czarist past but Putin’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine could now set the stage for the emergence of a post-imperial Russian identity.

Central Asia
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Dec 5, 2022

Russia’s Ukraine invasion is fueling an energy crisis in neighboring Moldova

By Alexander St. Leger

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is helping to fuel an energy crisis in neighboring Moldova where an over-reliance on Kremlin energy imports has long served to make the country vulnerable to Russian political pressure.

Conflict
Corruption
Load More

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
Ukraine emerges from isolation

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
Ukraine emerges from isolation

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
Ukraine emerges from isolation

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.

Learn more

Follow us on social media
and support our work

support our work

Content

UkraineAlert

Jan 21, 2019

Ukraine emerges from isolation

By James Brooke

Transportation links provide advance warnings as to where a society is going physically and mentally. Until five years ago, all of Ukraine’s roads led to Moscow. Now they go west. On land, more Ukrainians traveled by train to Europe than to Russia last year for the first time since Czarist railroads were built in the […]

Macroeconomics
Russia

UkraineAlert

Jan 17, 2019

Trump Doesn’t Have to Quit NATO to Undermine It, Expert Warns

By Melinda Haring

On January 14, the New York Times confirmed that President Donald Trump talked about pulling out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization more than once in 2018. But can the president quit NATO unilaterally?

NATO
Russia

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2019

Putin’s dream scenario for Ukraine

By Alexander J. Motyl

Ironically, by failing to acknowledge that everything has in fact changed, Ukrainians could wind up with the worst of all possible worlds—a reversal to the status quo ante and a return to Russia’s embrace.

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2019

Ukraine’s Euromaidan Democrats Have No Shot at the Presidency, but What About Parliament?

By Andreas Umland

Ukraine’s anti-oligarchic forces have finally started the process of forming a broad pro-reform coalition in advance of the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections. On January 11, a congress of various reformist groups announced its support for the presidential candidacy of former Minister of Defense Anatoliy Hrytsenko. While the meeting was largely an event of Hrytsenko’s […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2019

How Will Ukraine’s Next President View the World? A Look at the Top 5 Candidates

By Mykola Vorobiov

Ukraine’s presidential election season is in full-swing. After the holiday recess, the campaign is getting even more dynamic with about forty candidates who have already declared. While the ratings fluctuate almost daily, the top five remain steady, so it’s time to dig in and start evaluating their various views. Below we’ve analyzed their foreign policy […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2019

The Best Ukraine Can Hope for with Russia in 2019

By Anders Åslund

Donald Trump has been president of the United States for two years, but it remains uncertain whether he has a Ukraine policy. His administration does, but Trump is famously superficial in his knowledge. Trump has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, hardly said anything negative about Russia, and insisted on the need to cut sanctions […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 11, 2019

Two More Ways to Make Ukraine Independent

By Olga Bielkova

Ukraine’s Orthodox Church just broke with Moscow, and it’s time for us to move farther away from Russia in the energy sector as well. Even though it is an election year, Kyiv must deliver on the country’s two strategic priorities: increasing gas production in Ukraine and jointly operating Ukraine’s transmission system. After all, energy independence […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 10, 2019

Why a Comedian’s Bid for Ukraine’s Presidency Is No Laughing Matter

By Andreas Umland

Most experts have reacted negatively to the announcement that Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy will stand in the presidential election in spring 2019. Indeed, Zelenskiy’s candidacy is problematic for at least three reasons. Still, for all the skepticism, Zelenskiy’s participation in the race may also have a bright side.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 9, 2019

Ukraine’s 2019 elections may be completely unpredictable but five things are certain

By Brian Mefford

2019 is election year in Ukraine. Ukrainians will select a new president this spring and a new parliament in the fall. Even though the outcome of the presidential race is unpredictable, there are five things about this political cycle that are not. First, no openly pro-Russian candidate can win and this is a major change […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 8, 2019

Dispatch from the road: Ukraine’s most impressive civil society project is where?

By Melinda Haring

One could be forgiven for mistaking thirty-six-year-old Yuriy Fylyuk as just another of the bearded foodie entrepreneurs who dominate Ukraine’s culinary scene. But the soft spoken Fylyuk is far more.  

Civil Society
Ukraine
Load More