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

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Oct 14, 2015

Hey Europe, Stop Putting Russia First

By Michal Kořan

The West’s deteriorating relationship with Russia has opened a window of opportunity to offer Eastern European countries a genuine future within the European Union, unrestrained by Moscow. To seize this opportunity, the West should refrain from past policies that, in the end, always put Russia first.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2015

Ukraine’s New Police Are an Expression of a “Civil” State

By Erica Marat

Almost two years after the Euromaidan demonstrations began, most Ukrainians agree that the pace of reforms has been largely disappointing. While many former civil-society activists hold key positions in the government and parliament, corruption continues to plague the country and state institutions cannot provide basic services. Amid the skepticism, one area where there is agreement […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2015

Snapshots of Ukraine’s Five Hottest Elections

By Brian Mefford

Ukrainians go to the polls on October 25 to elect mayors and city councils. These local elections matter more than one might expect. The likely passage of a constitutional amendment on decentralization by parliament later this year will give the newly elected mayors and councils more autonomy and authority than ever before.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2015

A Bold and Optimistic Strategy for Europe

By Stephen Blank

US President Barack Obama recently derided critics of his foreign policies as offering merely mumbo-jumbo. Yet everyone can plainly see the administration’s shocking degree of across-the-board strategic incomprehension and incompetence in Europe and the Middle East. In fact, European Union diplomats publicly admit that confidence in US policies is plummeting throughout Europe. Therefore, I offer […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2015

The Forgotten War: A View From Ukraine’s Frontlines

By Ihor Kozak

For a brief moment, it felt like déjà vu. As an officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, I visited several hot spots, witnessing my share of misery and destruction. Now I am in the Donbas, the war-torn region of eastern Ukraine. Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has struggled to shed its Soviet colonial past […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2015

Evolution, Not Revolution, Is the Way to Save Ukraine, Says Leading Anti-Corruption Crusader

By Diane Francis

Russian President Vladimir Putin is pivoting and wants to withdraw from the Donbas but keep Crimea, according to Iegor Soboliev, the head of the Ukrainian parliament’s anti-corruption committee. “He wants to give it back to us right now. He doesn’t need the Donbas,” he said in an interview on October 5. “Unfortunately, he will try […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2015

The Donbas Black Hole

By Irena Chalupa

What Russia hoped would be a small, victorious war has turned into the “geostrategic disaster of a new cold war,” writes Volodymyr Horbulin, a respected foreign policy analyst currently advising Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. In an article in Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, Horbulin argues that the main participants in the war have exhausted themselves. The Donbas has […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 6, 2015

Don’t Blame the Oligarchs: Why Have Ukraine’s Cultural Reforms Gone Nowhere?

By Kateryna Smagliy

The demonizing of Ukrainian oligarchs as major impediments to democratization and reform has become a shared mantra of Western and domestic pundits alike. Whenever explaining the slow pace of Ukraine’s changes after the Euromaidan, analysts argue that oligarchs only gained influence and that by controlling whole chunks of the state apparatus, mass media, and economy, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2015

Testing Putin’s Intentions

By John E. Herbst

The October 2 Paris Summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and Russian President Vladimir Putin produced no breakthrough for peace in Ukraine. But it provided additional proof that, for the moment, Putin wants to lower tensions in the region. The parties spoke about three issues: the withdrawal […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2015

How to Fight Corruption in Ukraine

By Anders Åslund

We all agree: The greatest threat facing Ukraine, after its war with Russia, is corruption. But few agree how to do so, though it should not be that difficult. In 1998, Ukraine’s main gas importer, Ihor Bakai, stated that “all rich people in Ukraine made their money on Russian gas.” The technique was simple. A […]

Russia Ukraine

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.

Follow us on social media
and support our work

Content

UkraineAlert

Sep 3, 2019

Want investors to take Ukraine seriously? The solution is obvious

By Mykhailo Zhernakov

Now is time to change Ukraine’s courts, and we can make it happen, so long as our Western friends speak out loudly and forcefully at the right moments.

Corruption Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Aug 27, 2019

G7 leaders: the Kremlin is setting a trap. Don’t fall for it

By Arseniy Yatsenyuk

The Kremlin counts on using this goodwill to lead us into a trap of fatal mistakes.

Conflict International Norms

UkraineAlert

Aug 19, 2019

The West needs to act fast to help Ukraine

By Anders Åslund

This might be Ukraine’s greatest chance yet. The West needs to assist as well as it can.

European Union Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2019

Do something with state enterprises already

By Anders Åslund

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is right to emphasize the need to privatize state-owned enterprises.

Financial Regulation Fiscal and Structural Reform

UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2019

An open letter to Mrs. Zelenskyy

By Melinda Haring

When you come to Washington, we will welcome you with open arms.

Civil Society Elections

Uncategorized

Aug 14, 2019

Mr. Zelenskyy goes to Washington

By Yuri Polakiwsky

This new generation of leadership has rejected the psychological and emotional ties to Russia held by post-independence Ukrainian political leaders.

Political Reform Security & Defense

UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2019

How one man’s outsized philanthropy transformed a village and may inspire a new kind of giving

By Viola Gienger

“I hope this project will be an example for other entrepreneurs and for other communities in Ukraine," said Mykhaylo Veselskyy.

Inclusive Growth Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2019

Many ills for Ukraine’s veterans but one place to look for a cure

By Melinda Haring

When veterans return from eastern Ukraine, sleep deprivation, anxiety, and depression are common complaints.

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2019

Preparing for the US-Ukraine summit

By Stephen Blank

Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy can not only thwart Moscow across Europe, they can both strengthen their respective countries’ positions across Europe.

Energy Markets & Governance National Security

UkraineAlert

Aug 13, 2019

Corruption and courts matter but universities are key

By Marta Farion

Quality education is essential for innovation, initiatives, and competitiveness that have a direct bearing on economic and national security.

Democratic Transitions Political Reform