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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

Russia’s economically vital energy sector is Vladimir Putin’s Achilles’ Heel

UkraineAlert Jul 1, 2025

Putin’s escalating air offensive is overwhelming Ukraine’s defenses

By Mykola Bielieskov

Russian aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities are expanding rapidly and killing growing numbers of civilians. Kyiv must urgently find technological solutions to defend against Putin’s escalating air offensive, writes Mykola Bielieskov.
Conflict Defense Industry
Russia’s economically vital energy sector is Vladimir Putin’s Achilles’ Heel

UkraineAlert Jun 23, 2025

‘All of Ukraine is ours’: Putin’s Russian imperialism is now on full display

By Peter Dickinson

Putin declared last week that “all of Ukraine is ours.” The Kremlin dictator’s revealing comments highlight the resurgent Russian imperialism driving Europe’s largest invasion since WWII, writes Peter Dickinson.
Conflict Disinformation
Russia’s economically vital energy sector is Vladimir Putin’s Achilles’ Heel

UkraineAlert Jun 12, 2025

Putin’s peace plan is a blueprint for the end of Ukrainian statehood

By Tetiana Kotelnykova

Russia’s peace plan sends a clear signal that Moscow wants to erase Ukraine as a state and as a nation. If Western leaders wish to avoid this catastrophic outcome, they must convince Putin that the alternative to a negotiated peace is a Russian defeat, writes Tetiana Kotelnykova.
Conflict Freedom and Prosperity

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Sep 3, 2025

Europe’s best security guarantee against Russia is the Ukrainian army

By Elena Davlikanova

With Europe militarily unprepared and deeply reluctant to confront the Kremlin, a strong Ukraine currently looks to be by far the most realistic deterrent against further Russian aggression, writes Elena Davlikanova.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Sep 2, 2025

Putin’s failed summer offensive shatters the myth of inevitable Russian victory

By Peter Dickinson

The failure of Putin’s summer offensive should help to debunk the persistent myth of inevitable Russian victory and persuade Western leaders to increase their support for the Ukrainian war effort, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Sep 2, 2025

Hungary has alternative energy options but chooses to rely on Russia

By Aura Sabadus

Ukraine’s recent strikes on the Kremlin’s Druzhba oil pipeline are not only an attack on Russia’s war economy. They are also a wake-up call for Hungarians highlighting the role being played by their country in the funding of Russia’s invasion, writes Aura Sabadus.

Conflict Economic Sanctions

UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2025

Putin wants to capture Ukraine’s crucial fortress belt without a fight

By Mykola Bielieskov

As US-led efforts to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine struggle to gain momentum, Vladimir Putin’s latest territorial demands include the surrender of strategically vital and heavily fortified Ukrainian land in the east of the country, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2025

Russia attacks Zelenskyy’s legitimacy to derail US-led Ukraine peace talks

By Serhii Savelii

Moscow’s efforts to portray Zelenskyy as illegitimate fall apart when weighed against Ukraine’s Constitution and the country’s political practice, along with international precedents and legal tradition, writes Serhii Savelii.

Conflict Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Aug 25, 2025

Putin’s hybrid war against Europe continues to escalate

By Maksym Beznosiuk

While international attention focuses on faltering US-led efforts to broker a peace deal and end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s broader hybrid war against Europe continues to escalate, writes Maksym Beznosiuk.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Aug 21, 2025

Putin is facing a fuel crisis as Ukraine escalates attacks on Russian refineries

By David Kirichenko

Historically, Russia’s sheer size has always been considered one of its main strengths. By launching waves of airstrikes across the country, Ukraine now intends to exploit this vastness and transform it into Russia’s greatest weakness, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Aug 21, 2025

Sorry, Trump, but Putin will not pursue peace until he is facing military defeat

By Elena Davlikanova, Yevhen Malik

Following the recent Alaska and White House summits, it should now be abundantly clear that Russia will continue to reject Trump’s peace overtures until Putin faces significantly more pressure to end the war, write Elena Davlikanova and Yevhen Malik.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Aug 19, 2025

A strong Ukraine is the only realistic security guarantee against Russia

By Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s Western partners are preparing to offer security guarantees as part of efforts to prevent further Russian aggression, but it far from clear whether Western governments would actually fight Russia on behalf of Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Aug 16, 2025

Ukrainians left dismayed as Trump gives Putin the red carpet treatment

By Peter Dickinson

US President Donald Trump’s warm welcome for Russian President Vladimir Putin was a major PR victory for the Kremlin dictator that made for particularly painful viewing in Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Freedom and Prosperity
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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
Russia’s economically vital energy sector is Vladimir Putin’s Achilles’ Heel

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
Russia’s economically vital energy sector is Vladimir Putin’s Achilles’ Heel

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
Russia’s economically vital energy sector is Vladimir Putin’s Achilles’ Heel

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.

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UkraineAlert

Nov 13, 2024

Russia’s economically vital energy sector is Vladimir Putin’s Achilles’ Heel

By Oleksiy Zagorodnyuk

By introducing additional sanctions on Russia's energy industry and intensifying implementation cooperation, the West can undermine Putin's ability to wage war and strengthen the global order against further acts of international aggression, writes Oleksiy Zagorodnyuk.

Conflict Economic Sanctions

UkraineAlert

Nov 12, 2024

Russia emerges as the real winner of Georgia’s disputed election

By Nicholas Chkhaidze

Critics say Georgia's October parliamentary elections were marred by widespread vote-rigging, but the success of the ruling Georgian Dream party is nevertheless a major victory for Russia that consolidates Moscow's position in the Caucasus region.

Civil Society Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Nov 7, 2024

Donald Trump’s election victory fuels hopes and fears in Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

Donald Trump's election win has sparked alarm in Ukraine, where many fear he will end US support for the country. However, some war-weary Ukrainians hope he can help end the Russian invasion, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Elections

UkraineAlert

Nov 7, 2024

The West must respond to Russia’s rapidly escalating hybrid warfare

By Doug Livermore

Russia's hybrid war against the West is escalating rapidly and requires a far firmer collective response, writes Doug Livermore.

Conflict Cybersecurity

UkraineAlert

Nov 5, 2024

Putin’s 2022 ‘peace proposal’ was a blueprint for the destruction of Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

New details of talks between Russia and Ukraine during spring 2022 confirm that Putin’s alleged peace proposal was in fact a call for unconditional surrender and a blueprint for the destruction of the Ukrainian state, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Nov 5, 2024

Ukraine needs Western support to boost its nuclear energy potential

By Stephen Blank

An energy equipment deal with Bulgaria offers Ukraine a chance to boost its nuclear power generation as the country braces for winter blackouts amid Russia's energy infrastructure bombing campaign, writes Stephen Blank.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2024

Ukrainians brace for blackouts ahead of Russian winter air offensive

By Aura Sabadus

A recent lull in Russian missile attacks has led many Ukrainians to conclude that the Kremlin is stockpiling ahead of a major winter air offensive targeting Ukraine's civilian energy infrastructure, writes Aura Sabadus.

Conflict Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2024

Putin’s North Korean escalation is a direct result of Western weakness

By Peter Dickinson

The arrival of North Korean soldiers on the battlefields of Europe is the result of more than a decade of weak Western responses to escalating Russian aggression in Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2024

Russia’s economy is overheating but Putin cannot change course

By Alexander Mertens

Russia's wartime economy is in danger of overheating due to a combination of record military spending, sanctions pressures, and runaway inflation, but Vladimir Putin dare not change course, writes Alexander Mertens.

Conflict Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Oct 29, 2024

Putin’s war on Ukrainian heritage: Russia bombs first Soviet skyscraper

By Peter Dickinson

This week's targeted Russian bombing of Kharkiv's iconic Derzhprom building was the latest in a series of attacks on Ukrainian heritage sites that many regard as evidence of a deliberate Kremlin campaign to erase Ukraine’s national identity, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Disinformation
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