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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

Oct 20, 2022

Classical concert captures Ukraine’s defiant response to Russian invasion

By Jacob Heilbrunn

Ukraine’s defiant spirit was on display on October 18 at a Kennedy Center concert organized by the Chopivsky Family Foundation and featuring the New Era Orchestra of Kyiv together with celebrated violinist Joshua Bell.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2022

Winning the peace through democratic progress in post-war Ukraine

By Peter Erben, Gio Kobakhidze

As Ukraine’s army continues to liberate the country from Russian occupation, it is critical that Ukraine’s military success is buttressed by continued democratic progress. Ukraine must not only win the war, but also win the peace.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Oct 18, 2022

Bowing to Putin’s nuclear blackmail will make nuclear war more likely

By Andriy Zagorodnyuk

Giving in to Putin’s nuclear blackmail would not end the war in Ukraine. What it would do is set a disastrous precedent that makes a future nuclear war far more likely while encouraging uncontrolled nuclear proliferation.

Arms Control
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2022

Ukraine has a Russia problem not a Putin problem

By Taras Kuzio

Ukraine appears poised to defeat Putin’s invasion but Russia will continue to pose an existential threat to Ukrainian statehood until Russians learn to accept that Ukraine is a sovereign and independent nation.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2022

Putin’s blackout blitz: Russia aims to freeze Ukrainians into surrender

By Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Russia is seeking to plunge Ukraine into darkness ahead of the winter heating season by destroying the country’s energy infrastructure. Ukraine’s partners must step in to make sure Ukrainians are not frozen into surrender.

Conflict
Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Oct 13, 2022

Meet the Ukrainian TV star fundraising millions for the country’s war effort

By Oleksii Antoniuk, Andrew D’Anieri

TV host Serhiy Prytula is being tipped by many as a rising star of Ukrainian politics but for now he is fully occupied in his current role leading crowdfunding efforts for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2022

No, Russia’s airstrike escalation is not retaliation for the Crimean Bridge

By Razom Advocacy Team

International media coverage depicting Russia’s recent airstrike escalation as retaliation for the alleged Ukrainian attack on the Crimean Bridge risks creating false equivalency over Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Oct 11, 2022

Russia’s terror tactics: Putin escalates attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets

By Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin has launched a new phase of his Ukraine invasion and ordered the destruction of the country’s civilian infrastructure. Ukraine’s Western partners must urgently provide air defense systems to avert disaster.

Conflict
Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Oct 11, 2022

Six things you (yes, you!) can do now to help Ukraine

By Melinda Haring

With the winter season fast approaching and Vladimir Putin launching a campaign against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, it is more important than ever to maintain support for Ukraine. Melinda Haring has some ideas.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Oct 9, 2022

Ukraine and Moldova move to disarm Vladimir Putin’s energy weapon

By Aura Sabadus

With the winter heating season now underway, Ukraine and neighboring Moldova both continue to make progress toward reducing dependence on Russian gas and disarming Vladimir Putin’s energy weapon.

Conflict
European Union

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Content

UkraineAlert

Oct 30, 2018

Five ways to entice Ukrainians to come home

By Andy Hunder

Approximately five million Ukrainians, roughly 25 percent of the country’s economically active population, work abroad.

Macroeconomics
Migration

UkraineAlert

Oct 29, 2018

How Ukraine’s Presidential Race Is Shaping Up

By Mykola Vorobiov

Ukraine’s presidential race is in full swing, even though the official campaign period has not yet begun. At this point, incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko may make the second round; no candidate is expected to take 50 percent in the first round. If elections were held now, Tymoshenko would take […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2018

Three More Reasons to Be Bullish on Ukraine

By Melinda Haring

Ukraine’s civil society is realizing an unfortunate fact: reforming the country is going to be more of a marathon than a sprint. Consequently, pro-reform advocates have had to adjust their expectations. Describing her hopes for the speed of change in Ukraine, Anticorruption Action Center executive director Daria Kaleniuk said that she and her colleagues now […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2018

Ukraine Can Succeed But It Won’t Happen Overnight

By Andrii Osadchuk

With every new election cycle, Ukrainians freeze in hope and despondency. Each time, we face an inner conflict between the desire for fair and systemic change and the fear and distrust acquired from experience. We’ve been trying to break out of this vicious cycle for twenty-seven years, and each time we try, the enthusiasm subsides […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 23, 2018

How Ukraine’s Cities Are Sharing Their Good Ideas

By Iryna Ozymok

Today, 54 percent of the world’s population lives in cities, and by 2030, two-thirds likely will. Mayors are city managers, responsible not only for quality of life issues like access to water, roads, and infrastructure; they’re also facing global challenges like climate change, security, and migration.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 23, 2018

How Ukraine’s Never Ending Transition Makes the Rich Richer and Everyone Else Poorer

By Tymofiy Mylovanov and Richard van Weelden

After twenty-seven years of independence, the Ukrainian economy continues to struggle. The country appears to be stuck in partial transition from the command to market economy. Many state-owned companies have been privatized, but many more remain in the custody of the state and are mismanaged. There is corporate governance and independent boards, but the assets […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 22, 2018

Good News: Ukraine Finally Gets New IMF Agreement

By Anders Åslund

On October 19, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that it had finally reached a staff-level agreement with Ukraine on renewed lending. Ukraine hasn’t received any IMF funds since April 2017. Experts had warned that without an IMF tranche, Ukraine’s economy might face a serious financial crisis this fall.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 18, 2018

Church Splits, and Putin Loses Big

By Stephen Blank

Ukraine has just won a tremendous victory by obtaining the right of autocephaly, or the right to constitute the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as fully independent and free of any subservience to Moscow. This victory represents a shattering blow to Vladimir Putin’s pretenses of a Russian world (Russkii Mir) and the entire arcana imperii (Imperial relics) […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2018

The New Cold War Could Learn a Lot from the Old One

By John E. Herbst

Territories between great powers—borderlands—have always been areas of strife. So it is with the countries caught between Russia and the West, those that were once part of the Soviet Union or firmly within its sphere of influence. Much of Europe has consolidated and, with the United States, established a lasting liberal democratic order, but Russia […]

Moldova
The Caucasus

UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2018

How Ukraine Can Avoid Disaster in 2019

By Taras Kuzio

Ukraine’s 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections are the most important since the country became independent nearly three decades ago. If next year’s elections follow those held in 2014 when five pro-reform political forces won a constitutional majority, Ukraine’s European integration and withdrawal from the Russian world will be assured by the next election cycle in […]

Russia
Ukraine