UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine’s politics, economy, civil society, and culture. UkraineAlert sources analysis and commentary from a wide-array of thought-leaders, politicians, experts, and activists from Ukraine and the global community. UkraineAlert has become a major publication in Ukraine’s news landscape and has established itself not only through its quality of content but also significant partnerships with English, Ukrainian, and Russian-language media through the country.

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

No good deed goes unpunished in Ukraine

UkraineAlert Sep 3, 2026

Putin cannot defeat NATO but he could divide and discredit the alliance

By Peter Dickinson

If Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to attack NATO, his goal will be to divide and discredit the alliance rather than actually defeating it, writes Peter Dickinson.
Conflict Defense Policy
No good deed goes unpunished in Ukraine

UkraineAlert Aug 27, 2026

Ukrainians are not superheroes with endless powers of resilience

By Lauren Van Metre, Elena Davlikanova

By celebrating Ukrainian resilience as an almost superhuman quality, the international community risks obscuring the much less glamorous reality that Ukrainians are actually ordinary people who have endured extraordinary violence for far too long, write Lauren Van Metre and Elena Davlikanova.
Civil Society Conflict
No good deed goes unpunished in Ukraine

UkraineAlert Aug 25, 2026

A cultural renaissance is reshaping national identity in wartime Ukraine

By Davis Richardson

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is fueling a defiant cultural outpouring that is redefining and strengthening Ukrainian national identity in ways that challenge centuries of Kremlin imperialism, writes Davis Richardson.
Civil Society Conflict

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Jul 15, 2020

Toppling Lenin: The lessons of Ukraine’s memory wars

By Peter Dickinson

The Black Lives Matter movement has sparked a flurry of monument removals across the US and elsewhere. Independent Ukraine's long history of memory wars offers a timely case study in the politics of the past.

Democratic Transitions Nationalism

UkraineAlert

Jul 14, 2020

Russo-Ukrainian War: Kremlin denials prevent progress towards peace

By Oleksandr Merezhko

Almost six years have passed since the Minsk Agreements were first signed. However, there is still fundamental disagreement over the parties to these agreements and the obligations they are under.

Conflict Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

UkraineAlert

Jul 13, 2020

East Ukraine’s European roots and the myths of Putin’s Russian World

By Alvydas Medalinskas

Moscow has sought to justify the war in eastern Ukraine by claiming it historically belongs within the "Russian World", but this ignores the region's deep Ukrainian roots and cosmopolitan heritage.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Jul 10, 2020

Central bank chief’s political ouster discredits Ukraine

By Anders Åslund

In June, Ukraine secured a vital new IMF program. Continued National Bank of Ukraine independence was a key condition. However, within weeks, NBU chief Yakiv Smolii resigned citing political pressure.

Economy & Business International Financial Institutions

UkraineAlert

Jul 9, 2020

Coronavirus chaos reigns at front line checkpoints in Russian-occupied Ukraine

By Eric Fritz

A climate of confusion over coronavirus-related checkpoint crossing procedures is creating havoc and adding to the hardships of civilians living close to the front lines of the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Coronavirus Crisis Management

UkraineAlert

Jul 8, 2020

Containing the Kremlin: Why the West must rethink policy towards a revisionist Russia

By Oleksii Reznikov

After more than five years of deadlock in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, it is obvious that fresh approaches are needed in order to end the war on Europe’s eastern frontier and contain the Kremlin.

Conflict NATO Partnerships

UkraineAlert

Jul 8, 2020

Ukrainian resorts see 30% growth as coronavirus crisis boosts domestic tourism

By Peter Dickinson

With international travel still heavily restricted due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Ukraine's Black Sea holiday resorts are experiencing a major boost as Ukrainians spend their vacations closer to home.

Coronavirus Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 6, 2020

Czar Putin wants a new age of empires

By Nataliia Popovych and Danylo Lubkivsky

In both word and deed, Putin has made it clear that he rejects today’s rules-based international order and seeks to reverse the verdict of 1991. His vision for a new age of empires represents an existential challenge to the West.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Jul 2, 2020

Analysis: Ukraine’s central bank governor quits post citing “political pressure”

By Peter Dickinson

National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Governor Yakiv Smolii submitted his resignation on July 1 in what was widely seen as a major blow to Ukraine’s reform agenda. What does this mean for the country’s future direction?

Economy & Business Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2020

Ukraine’s central bank chief resigns leaving Zelenskyy’s reform credentials in tatters

By Anders Åslund

Ukraine’s reform agenda suffered a serious blow on July 1 when Yakiv Smolii, the highly respected governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), resigned due to what he called “systematic political pressure.”

Financial Regulation Macroeconomics
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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
No good deed goes unpunished in Ukraine

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
No good deed goes unpunished in Ukraine

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
No good deed goes unpunished in Ukraine

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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Content

UkraineAlert

Mar 1, 2019

No good deed goes unpunished in Ukraine

By Olena Halushka and Olena Shcherban

Ukraine is in danger of backsliding, big time, and few people realize just how serious it is. This week, the Constitutional Court eliminated a law which made corrupt officials liable for illicit enrichment. This will immediately result in the closure of sixty-five high-profile criminal cases. The court decision may jeopardize Ukraine’s relations with international institutions. […]

Corruption Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Feb 28, 2019

Why Poroshenko doesn’t deserve a second term

By Diane Francis

Ukraine needs a change. The latest scandal, involving allegations of massive profiteering from the war against Russia by well-connected Ukrainians, proves the need for a new leader in the upcoming presidential election. Allegations are that the son of a close business partner of President Petro Poroshenko sold smuggled Russian parts to Ukrainian defense factories at […]

Conflict Corruption

UkraineAlert

Feb 28, 2019

Q&A: Will scandal sink Poroshenko’s second term chances?

By Melinda Haring

On February 25, investigative journalists accused President Petro Poroshenko’s close associates of getting rich by smuggling spare parts for military equipment from Russia. The Bihus.Info report claims that the son of Oleh Hladkovskiy, deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, was the mastermind behind a scheme to buy spare parts from Russia in 2015. […]

Conflict Corruption

UkraineAlert

Feb 28, 2019

Which Ukrainians will lose most if Zelenskiy becomes president?

By Alexander J. Motyl

It goes without saying that all Ukrainians will be losers if and when a dreadfully inexperienced and politically ignorant comedian takes charge of Ukraine’s ship of state. As the economy goes into a tailspin, corruption flourishes, and Russian President Vladimir Putin bares his teeth, all Ukrainians will be far worse off than they are today. […]

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Feb 28, 2019

Ukraine’s athletes shine through national gloom

By Mark Temnycky

Five years after the Euromaidan, most analysis of Ukraine is grim. It tends to focus on the patchy reforms that have been put in place, the country’s endemic corruption, the ongoing war in its east, and the current unpredictable presidential election campaign. Hardly any of the coverage is positive. But that’s not the full picture. […]

Civil Society Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Feb 27, 2019

The Eurovision guide to modern Ukrainian history

By Peter Dickinson

Anyone who feels that Eurovision has become too politicized need look no further than Ukraine for confirmation. Nobody takes the song contest quite as seriously as the Ukrainians, who treat it as an extension of foreign policy complete with furious nationwide debates and heavy-handed government interventions. The latest scandal, which has seen the winner of […]

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

Feb 26, 2019

The Audacity of Ulana Suprun

By Yuri Polakiwsky

There was a distinct sense of the theatrical inside and outside Kyiv’s Administrative Court #2 earlier this month as it decided the fate of Dr. Ulana Suprun, Ukraine’s acting minister of health. Leaving the proceedings, one was left with at least two seemingly absurd questions: what was this showdown all about and why was an […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 22, 2019

Is the Ukrainian Army Worthy of Greater Investment?

By Dennis Soltys

Last year Washington finally gave Kyiv the javelin missiles it had been begging for. But the javelins are mostly symbolic and won’t change much on the frontlines. For more than six months, Washington has been talking about giving Ukraine additional arms to improve its air and naval defenses. These arms are more likely after Russian […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 22, 2019

Let’s Make a Deal, Vladimir

By Johnny Herbst

The ongoing political standoff in Venezuela offers an opportunity for Washington to get something it wants: a democratically elected president in Venezuela and one less vocal Russian ally in its backyard. The Trump Administration recently announced that it plans to leave Syria without any conditions. Russia is involved in both Venezuela and Syria, so if […]

Russia Syria

UkraineAlert

Feb 21, 2019

Ukraine’s Leading Presidential Candidates (Minus Poroshenko) Promise to Fight Corruption

By Olena Haluskha

In Ukraine, demand for a genuine fight against corruption is still extremely high. According to recent surveys, voters name corruption as one of the three biggest problems in Ukraine. Nine out of ten Ukrainians consider grand political corruption the greatest threat to the country, while 80 percent are convinced that the main reason for corruption […]

Ukraine
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