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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

Aug 13, 2020

Ukraine must address the legal ambiguity enabling Putin’s not-so-secret war

By
Wayne Jordash

Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine is one of the world's worst-kept secrets, but a failure to end the legal ambiguity shrouding Russia's role in the ongoing conflict makes progress towards peace impossible.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Aug 11, 2020

Zelenskyy’s old new faces

By
Adrian Karatnycky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to power in 2019 promising a new era in Ukrainian politics but the recent appointment of figures from the discredited past raises questions about this fresh start.


Democratic Transitions


Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Aug 6, 2020

Can new legislation revive Ukraine’s defense reforms?

By
Serhiy Piontkovsky

Ukraine's defense industry has become a major source of state spending since the onset of hostilities with Russia in 2014, but corruption allegations have been a problem. Can new legislation revive reform efforts?


Defense Policy


Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Aug 4, 2020

From Russian war to European opportunity: Reinventing eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region

By
Oleksii Reznikov

Putin has place eastern Ukraine's Donbas region at the heart of his "Russian World" mythology, but in reality the region has a cosmopolitan heritage that could help to inspire a new era of European investment.


Conflict


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2020

How to overcome Ukraine’s IT industry brain drain

By
Bill Brown

Ukraine’s booming IT industry is fueling the country's economic growth. The future of the sector depends on creating a professional climate that will convince talented young Ukrainian IT professionals to stay.


Entrepreneurship


Internet


UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2020

For Ukraine, endless Putin means endless hybrid war

By
Mark Temnycky

Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent constitutional amendments will allow him to extend his reign until 2036. This undermines faint hopes for an end to the six-year Russo-Ukrainian War.


Conflict


Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Aug 1, 2020

Kyiv names street in honor of journalist who exposed Stalin’s Ukrainian genocide

By
Peter Dickinson

Kyiv City Council has confirmed plans to name a street in the Ukrainian capital in honor of British journalist Gareth Jones, who first brought news of Stalin's 1933 Ukrainian genocide to international audiences.


Disinformation


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jul 30, 2020

The coronavirus crisis and statelessness in Ukraine

By
Andrew D’Anieri

For the estimated 35,000 stateless people living in Ukraine, access to even the most basic resources like food, medicine, and hygienic products, has been all but cut off due to the coronavirus pandemic.


Coronavirus


Human Rights


UkraineAlert

Jul 29, 2020

Hard political realities threaten Ukraine’s soft power ambitions

By
Marina Pesenti

The Ukrainian Institute was established in 2018 in order to make the most of the country's untapped soft power potential, but this cultural diplomacy initiative faces numerous political and bureaucratic obstacles.


Civil Society


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Jul 28, 2020

Zelenskyy’s bad economics: Inflation and devaluation will not help Ukraine grow

By
Anders Åslund

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s policymakers are causing concern by flirting with the dangerous idea that high inflation and substantial currency devaluation can boost economic growth.


Democratic Transitions


Economy & Business

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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Feb 11, 2019

New Political Platform in Ukraine Deserves Second Look

By Vitalii Rybak

On February 4, a group of Ukrainian politicians and activists announced the formation of a new political platform. In Ukraine, this would hardly make news. New political platforms are announced regularly, especially during election years. But this new platform, the Euro-Atlantic Agenda for Ukraine, deserves a second look. (We previously reported that this platform was […]

NATO Russia

UkraineAlert

Feb 11, 2019

Why the Sajdik Plan for the Donbas Will Not Work

By Maksym Khylko

In the last year, there hasn’t been any new momentum in the effort to bring peace to Ukraine. Amid this long-lasting stalemate, the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung recently published an interview with Martin Sajdik, special representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, under the ambitious title “We Have a New Plan […]

OSCE Russia

UkraineAlert

Feb 8, 2019

Legal Threats to Minister Imperil Ukraine’s Health Care

By Melinda Haring

Ulana Suprun just wants to get back to work turning around Ukraine’s feeble healthcare system. But she can’t focus on reforms now: the fifty-six-year-old radiologist turned health minister of Ukraine is under attack. Worst of all, she’s not sure who is behind it. On February 5, Kyiv’s Regional Administrative Court ruled to suspend Suprun’s authority […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 7, 2019

Is the Kremlin Really Afraid of a Farmer?

By Vitalii Rybak

Birthdays are typically lavish affairs in Ukraine. But not for Volodymyr Balukh, who will spend his third birthday in prison for the simple act of displaying a Ukrainian flag in Crimea. On February 8, the Ukrainian farmer turns 48. His case shows how Moscow harshly punishes Ukrainians in Crimea who have the temerity to protest […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 6, 2019

Q&A: Why Are Ukraine’s Last Reformers Being Kicked Out?

By Melinda Haring

Less than two months before Ukraine’s presidential election, two independent-minded officials are being forced out. On February 5, Kyiv’s Regional Administrative Court ruled to suspend Detroit born physician Ulana Suprun’s authority to make any decisions or sign any documents as the acting minister of health. The court pointed to a regulation that limits an acting […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 3, 2019

Rating Ukraine’s Presidential Candidates

By Alexander J. Motyl and Dennis Soltys

Three candidates have the most plausible chance of winning the first round in Ukraine’s March 31st presidential election: President Petro Poroshenko; former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko; and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a politically untested comedian whose popular television show, Servant of the People, portrays him as an intrepid corruption fighter. Zelenskiy’s popularity can be explained as a […]

Russia Ukraine
This is the picture

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2019

Two Big Problems with Ukraine’s Elections that No One Else Has Spotted

By Mykola Vorobiov

There are many reasons to worry about Ukraine’s elections this year. The 2019 elections may be as defining as those in 2014, when Ukraine left the Russian world for good. However, so far, most analysts have missed two factors that may play an outsized role. First, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is not only a sitting […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2019

Russia looks to strike at Ukraine’s south again?

By Andreas Umland

An escalation at the Azov Sea will threaten social stability in southeastern Ukraine.

Conflict Maritime Security

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2019

Poroshenko Runs on Stay the Course Platform

By Ruslan Minich and Vitalii Rybak

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko finally announced that he will seek reelection at a packed forum on January 29 in Kyiv. Held on the anniversary of the battle of Kruty when students and Cossacks died defending Kyiv from Bolshevik forces in 1918, organizers were hoping to stress the symbolism: Ukraine started to move away from Russia […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 31, 2019

The Right Person at the Right Time

By Carl Gershman

Editor’s note: Nadia Diuk died on January 23, 2019. She worked at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) for thirty-two years. Carl Gershman, president of the NED, delivered this eulogy at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington on January 31, 2019  In the days since Nadia passed, the National Endowment […]

Ukraine