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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

Why Is Ukraine Giving Fugitive Oligarch Dmytro Firtash a $1 Billion Windfall?

UkraineAlert
Sep 30, 2025

Putin’s dream of demilitarizing Ukraine has turned into his worst nightmare

By
Peter Dickinson

Putin had hoped to demilitarize and decapitate the Ukrainian state, but his self-defeating invasion has inadvertently created the militarily powerful and fiercely independent Ukraine he feared most of all, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

Why Is Ukraine Giving Fugitive Oligarch Dmytro Firtash a $1 Billion Windfall?

UkraineAlert
Oct 2, 2025

Drone superpower Ukraine is teaching NATO how to defend against Russia

By
David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s unrivaled experience of drone warfare makes it a key partner for NATO and an indispensable ally in the defense of Europe as the continent faces up to the mounting threat posed by an expansionist Russia, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

Why Is Ukraine Giving Fugitive Oligarch Dmytro Firtash a $1 Billion Windfall?

UkraineAlert
Oct 14, 2025

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are a European problem

By
Aura Sabadus

Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure are no longer just a Ukrainian problem. Moscow’s bombing campaign will become a wider European issue unless more support is offered to Kyiv, writes Aura Sabadus.

Conflict
Drones

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Oct 6, 2022

Ukraine’s top NATO priority should be weapons, not fast-track membership

By
Steven Pifer

Ukraine’s recent application for fast-track NATO accession is unlikely to receive the necessary backing from alliance members but appeals for more weapons would pay dividends for Kyiv, writes Steven Pifer.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2022

Memo to Elon Musk: Only Ukrainian victory can stop Vladimir Putin

By
Doug Klain

Elon Musk recently became the latest high-profile figure to argue that Ukraine should cede land to Russia in exchange for peace. These advocates of appeasement fail to grasp the genocidal nature of Vladimir Putin’s war.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

Is Russia preparing to target vital Norwegian energy exports to Europe?

By
Thomas S. Warrick

Recent drone activity close to Norwegian energy infrastructure has sparked calls for urgent security measures to prevent potential Russian sabotage of vital oil and gas exports to Europe in the coming months.

Conflict
Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

Will Putin send mobilized Russians to Belarus for a new Kyiv offensive?

By
Alesia Rudnik

Vladimir Putin’s decision to order Russia’s first mobilization since World War II has revived fears in neighboring Belarus that the country could be dragged into the invasion of Ukraine and a new march on Kyiv.

Belarus
Civil Society


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

European unity is essential as Putin prepares to weaponize winter

By
Kira Rudik

European unity will be vital in the coming months as Russia attempts to weaponize winter in order to convince EU leaders to abandon their support for Ukraine and end their opposition to Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion.

Conflict
Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Sep 30, 2022

Putin denounces imperialism while annexing large swathes of Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially annexed four regions of Ukraine while denouncing Western imperialism and proclaiming Russia as the leader of a global “anti-colonialism movement.”

Conflict
Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2022

Referendum coverage proves media is still vulnerable to Russian disinformation

By
Peter Dickinson

International coverage of Russia’s sham referendums in occupied regions of Ukraine has served to highlight the continued influence of Kremlin disinformation at some of the world’s leading media outlets, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Sep 27, 2022

Putin threatens to increase attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure

By
Victor Kevluk

Vladimir Putin has threatened to destroy Ukrainian civilian infrastructure in a targeted campaign designed to crush the country’s will to resist the ongoing Russian invasion.

Conflict
Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2022

The West should not fear the prospect of a post-Putin Russia

By
Richard D. Hooker, Jr.

Many in the West believe the fall of Vladimir Putin would pave the way for an even more extreme successor in Moscow but post-Putin Russia may actually reject the anti-Western policies of today’s Kremlin.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2022

From the UN to The Late Show, Ukraine’s diplomats are winning

By
Pete Shmigel

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba recently quipped at the UN that “Russian diplomats flee almost as aptly as Russian soldiers.” This one-liner was typical of the creative diplomacy that is bolstering Ukraine’s war effort.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

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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

Why Is Ukraine Giving Fugitive Oligarch Dmytro Firtash a $1 Billion Windfall?

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

Why Is Ukraine Giving Fugitive Oligarch Dmytro Firtash a $1 Billion Windfall?

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

Why Is Ukraine Giving Fugitive Oligarch Dmytro Firtash a $1 Billion Windfall?

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

Jul 26, 2018

Why Is Ukraine Giving Fugitive Oligarch Dmytro Firtash a $1 Billion Windfall?

By Oleksandr Kharchenko

Editor’s note: On July 27, it was announced that implementation of the gas transportation system code has been delayed until October 1. The problems that Kharchenko outlines below with the new code still apply.  Christmas comes early this year for Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash. On August 1, the tycoon may pocket about $1 billion through […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 26, 2018

How to Make Disappointed Ukrainians Believe Again

By Elena Tribushnaya

This month, the Ukrainian magazine Novoye Vremya interviewed fifty experts to assess President Petro Poroshenko’s achievements after four years. The result was a score of just six out of twelve.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 26, 2018

Why Is Ukraine Still So Poor?

By Basil Kalymon and Oleh Havrylyshyn

Ukraine should have been a prosperous, middle-income country by now. Instead, it is one of the poorest in Europe. Ukrainians are only slightly richer than Moldovans. Since Ukraine’s independence, we, as members of the diaspora, have had a keen interest in the country’s development. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, there were great expectations […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 24, 2018

Drones, Video Cameras, and Online Searches: How One Team Catches Ukraine’s Crooks

By Josh Cohen

Exposing corrupt Ukrainian judges and prosecutors might sound dangerous, but for Kate Butko, it’s nothing compared to what she’s previously dealt with. Butko runs PROSUD, an eleven-person project founded in 2016 by activists from the Automaidan, an anticorruption nongovernmental organization that organized car owners during the Euromaidan. Funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and […]

UkraineAlert

Jul 24, 2018

Ukrainians Want New Leaders. Here’s How They Can Bring in Fresh Faces

By Brian Mefford

It’s no surprise that public opinion polls show that Ukrainians are largely disappointed with the same old faces and choices in politics. The candidates expected to run in the 2019 presidential election aren’t new. Out of frustration with the unaccountability of the current parliament, there was a big push this spring to switch to an […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 24, 2018

What Do the Brussels and Helsinki Summits Mean for Ukraine?

By Stephen Blank

Before the NATO summit in Brussels and the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki, many observers were apprehensive about Ukraine’s prospects at these events. As it turned out, in Brussels, NATO strongly supported Ukraine’s sovereignty and integrity. The alliance committed to further development of the bilateral partnership, encouraged Ukraine to make the best use of its opportunities […]

NATO
Russia

UkraineAlert

Jul 23, 2018

Russia has no place in the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine

By Paul Niland

It will be difficult to get some other OSCE member countries, allies of Russia, to accept that unanimity minus one should now be applied in Ukraine. But at the very least, this conversation should be opened.

OSCE
Russia

UkraineAlert

Jul 19, 2018

Are the EU and NATO Serious about Bringing Peace to Ukraine? You Wouldn’t Know It from Their Language.

By Roman Sohn and Ariana Gic

Two events that took place in Brussels this month—the NATO summit and the EU-Ukraine summit—have once again brought attention to the Western position on Russia’s unlawful war on Ukraine. Although very supportive of Ukraine, the final declarations of both summits fail to use clear language recognizing Russia’s responsibility for its ongoing multi-vector war on Ukraine.

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 19, 2018

Q&A: What Should Trump Read? A Remedial Russia Reading List

By Melinda Haring

On July 16, as US President Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Trump revealed just how little he knows about modern Russia or its leader. While US intelligence agencies have said the Russians interfered in the 2016 presidential election, Trump shocked the world by siding with Putin, who denied everything. “I don’t see […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 18, 2018

Not a Good Day for Ukraine

By Josh Cohen

Ukraine tries to project a proud image of a Western country with enormous potential held back by Russia, which is absolutely true, but it’s also true that it often holds itself back.    Take yesterday as an example. It was not a good day for Ukraine. A peaceful demonstration in Kyiv meant to highlight the […]

Russia
Ukraine
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