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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

Jun 19, 2021

The dangers of echoing Russian disinformation on Ukraine

By
Andreas Umland

Disinformation has been central to Russia's seven-year hybrid war against Ukraine. By echoing Kremlin narratives, Western commentators risk enabling Russian aggression and undermining international security.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Jun 19, 2021

Ukraine’s choice: corruption or growth

By
Willem Buiter

As Ukraine prepares to mark 30 years of independence, it is clear that until corruption is confronted in a comprehensive and decisive manner, it will continue to prevent the country from achieving economic growth.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jun 19, 2021

Armenian voters offered false choice between security and democracy

By
Lusine Hakobyan

Armenians will go to the polls on June 20 in snap parliamentary elections that the opposition seeks to position as a straight choice between democracy and security following the country's 2020 military defeat.


Democratic Transitions


Elections


UkraineAlert

Jun 17, 2021

Biden-Putin summit review: Good news for Ukraine?

By
Peter Dickinson

Few countries were as anxious as Ukraine ahead of Wednesday’s summit in Geneva between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but can Kyiv regard the outcome as favorable?


Conflict


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Jun 15, 2021

Putin’s Ukraine War: Will Russia attempt a Black Sea blockade?

By
Andriy Zagorodnyuk

The international community spent much of April 2021 nervously watching the Ukrainian border for signs of a new Kremlin offensive, but Russia's next escalation may come in the Black Sea.


Conflict


Maritime Security


UkraineAlert

Jun 14, 2021

Geopolitical weapon: Putin’s pipeline nears completion

By
Benjamin Schmitt

This week's summit meeting between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin may be one of the last opportunities for the US to take a stand against the Kremlin's controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.


Geopolitics & Energy Security


Russia


UkraineAlert

Jun 12, 2021

NATO must stand with Ukraine against Russian aggression

By
Paul Grod

NATO's 2008 decision to deny Ukraine a Membership Action Plan paved the way for Putin's 2014 attack. NATO leaders must now back Ukraine to prevent a further escalation in Russia's war on the post-1991 settlement.


Conflict


NATO Partnerships


UkraineAlert

Jun 10, 2021

Pro-Kremlin propaganda in Ukraine changes tone

By
Peter Pomerantsev, Inna Nelles, Volodymyr Yermolenko, Angelina Kariakina

Pro-Kremlin propaganda in Ukraine is changing. Praising Putin is a harder sell since the 2014 invasion, so now the focus is less on boosting Russia and more about making the West look just as bad.


Disinformation


Media


UkraineAlert

Jun 10, 2021

Ukraine must do more to regain the West’s trust

By
Kira Rudik

The coming week will underline the shortcomings of President Zelenskyy’s foreign policy, with Ukraine left on the sidelines as a series of crucial international summits take place that will directly impact the country’s future.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jun 10, 2021

Ukraine poised for historic land market breakthrough

By
AJ Skiera

On July 1, 2021, Ukraine's new farmland market legislation will come into force, leading to real land ownership for around six million Ukrainians.


Corruption


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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Feb 19, 2019

How Ukraine’s Leading Comedian Pulled Ahead in Polls

By Ruslan Minich

On February 7, hundreds of Facebook users in Ukraine posted videos with red nose filters. Everyone ended up looking like a clown, and that was precisely the point. Ukrainians are clowns because they’ve allowed the country’s political elites to rob them blind, keeping salaries and social benefits low. This was part of a flash mob […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 19, 2019

Ukraine Has Reached a Tipping Point

By Oksana Markarova

Elections may be on the horizon, but I firmly believe that reforms will continue through 2020 and beyond. Now that Ukraine has enshrined EU and NATO accession as the fundamental direction of the country, whoever comes to power, Ukraine’s pro-western economic development and orientation cannot be reversed.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 14, 2019

What the death of the INF Treaty means for Kyiv

By Steven Pifer

With the United States and Russia no longer subject to the INF Treaty’s limits, it would be hard to argue that Ukraine and the other states should remain constrained by the agreement. If Kyiv chooses, it can invoke the same treaty right to withdraw that Washington exercised two weeks ago.

Arms Control Nuclear Nonproliferation

UkraineAlert

Feb 14, 2019

What Putin Must Hear in Munich

By Hanna Hopko

The international community is preparing for the annual Munich Security Conference, which will host more than 500 guests, including forty heads of state and government. I too will attend. Before the conference, I spent part of the week in Kramatorsk, an industrial city in eastern Ukraine, which underwent Russian occupation but was freed by the Ukrainian army. Four years ago, on February […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2019

When a Pencil Is a Rocket Launcher: How We Talk about War

By Vitaliy Deynega

In Kyiv, the word karandash (pencil) is an ordinary word one might encounter in an office supply store or an elementary school. But in eastern Ukraine, where the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has killed more than 10,000, displaced another 1.7 million, and injured thousands of civilians, karandash means something else. The Ukrainian military uses […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2019

We Do Far More than Meddle in Foreign Elections, Top Putin Aide Taunts

By Volodymyr Yermolenko

On February 11, Vladislav Surkov, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s key aides and ideologists, published a reveling article called “Putin’s Long State.” It is not an ordinary piece; it makes the case for a new kind of Russian expansionism, and it should be read closely and taken seriously.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 12, 2019

Sure, Ukraine’s Not Going to Elect a Pro-Russian President, but There Are Many Other Ways the Kremlin Can Interfere

By Sofiya Kominko

Russia’s attack on Ukrainian ships in the Sea of Azov on November 25 may have been a probe to test the West’s reaction before the launch of other offensives aimed at destabilizing Ukraine at a crucial time. 2019 is Ukraine’s election year. And it is one of double importance with presidential and parliamentary elections taking place six […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 12, 2019

Ukrainian Comedian Tops Polls but Race Far from Over

By Katie LaRoque

In a few weeks, a comedian may become the next president of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, an unlikely candidate who plays an ordinary history teacher that becomes president of Ukraine on his popular TV series, Servant of the People, ranks as one of the most popular candidates in Ukraine’s March presidential election. Zelenskiy’s character, Vasyl Petrovych […]

Ukraine

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