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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

Apr 6, 2021

Upgrading Ukraine’s Air Force could deter Russia

By
Stephen Blank

Reinforcing Ukraine's Air Force would be a powerful way to deter Russian aggression against Ukraine and indicate to Moscow that the Western world will no longer tolerate Russian military adventurism in Eastern Europe.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Apr 6, 2021

How to reform Ukrainian Railways

By
Adomas Audickas

In order for Ukraine’s railway service to modernize, or even to survive in the long-term, the government needs to help reform UZ by changing tariffs, funding loss-making passenger operations, and cutting taxes.


Economy & Business


Fiscal and Structural Reform


UkraineAlert

Apr 4, 2021

Is Putin about to launch a new offensive in Ukraine?

By
Peter Dickinson

Russia has sparked alarm in recent days by massing its armed forces close to the Ukrainian border. The military build-up has raised fears of a dramatic escalation in the simmering seven-year conflict between the two countries.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Apr 1, 2021

How Putin made the international media his unwitting accomplices

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin's hybrid war against Ukraine relies heavily on deliberate disinformation and blanket denials. By prioritizing impartiality over accuracy, the international media has often played the role of unwitting accomplice.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Apr 1, 2021

Ukraine’s local authorities and the Covid-19 pandemic

By
Iryna Ozymok

One year on since pandemic lockdown regulations were first introduced in Ukraine, have local authorities across the country learned the often tough lessons of the past twelve months?


Coronavirus


Crisis Management


UkraineAlert

Mar 31, 2021

Ukraine’s unlikely new political heavyweight

By
Adrian Karatnycky

Ukraine has an unlikely new political heavyweight. Oleksiy Danilov is Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. He has recently become Ukraine’s most compelling voice for reform.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Mar 30, 2021

Why the Black Sea could emerge as the world’s next great energy battleground

By
Aura Sabadus

The Black Sea has vast untapped oil and gas reserves along with enormous renewable energy possibilities. This makes it potentially one of the world's great energy battlegrounds in the decades ahead.


Eastern Europe


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Mar 30, 2021

Putin plots Ukraine peace talks without Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukrainian diplomats have voiced alarm over Russian plans to hold Ukraine peace talks without Ukraine’s participation. The news has revived fears that Moscow aims to bypass Kyiv and reach agreement directly with the West over Ukraine’s geopolitical future.


Conflict


France


UkraineAlert

Mar 26, 2021

Five reasons why Ukraine rejected Vladimir Putin’s “Russian World”

By
Taras Kuzio

Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to force Ukrainian acceptance of the country's place within the "Russian World" have proved disastrous and led to the collapse of Russian influence in Ukraine.


Conflict


Nationalism


UkraineAlert

Mar 25, 2021

The risks of rushing to internet voting in Ukraine

By
Serhii Savelii and Meredith Applegate

Ukraine’s vision for digital transformation is ambitious and includes holding online voting for all elections and referendums, but this vision fails to take into account numerous practical obstacles and risks.


Cybersecurity


Democratic Transitions

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

Jan 29, 2019

Time to Shame Putin Again

By Maksym Eristavi

Chechnya is at it again. Recent reports indicate that there’s another anti-gay pogrom underway in the Russian region of Chechnya. It is said to include kidnappings, secret torture chambers, and arbitrary executions. Violence against these individuals is escalating, and it’s the biggest spike of targeted attacks against gay Chechens since 2017 when 100 LGBTQ people […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

Jan 29, 2019

Why the Hungarian Link in Russia’s Grand Strategy Is Overblown

By Gergely Varga

Editor’s Note: This article is a response to Stephen Blank’s essay, Putin’s Energy Strategy Is More Ambitious than You Think, which we published on January 4, 2019.   Energy policy is a crucial part of Russia’s strategy to maximize its influence in Europe and divide the European Union. As highlighted by critics of Russia’s assertive energy […]

Hungary Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 28, 2019

Five Key Takeaways from Davos 2019 for Ukraine

By Andy Hunder

“No other event has the same global appeal,” commented Andy Christie, private jets director at Air Charter Service, predicting up to 1,500 individual private jets flights to be made in and out of this year’s Davos summit. Top global business leaders, political leaders, economists, celebrities, and journalists turn up year after year to the World […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 25, 2019

Ukraine’s Slow but Steady Strangulation Is Taking Place in Plain Sight

By Peter Dickinson

Russia’s war against Ukraine is about to enter its sixth year, but many remain in denial over the true nature of the conflict. There is still widespread international reluctance to acknowledge the global significance of Vladimir Putin’s invasion, leading to a preference for the kind of euphemistic language that blurs the lines between victim and […]

Germany Russia

UkraineAlert

Jan 25, 2019

Here’s How to Nurture Risk-Taking Among Ukraine’s IT Sector

By Maksym Bakhmatov

Ukraine is a country of opportunity and talent. Home to one of the fastest-growing IT industries in the world, Ukraine has over 4,000 technology companies and about 2,000 startups. In 2018, investment in startups reached almost $300 million. Additionally, the country has roughly 184,000 software developers, and Ukrainians register over 12,000 patents annually for various […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 24, 2019

Are Things Really Changing at Ukroboronprom?

By Melinda Haring

Pavlo Bukin has been on the job for nearly a year, and he’s in good spirits. It’s not the most enviable position: he’s the general director of Ukroboronprom, the state-owned defense company, and has been charged with cleaning up the company and making its business practices market friendly. Ukroboronprom (UOP) has serious reputational issues. Ukraine’s […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2019

Who wanted Boris Nemtsov dead? New book offers new look at evidence

By Anders Åslund

Boris Nemtsov was jollier and more outgoing than most. Unlike most of Russia’s reformers, he abstained from wealth, choosing to live modestly as an opposition politician. He could work with anyone. On February 27, 2015, he was murdered just off the Kremlin.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 21, 2019

Ukraine emerges from isolation

By James Brooke

Transportation links provide advance warnings as to where a society is going physically and mentally. Until five years ago, all of Ukraine’s roads led to Moscow. Now they go west. On land, more Ukrainians traveled by train to Europe than to Russia last year for the first time since Czarist railroads were built in the […]

Macroeconomics Russia

UkraineAlert

Jan 17, 2019

Trump Doesn’t Have to Quit NATO to Undermine It, Expert Warns

By Melinda Haring

On January 14, the New York Times confirmed that President Donald Trump talked about pulling out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization more than once in 2018. But can the president quit NATO unilaterally?

NATO Russia

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2019

Putin’s dream scenario for Ukraine

By Alexander J. Motyl

Ironically, by failing to acknowledge that everything has in fact changed, Ukrainians could wind up with the worst of all possible worlds—a reversal to the status quo ante and a return to Russia’s embrace.

Russia Ukraine