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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

Actually, the West’s Anticorruption Policy Is Spot On

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

Actually, the West’s Anticorruption Policy Is Spot On

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

Actually, the West’s Anticorruption Policy Is Spot On

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

Jul 8, 2022

Post-Boris Britain will continue to stand with Ukraine against Putin’s war

By
Peter Dickinson

Boris Johnson’s resignation has sparked fears in Kyiv over continued UK support but in reality there is little chance of a weakening in British backing for Ukraine in its fight for survival against Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion.

Conflict
Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion


UkraineAlert

Jul 6, 2022

Ukraine defies Russia and launches electricity exports to EU neighbors

By
Aura Sabadus

Ukraine’s remarkable wartime synchronization with the electricity grid of continental Europe moved up a gear at the end of June with the landmark launch of commercial electricity exports to neighboring Romania.

Conflict
Energy Markets & Governance


UkraineAlert

Jul 4, 2022

Why Ukraine loves Boris

By
Peter Dickinson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s domestic approval rating has hit rock bottom but he is the most popular foreign politician in Ukraine thanks to his support for the country in its fight against Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Conflict
National Security


UkraineAlert

Jul 3, 2022

Putin’s poisonous anti-Western ideology relies heavily on projection

By
Allan Mustard

Vladimir Putin’s poisonous anti-Western ideology is rooted in projection of his own authoritarian instincts and outdated assumptions about the adversarial nature of relations between Russia and the democratic world.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jul 3, 2022

Investing in Ukraine’s brains is vital for the country’s post-war prosperity

By
Gerson S. Sher

International support for the development of Ukraine’s education and tech sectors could hold the key to a strong and sovereign Ukrainian state once the current war with Putin’s Russia is over, writes Gerson S. Sher.

Conflict
Cybersecurity


UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2022

With all eyes on Ukraine, Vladimir Putin targets domestic dissidents

By
Doug Klain

While international attention focuses on Vladimir Putin’s genocidal war in Ukraine, the Russian government is accelerating its brutal crackdown on any remaining expressions of anti-regime dissent on the domestic front.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 30, 2022

Goodwill gestures and de-Nazification: Decoding Putin’s Ukraine War lexicon

By
Peter Dickinson

From “goodwill gestures” to “de-Nazification” and “reclaiming Russian lands,” the Atlantic Council’s Peter Dickinson decodes some of the key phrases from the lexicon of Putin’s Ukraine War into plain English.

Central Asia
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 29, 2022

Vladimir Putin’s Ukrainian genocide is proceeding in plain view

By
Taras Kuzio

Western policymakers should be in no doubt that the many different Russian war crimes currently taking place in Ukraine are all part of a coherent plan developed by Vladimir Putin to commit genocide.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 28, 2022

Fear of confronting Putin will lead to Russian victory in Ukraine

By
Richard D. Hooker, Jr.

So far, the war in Ukraine has taught Vladimir Putin that NATO and the EU will go to great lengths to avoid confronting him. This has grave consequences for Ukraine itself and for the wider international community.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2022

Odesa rejects Russia: Putin’s Ukraine War turns old allies into bitter enemies

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

Putin has long claimed to be the champion of pro-Russian Ukrainians. However, the Ukrainian regions most closely associated with pro-Kremlin sentiment have also been hardest hit by the current invasion.

Conflict
Disinformation

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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

Actually, the West’s Anticorruption Policy Is Spot On

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

Actually, the West’s Anticorruption Policy Is Spot On

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

Actually, the West’s Anticorruption Policy Is Spot On

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

Jun 4, 2018

Actually, the West’s Anticorruption Policy Is Spot On

By Daria Kaleniuk

In a recent Foreign Affairs column, Adrian Karatnycky and Alexander J. Motyl argue that the West’s anticorruption policies are failing in Ukraine. This is false. The West’s anticorruption policies are spot on, and the West needs to dig in and push even harder. Karatnycky and Motyl are right that Ukraine has changed for the better […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 31, 2018

Putin’s Bridge to Nowhere

By Askold Krushelnycky

Russia’s war in Ukraine has entered its fifth year. Skirmishes and killings continue every week but have faded from the headlines—perhaps because they have reached “an acceptable level of violence.” I was a teenager when I first heard that chilling term uttered by a British politician in 1971 referring to the low intensity war in […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 31, 2018

How Ukraine Can Seize the Moral High Ground in the Donbas

By Lauren Van Metre

Fighting in eastern Ukraine last week was the worst it’s been this year. The uptick in violence coincides with Ukraine’s transition of the command of the war from its security forces to its armed forces, which is part of the implementation of Ukraine’s new law on reintegration. While much of the new law has not […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 30, 2018

Q&A: “Dead” Russian Journalist Arkady Babchenko Is Alive and Well. Does Faking His Murder Help or Hinder Ukraine’s Credibility?

By Melinda Haring

On May 29, the media reported that Russian journalist and Putin critic Arkady Babchenko had been assassinated in Kyiv. He reportedly died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. On May 30, Babchenko appeared at a press conference, alongside the head of the Ukrainan Security Service (SBU) Vasily Gritsak and Prosecutor General Yuriy […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 29, 2018

Richard Pipes: An Appreciation

By Stephen Blank

I was not a student of the late Richard Pipes, and I only met him once briefly, so I cannot claim any special relationship or unique insight into his personality and character. Nevertheless, he was and remains a model for historians of Russia and those who aspire to understand Russia as it really is.

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 29, 2018

Why I’m Still Doing Business in Ukraine

By Paul Niland

Ukraine is a challenging and confusing place to do business. At the same time, it’s also exciting and changing. I’ve been doing business in Ukraine for fifteen years, and while Ukraine has a bad reputation for international business, it deserves a second look.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 29, 2018

Time to Cut Out the Middlemen in Ukraine Gas Trade

By Diane Francis

Four years after Ukrainians protested in the streets against jaw-dropping corruption, the most odious scheme of all—the corrupt natural gas market—continues to siphon billions from Ukraine. These proceeds underwrite a sophisticated bribery scheme in Russia and Ukraine, and more recently help subsidize Russia’s war and occupation against Ukraine. The heist was devised years ago by […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 25, 2018

Russian Armed Forces Downed Civilian Airline Four Years Ago, Investigators Conclude

By Michael Bociurkiw

The noose is finally closing on the people and structures behind the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Almost four years after the Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur-bound flight was shot down by a BUK missile over Ukraine, a clearer picture is emerging on the origin of the missile, its route to the firing zone in […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 24, 2018

Poroshenko’s Game to Avoid Anti-Corruption Court Continues

By Josh Cohen

Anyone who claims Ukraine’s reforms have failed ignores the type of cases the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has been able to pursue. NABU represents Ukraine’s first government agency truly devoted to ending the impunity of corrupt, high-level officials. NABU continues to investigate and arrest senior officials previously considered untouchable. NABU faces one huge […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 24, 2018

Q&A: Why Are Things Heating Up in Ukraine Again?

By Melinda Haring

Violence is on the rise in eastern Ukraine again. There have been a number of civilian casualties and a massive number of ceasefire violations. Some have said that last week was the worst of all the fighting in 2018. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s army took control over the Donbas operation in April and the talks between US […]

Russia
Ukraine
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