UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine’s politics, economy, civil society, and culture. UkraineAlert sources analysis and commentary from a wide-array of thought-leaders, politicians, experts, and activists from Ukraine and the global community. UkraineAlert has become a major publication in Ukraine’s news landscape and has established itself not only through its quality of content but also significant partnerships with English, Ukrainian, and Russian-language media through the country.

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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

Three more reasons why I’m optimistic about Ukraine

UkraineAlert Sep 3, 2026

Putin cannot defeat NATO but he could divide and discredit the alliance

By Peter Dickinson

If Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to attack NATO, his goal will be to divide and discredit the alliance rather than actually defeating it, writes Peter Dickinson.
Conflict Defense Policy
Three more reasons why I’m optimistic about Ukraine

UkraineAlert Aug 27, 2026

Ukrainians are not superheroes with endless powers of resilience

By Lauren Van Metre, Elena Davlikanova

By celebrating Ukrainian resilience as an almost superhuman quality, the international community risks obscuring the much less glamorous reality that Ukrainians are actually ordinary people who have endured extraordinary violence for far too long, write Lauren Van Metre and Elena Davlikanova.
Civil Society Conflict
Three more reasons why I’m optimistic about Ukraine

UkraineAlert Aug 25, 2026

A cultural renaissance is reshaping national identity in wartime Ukraine

By Davis Richardson

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is fueling a defiant cultural outpouring that is redefining and strengthening Ukrainian national identity in ways that challenge centuries of Kremlin imperialism, writes Davis Richardson.
Civil Society Conflict

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Jun 14, 2016

Odious Film about Russian Whistle-Blower Screens at Newseum

By Natalia Arno and Melinda Haring

On June 13, the Newseum did what the European Parliament was too principled to do: it showed The Magnitsky Act, Russian filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov’s controversial new film about Sergei Magnitsky. Magnitsky was a Russian tax lawyer who investigated a tax fraud scheme on behalf of his client, British-American financier William Browder. In 2008, Magnitsky accused […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 13, 2016

Counting Sheep Is Courageous, Soulful, and Important: A Review

By Diane Francis

“Counting Sheep” is a “guerrilla folk opera” that guides audiences on an immersive and soulful journey through Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity. Its creators are Mark and Marichka Marczyk who met and fell in love in Kyiv during the protests of 2013 and 2014. Mark is a talented Canadian musician of Ukrainian heritage and Marichka Kudriavtseva […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 13, 2016

Ukraine’s Oligarchs May Own the Media, but Public Broadcasting Is Shaking Things Up

By Roman Shutov

Last year, after years of debate and lobbying on the issue, public broadcasting was established in Ukraine. In a country suffering from a serious crisis of trust in the media, it looked like a chance to regain people’s faith. The dramatic decline in citizens’ trust in media started in 2014, when central Ukrainian TV channels […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 8, 2016

Ukraine’s Next Big Reform You Haven’t Heard of Yet

By Michael Druckman

Ukraine watchers know all too well that for every success reported about the country, there are numerous setbacks. Yet there are encouraging signs currently occurring within the reform process, particularly at the local level. Perhaps the most successful reform is quietly taking place outside of Kyiv, and has the potential to reinvigorate civic participation, address […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 7, 2016

Civil Society Gives Ukraine’s New Prime Minister Positive Marks

By Josh Cohen

During almost eight weeks in office, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman has inspired largely negative reactions from Western analysts. Noting Groisman’s close relationship with President Petro Poroshenko, observers fret the young prime minister will merely function as a yes-man. His appointment was variously described as “same old, same old,” “not the best choice,” and an […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 7, 2016

The Savchenko Effect

By Brian Mefford

The release from a Russian prison and return of helicopter pilot Nadiya Savchenko to Ukraine has ignited speculation about her future political plans. Elected as the first candidate on the party list of Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc in the October 2014 parliamentary elections, Savchenko immediately entered politics upon her return to Ukraine. Savchenko’s initial speeches focused […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 7, 2016

Ukraine Defies Anti-Semitic Stereotypes

By Alina Polyakova

Confronting a difficult history is no easy matter, particularly in Ukraine—a country caught between murderous regimes throughout the twentieth century. In his book Bloodlands, Yale historian Timothy Snyder places Ukraine at the center of a region where more than 14 million “non-combatants” were ruthlessly killed by the competing geopolitical goals of Adolf Hitler and Joseph […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 6, 2016

Ten Reasons to Invest in Ukraine

By Anders Åslund

Those who have invested in Ukraine so far have not been very happy with their return. At present, Ukraine’s gross domestic product is about $85 billion, approximately one-eighth of Poland’s GDP. The return on investment has been in proportion to that. Will things change? You can never be sure, but like before, Ukraine holds great […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 2, 2016

Don’t Celebrate Ukraine’s New Judicial Changes Yet

By Halya Coynash

Ukraine’s parliament has ignored warnings from human rights organizations and the Reanimation Package of Reforms and passed constitutional amendments and a bill on the judicial system which retain the old ways of exerting influence on judges. There was enormous pressure for judicial reform, and many of the changes are needed. The warnings, however, highlight real […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 1, 2016

Ukraine Needs to Stop Dragging its Feet on Privatization

By Aivaras Abromavičius

State-owned enterprises remain Ukraine’s Achilles’ heel. They are where political corruption spirals out of control with cronyism and backroom deals, and it is time to put an end to it. Privatization is the only real solution. No one has ever been popular by selling state assets and the timing is never right. Yet these companies […]

Ukraine
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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
Three more reasons why I’m optimistic about Ukraine

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
Three more reasons why I’m optimistic about Ukraine

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
Three more reasons why I’m optimistic about Ukraine

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

Oct 11, 2018

Three more reasons why I’m optimistic about Ukraine

By Melinda Haring

There are plenty of principled, young and not-so-young people, in the pipeline.

Civil Society Corruption

UkraineAlert

Oct 9, 2018

Why Can’t Ukraine Kill Corruption?

By Mykola Vorobiov

Ukraine still struggles to overcome its core disease of corruption. Since the 2014 Euromaidan, a number of anticorruption institutions have been created in close cooperation with Western partners, including the United States. Among them are the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP), the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), and the Anti-Corruption […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 9, 2018

Vakarchuk Says Ukraine Needs New Leaders, But Will He Be One?

By Melinda Haring

For months now, political junkies and ordinary Ukrainians have debated whether their beloved rock star Slava Vakarchuk will run for president in 2019. He’s got massive name recognition throughout the country. Even more, he’s one of the only reform-minded candidates who might be able to unify Ukraine’s fractious opposition. Last week I caught up with […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 8, 2018

Ukraine’s Anticorruption Fight Hits a Brick Wall, and the Wall Has a Name

By Olena Halushka

On September 11, Oleksandr Avakov turned thirty and received the best birthday present ever: the corruption charges hanging over his head were dropped permanently. Oleksandr, who is the son of Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov—was suspected by NABU of cooking up a scheme to rip off the state to the tune of more than $520,000 […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 4, 2018

Back to the Bad Old Days in Kyiv

By Josh Cohen

Today as reform politician Sergiy Gusovsky finished speaking at a rally on the steps of the Kyiv City Council, a crowd hurled green antiseptic at his eyes and tried to assault him. He is suffering from chemical burns in both eyes. As horrible as the attack on Gusovsky was, it represents just the tip of the […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 4, 2018

Think Before You Invest in Ukraine

By Mohammad Zahoor

Ukraine is striving to attract foreign direct investment. Numerous roadshows showcasing the attractiveness of investments in Ukraine are being organized in different countries and pushed on the pages of some of the finest newspapers and magazines. On October 8, there will be a full Ukrainian Week in London, where the country’s leadership will attempt to […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 1, 2018

Does Poroshenko Have a Chance at a Second Term?

By Volodymyr Yermolenko

Purple posters with three words, “Army, language, faith” line the road to the airport in Kyiv, Ukraine. In smaller letters, they proclaim, “We are going our own way,” which means away from Russia. These posters are incumbent President Petro Poroshenko’s new campaign slogan, and they differ from his previous rhetoric in 2014.   Poroshenko’s language […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2018

Why Pro-Russian Forces in Ukraine Have Got a Tiny Shot at Victory

By Taras Kuzio

There will be no pro-Russian revenge in Ukraine next year. The Russians will undoubtedly interfere, and we should watch and expose their shenanigans, but the threat of a pro-Russian party coming to power in Ukraine is miniscule for two factors. First, opinion polls show large majorities against the election rhetoric of the Opposition Bloc, which […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 28, 2018

Ukraine Is Finally Ready to Memorialize its Holocaust Past

By Josh Cohen

When it comes to the history of the Holocaust, an accurate memory can be a dangerous thing. That’s doubly true in Ukraine. While many associate the Holocaust with German concentration camps like Auschwitz, in Ukraine the killing was more personalized, with 1.5 million Jews being shot en masse and dumped in graves across the country. […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 27, 2018

Why Are Ukraine’s Authorities Trying to Intimidate a Top Investigative Journalist?

By Melinda Haring

This month, the European Court of Human Rights prevented Ukraine from backsliding in a major way. On September 18, it ordered the Ukrainian government to halt its efforts to access data from the cell phone of investigative journalist Natalia Sedletska for a month to give her an opportunity to file a full complaint to the […]

Ukraine
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