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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

Oct 19, 2023

Ukraine needs electoral reform now for resilient postwar elections

By
Peter Erben, Gio Kobakhidze

Prioritizing electoral reform now will position Ukraine for postwar democratic resilience and will underscore the nation’s dedication to sustaining and improving its democratic traditions, even in the face of great adversity.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2023

Zelenskyy should say a Churchillian “no” to wartime elections in Ukraine

By
Alan Riley

If Winston Churchill were still with us, he would surely be advising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ignore mounting international pressure to call elections in wartime Ukraine, writes Alan Riley.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2023

War risk insurance can contribute to Ukrainian victory over Putin’s Russia

By
Yulia Svyrydenko

War risk insurance can play a key role in helping Ukraine to achieve victory on the economic front of the war with Russia, writes Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko.

Conflict
Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2023

Ukraine receives potentially game-changing long-range US missiles

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine has finally received long-range ATACMS missiles from the United States and has begun deploying them against Russian targets, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on October 17.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Oct 16, 2023

The state of Russia’s war on Ukraine as it nears 2024

By
Mykola Bielieskov

The current fighting season is still far from over in Ukraine, but it is already clear that the war unleashed by Putin in February 2022 will continue into the coming year, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Oct 13, 2023

Ukraine’s neglected Danube region is a crucial front in the war with Russia

By
Michael Druckman

Ukraine’s Danube ports are at the heart of efforts to bypass Russia’s Black Sea naval blockade but years of neglect have left the Bessarabia region unprepared to play a key wartime role, writes Michael Druckman.

Conflict
Drones


UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2023

The West must learn hard lessons from years of failed Russia policies

By
Kira Rudik

If Russia is able to achieve even a partial victory in Ukraine, the consequences for global security would be catastrophic. Western leaders must escalate their support for Ukraine to prevent this outcome and make sure Putin’s invasion ends in decisive defeat, writes Kira Rudik.

Conflict
Corruption


UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2023

Russia’s Ukraine invasion highlights the need for fundamental UN reform

By
Paul Niland

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the ineffectiveness of the current international security architecture and underlined the need for fundamental reform of the United Nations, writes Paul Niland.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 10, 2023

Ukrainians fear becoming hostage to US political paralysis

By
Peter Dickinson

The unprecedented removal of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker has thrust US politics into uncharted territory while also sparking alarm across the Atlantic as Ukrainians fear for the future of vital American military aid, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Oct 9, 2023

Russian imperialism shapes public support for the war against Ukraine

By
Neringa Klumbytė

Modern Russia retains an imperialistic ideology that is fueling strong public support for the war in Ukraine amid deep-rooted perceptions of Ukrainians as misguided younger siblings in need of correction, writes Neringa Klumbytė.

Civil Society
Conflict

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

Dec 7, 2017

What on Earth Is Going on in Ukraine?

By Josh Cohen

On December 7, Ukraine’s parliament is likely to dismiss the head of Ukraine’s only independent anticorruption body, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). Established in 2015 to target high-level crimes committed by the country’s corrupt political class, NABU has demonstrated a high level of independence led by its director Artem Sytnyk. It has not hesitated to […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 6, 2017

Elections Are Around the Corner, and Ukraine’s Political Parties Are Not Ready

By Michael Druckman and Katie LaRoque

Ukraine’s political parties are in trouble. Public support for national parties is at its lowest since the 2013-2014 Revolution of Dignity. According to a recent poll by the International Republican Institute (IRI), 22 percent of Ukrainians said they would not vote in the 2019 parliamentary elections and 30 percent could not answer the question. Ukraine’s […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 6, 2017

Here’s How Ukraine Is Bridging the Artificial East-West Divide

By Peter J. Marzalik

The human toll of the Russia-instigated war in eastern Ukraine, which has claimed over 10,000 lives since 2014, remains underreported. Newspapers rarely document the daily grind of life in the conflict zone, which has lost any sense of normalcy for thousands of Ukrainians who wish to live in peace. For schoolchildren along the contact line […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 5, 2017

Q&A: What Does Saakashvili’s Detention Mean for Ukraine?

By Melinda Haring

Former Georgian President and Odesa oblast governor Mikheil Saakashvili was taken into custody in Kyiv on December 5. His supporters eventually freed him and he addressed a large crowd outside of the parliament. Later in the day, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko told parliament that Saakashvili accepted money from a fugitive oligarch to fund antigovernment protests […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 5, 2017

How Ukraine Can Not Only Survive but Thrive

By Melinda Haring

The timing couldn’t have been better. Ukraine’s war is dragging on, Russia is proposing a sham peacekeeping plan, the humanitarian crisis in the east is worsening, and the conflict is receiving increasingly fewer mentions in the international press. In this midst of this dismal news, Ukraine’s deputy speaker of parliament Oksana Syroid organized the Lviv […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 1, 2017

Ukraine Politicians Embrace Extreme Rhetoric

By Adrian Karatnycky

Ukraine has experienced some major reforms, particularly the ProZorro electronic procurement system, the restructuring of corrupt banks, and fundamental reforms in the gas sector. Nonetheless, the country still suffers from widespread corruption and a malfunctioning court system that has delayed major cases against allegedly corrupt officials. In this environment, politicians on all sides have been […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 1, 2017

How the West Can Finally Get Moscow’s Attention

By Diane Francis

In March 1980, former President Jimmy Carter announced sanctions against the Soviet Union and a boycott of the Moscow Olympics in protest against its invasion of Afghanistan. “We call for the moving of the Olympics or the delay of the Olympics for at least a year, until Soviet troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan, or the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 27, 2017

Ukraine’s Challenges Are Very Real, but Now Is Not the Time for the West to Let Up

By Timothy Ash, Janet Gunn, John Lough, Orysia Lutsevych, James Nixey, James Sherr and Kataryna Wolczuk

Four years since its Euromaidan revolution, Ukraine is fighting for its survival as an independent and viable state. The country is struggling to hold together and resist Russia’s interference and pressure—in the military, diplomatic, economic, and media spheres. But simultaneously, an internal contest is occurring that will determine the political, institutional, and civic future of […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 27, 2017

Does the EU Even Care about Eastern Europe Anymore?

By Anders Åslund

If you missed the European Union’s Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels on November 24, you are not alone. It was a forgettable event, but it tells us quite a bit about the EU’s state of affairs in Eastern Europe. The proud start of the EU Eastern Partnership was the Prague summit in May 2009, instigated […]

Moldova The Caucasus

UkraineAlert

Nov 24, 2017

Will President Trump Finally Arm Ukraine?

By Stephen Blank

There’s a real possibility that the United States will finally send lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine. The country has been fighting a defensive war in its east for nearly four years, after Russia seized Crimea and Russian-backed separatists invaded eastern Ukraine in 2014. Many experts have argued that better weapons would change the tactical imbalance […]

Russia Ukraine