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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

Nov 9, 2023

Historic progress: Ukraine receives green light for EU membership talks

By
Peter Dickinson

The European Commission this week recommended opening EU membership negotiations with Ukraine. The move represents historic progress at a time when Ukrainians are fighting to defend their independence and their right to choose a European future, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Corruption


UkraineAlert

Nov 7, 2023

Ukraine reports fresh success in the Battle of the Black Sea

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s success in the Battle of the Black Sea should convince the country’s Western partners to finally abandon their cautious approach and provide the Ukrainian military with the weapons they need to defeat Russia, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Nov 7, 2023

Peace is impossible while Vladimir Putin denies Ukraine’s right to exist

By
Taras Kuzio

While calls to end the bloodshed in Ukraine are perfectly understandable, anyone advocating a compromise peace deal with Vladimir Putin must first reckon with the genocidal reality of Russia’s invasion, writes Taras Kuzio.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Nov 2, 2023

Faith leaders highlight Russian religious persecution in occupied Ukraine

By
Shelby Magid, Mercedes Sapuppo

A delegation of Ukrainian faith leaders recently visited the United States and participated in a panel discussion to address Russia’s policies of religious persecution and repression in occupied Ukraine.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Nov 2, 2023

Putin will win unless the West finally commits to Ukrainian victory

By
Ivan Verstyuk

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is more confident than ever that time is on his side in Ukraine and believes the Western world ultimately lacks the political will to oppose him, writes Ivan Verstyuk.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2023

How to bridge the Ukrainian government’s wartime funding gap

By
Anna Kornyliuk

With the current war now widely expected to continue into 2024 and possibly beyond, Ukraine will need significant additional financial support from its partners in order to defeat Putin’s Russia, writes Anna Kornyliuk.

Conflict
Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2023

ATACMS missiles create new dilemmas for Russian army in Ukraine

By
Mykola Bielieskov

Two weeks since Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy first confirmed delivery of ATACMS missiles from the US, reports continue to mount of highly destructive ATACMS strikes against the Russian army in Ukraine, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2023

Attempted airport pogrom highlights rising antisemitism in Putin’s Russia

By
Joshua Stein

An attempted pogrom in southern Russia’s Republic of Dagestan has sent shock waves around the world and raised serious questions about the rising tide of antisemitism in Putin’s Russia, writes Joshua Stein.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 26, 2023

Arming Ukraine is cheap compared to the far higher price of Russian victory

By
Peter Dickinson

Anyone concerned by the cost of supporting the Ukrainian war effort should consider the far higher price the Western world would have to pay in order to stop Putin following a Russian victory in Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2023

Ukraine’s EU membership bid set to receive big boost in November

By
Peter Dickinson

The European Commission is expected to give Ukraine the green light to begin EU accession talks in early November, marking a significant step forward in the country’s European integration ambitions, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
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.

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

Mar 12, 2018

Poroshenko’s Last Chance

By Diane Francis

An Anti-Corruption Court is the capstone that will complete an infrastructure to eliminate Ukraine’s systemic corruption and to attract massive investments.President Petro Poroshenko’s current proposal misses the mark, and fails to meet the criteria stipulated by the International Monetary Fund and the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission. Under Poroshenko’s bill, international experts will play only […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 8, 2018

The Right to Protest, Extremism, and the State Order

By Victor Andrusiv

On Sunday, March 3, Ukraine’s police dispersed more than one hundred protesters and disbanded their tent camps outside of the Ukrainian parliament amid significant criticism. Several dozen tents had stood for more than four months, blocking a major thoroughfare in Kyiv, Ukraine. Behind the protests were former opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili and former soldiers who […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 6, 2018

Torture in Eastern Ukraine—and What Comes After It

By Iuliia Mendel

Oleksiy Kanarskyy, a twenty-five-year old Ukrainian, never thought he would celebrate January 1 in freedom. His hopes had faded during three years of detention in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, after endless promises of a prisoners’ exchange between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed separatists. But on December 27, 2017, the largest prisoner swap since […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2018

Why Ukrainians Are So Upset about New Electricity Tariffs

By Anders Åslund

Energy tariffs are a serious concern in Ukraine. Before the 2014 Euromaidan, gas prices were too low and cost the government 8 percent of GDP in subsidies. Worse, most of that went to a few privileged gas traders. Low electricity tariffs left the owners of generation and distribution companies no incentive to invest. From 2014-17, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 1, 2018

Ukraine Scores Major Win over Russia and Gazprom

By Timothy Ash

Ukraine received a useful fillip on February 28 when the Stockholm Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the state gas supply and transit company, Naftogaz, and against its Russian counterpart, Gazprom, in a four-year dispute over gas transit. The court awarded Naftogaz $4.63 billion in damages, finding that Gazprom failed to pump agreed upon […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 1, 2018

Inconvenient Facts: Putin’s War Is Killing Russian Speakers

By Taras Kuzio

Russia has downplayed its military support for its proxies in eastern Ukraine by portraying the conflict as a “civil war” between Russian and Ukrainian language speakers. Western media often mistakenly portray the war in eastern Ukraine as a cultural war between Ukrainian and Russian speakers, drawing on the deeply held stereotype of a country divided […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 27, 2018

Rebel Radio: New Station Challenges Oligarchs’ Media Monopoly in Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

“We do not feel any pressure from the government,” says Vitaly Sych, the chief editor of Ukraine’s most ambitious independent media holding. “Sometimes we have a dialogue with the authorities, but that is healthy. We recently published a lead article that was highly critical of Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko. He contacted me personally and we […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 27, 2018

Ukraine’s Unexpected Leaders

By Diane Francis

In the summer of 2013, Alex Ryabchyn completed his master’s degree at Sussex University in the United Kingdom, then moved back with his wife and daughter to teach at Donetsk National University in eastern Ukraine. That December, the Maidan erupted and he watched from afar with concern. Then in March 2014, after little green men […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 26, 2018

Why Boris Nemtsov Still Matters Today

By Alexandra Yatsyk

Three years ago, Boris Nemtsov, one of the top Russian politicians during the 1990s and a vocal dissident throughout Vladimir Putin’s long reign, was shot dead near the Kremlin in Moscow. The death of this talented, passionate, and charismatic patriot shocked liberal and progressive communities in Russia and abroad. Tragically, Nemtsov joins a long list […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 26, 2018

How I Remember Boris Nemtsov

By Vladimir Kara-Murza

Editor’s note: Russian politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated on February 27, 2015, in Moscow, Russia. Below his friend and fellow activist Vladimir Kara-Murza remembers the slain leader. Throughout his political life, Boris Nemtsov was a maverick, a “white crow,” as we say in Russian, always choosing principles over political expediency—as when he took on the […]

Russia
Ukraine