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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

Parliament Is the Problem in Ukraine

UkraineAlert
May 13, 2025

Drone superpower: Ukrainian wartime innovation offers lessons for NATO

By
David Kirichenko

Today’s Ukraine is now a drone superpower with an innovative domestic defense industry that can provide its NATO allies with important lessons in the realities of twenty-first century warfare, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Industry

Parliament Is the Problem in Ukraine

UkraineAlert
May 6, 2025

The shadow of 1930s appeasement hangs over US-led peace talks

By
Oleksandr Merezhko

As the world prepares to mark the eightieth anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, the shadow of events leading up to World War II hangs over efforts to end Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine, writes Oleksandr Merezhko.

Conflict
European Union

Parliament Is the Problem in Ukraine

UkraineAlert
Apr 17, 2025

The Ukrainian army is now Europe’s most credible security guarantee

By
Pavlo Verkhniatskyi

As Europe confronts the new geopolitical realities of an expansionist Russia and an isolationist United States, the continent’s most credible security guarantee is now the Ukrainian Armed Forces, writes Pavlo Verkhniatskyi.

Conflict
Defense Industry

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Feb 20, 2025

Trump and Putin seek economic reset but businesses may not rush back to Russia

By
Edward Verona

As the Trump administration seeks to reset relations with Russia as part of a peace process to end the war in Ukraine, Moscow is pushing the idea of increased economic cooperation, writes Edward Verona.

Conflict
Corruption


UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2025

Transatlantic alliance enters most challenging period since Suez crisis

By
Edward Verona

The conclusion that many observers are drawing from the 2025 Munich Security Conference is that the United States, at least during the Trump presidency, is no longer willing to guarantee European security, writes Edward Verona.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2025

Georgia’s pro-Kremlin authorities intensify crackdown on opposition

By
Mercedes Sapuppo

Georgia’s pro-Kremlin authorities presented new legislation in February that critics say will increase pressure on the country’s civil society and independent media while also placing additional restrictions on protests, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2025

Ukrainian drones reportedly knock out 10 percent of Russian refining capacity

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s 2025 campaign of drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure has succeeded in knocking out around one-tenth of Russia’s refining capacity, according to analysis by Reuters, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2025

A Putin-friendly peace deal would be disastrous for global security

By
Ihor Smeshko

As US President Donald Trump announces the start of negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, Ihor Smeshko warns that a Putin-friendly compromise peace would have catastrophic consequences for the future of international security.

Conflict
International Norms


UkraineAlert

Feb 12, 2025

Europe must prepare to defend itself in an increasingly multipolar world

By
Mykola Bielieskov

With the United States looking to pivot away from Europe to Asia and a revisionist Russia openly embracing an expansionist agenda, European leaders must prepare to defend themselves in an increasingly multipolar world, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Feb 11, 2025

Can Russia be held accountable for the crime of aggression in Ukraine?

By
Kristina Hook

In early February, a coalition of 37 countries announced “significant progress” toward the establishment of a special tribunal for the international crime of aggression against Ukraine, writes Kristina Hook.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Feb 11, 2025

How Ukraine’s shadow army fights back against the Russian occupation

By
Omar Ashour

Ukraine’s resistance movement has evolved significantly in the eleven years since the onset of Russian military aggression, with a dramatic escalation following the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, writes Omar Ashour.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Feb 6, 2025

Ukraine can play a key role in Europe’s future energy architecture

By
Nataliya Katser-Buchkovska

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the need for Europe to pursue greater energy flexibility and connectivity, writes Nataliya Katser-Buchkovska.

Conflict
Economic Sanctions


UkraineAlert

Feb 6, 2025

Russian foreign minister compares Trump’s ‘America First’ to Nazi propaganda

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has compared US President Donald Trump’s “America First” concept to Nazi propaganda as the Kremlin continues its long tradition of exploiting the trauma of World War II to demonize opponents, writes Peter Dickinson.

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

Parliament Is the Problem in 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

Parliament Is the Problem in 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

Parliament Is the Problem in 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

Sep 5, 2017

Parliament Is the Problem in Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

September marks the beginning of season 48 of “Game of Chairs,” otherwise known as the Ukrainian parliament. As the country’s MPs return for the autumn parliamentary session, few will be tuning in. While the palace intrigues and Machiavellian plot twists of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” makes for compulsive viewing, the ideological ambiguity and backroom dealing […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 4, 2017

How to Finish the Revolution in Ukraine

By Olena Sotnyk

More than three years after the Euromaidan, Ukraine still hasn’t successfully prosecuted any high-level crooks, and we’ve got plenty here. At Stanford University’s Draper Hills Summer Fellowship this summer, we examined how to catch a “big fish” and looked at a case study in Indonesia, where the country’s anticorruption commission had just begun. Despite being […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2017

Ukraine Needs Arms, Not Cheap Arguments

By John E. Herbst

The United States is seriously considering giving Ukraine lethal defensive weapons, and this is the right move. Over the last month, Michael Brendan Dougherty and I have debated this issue here and here. In his latest response, Dougherty tries to rack up a quick win. He claims that experts issued a report arguing for arming Ukraine […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2017

Things Are Looking Up in Ukraine

By Katie LaRoque

For the first time since Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity, the International Republican Institute’s (IRI) polls show a slight improvement in the country. It’s finally possible to be cautiously optimistic about Ukraine. Here are the four key takeaways from IRI’s latest national public opinion survey.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2017

How Ukraine Can Win the Revolution Again

By Kateryna Smagliy

Ukraine now boasts a new layer of democratic paint, but the old oligarchic colors are peeking through. Three years after Petro Poroshenko assumed the presidency, numerous experts warn that a counter-revolution is on the horizon and that Ukraine may slide back to authoritarianism. Ukraine is at serious risk of failing again. Civic activists failed to […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 29, 2017

How Trump Can Get Putin’s Attention

By Stephen Blank

Two days after Russia told US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson it was willing to talk about Ukraine, Moscow unilaterally and illegally closed the Kerch Strait, ostensibly for technical reasons. So much for a willingness to talk. Russia is not only threatening Ukraine again, it also is displaying contempt for President Donald Trump personally. Moscow’s […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 15, 2017

The Challenge Ahead in Eastern Ukraine

By Askold Krushelnycky

Bloody fighting between government troops and pro-Kremlin separatists and Russian regulars has continued for three years in Ukraine’s east. Meanwhile, an equally fierce battle is being waged for the hearts and minds of civilians on the Ukrainian side, many of whose loyalties hover between Kyiv and Moscow.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 15, 2017

How to Fix Ukraine’s Economy

By Mark Gitenstein and Jacques Tohme

It’s been more than three years since Ukrainians were driven in large measure by the rampant corruption in Ukraine to retake their country. Yet state-owned enterprises (SOEs)—the organs of systemic corruption and deterrence for western investment—remain in the hands of the same elites who drain these state treasures of their financial and material resources. Even […]

Central Europe Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 11, 2017

Eastern Europe’s Illiberal Trends Bode Badly for Ukraine

By Oksana Bedratenko

A recent increase in illiberal trends in a number of Eastern European countries threatens to erode support for Ukraine in the region. Just as important, it may lead to disillusionment inside Ukraine, where reformers have drawn on the region’s democracy building experience as guidance for Ukraine’s own reforms. Immediately after the breakup of the Soviet […]

Central Europe Hungary

UkraineAlert

Aug 10, 2017

Correction Unnecessary

By John E. Herbst

Bloomberg View columnist Leonid Bershidsky is unhappy and he has been tweeting.  Specifically, he demands a correction to my August 8 post that criticized some of the points in his opinion piece arguing against sending defensive lethal weapons to Ukraine. He claims that he “did not argue” what I said; he has “no idea how” […]

Ukraine
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