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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

Mar 19, 2026

Putin is counting on Western disunity to hand him victory in Ukraine

By Mykola Bielieskov

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been unable to defeat the Ukrainians on the battlefield but he remains confident that Western disunity will ultimately hand him victory in Ukraine, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Mar 19, 2026

Wartime Ukraine offers global lessons on the future of cyber resilience

By Oleksandr Bakalynskyi, Maggie McDonough

The twelve years of cyber warfare that have accompanied Russia’s escalating invasion of Ukraine have transformed the country’s digital environment into a proving ground for modern conflict, write Oleksandr Bakalynskyi and Maggie McDonough.

Conflict Critical Infrastructure Policy

UkraineAlert

Mar 17, 2026

The Iran war is good for the Russian economy but bad for Putin’s prestige

By Maksym Beznosiuk, Will Dixon

From Armenia and Syria to Venezuela and Iran, Moscow’s inability since 2022 to aid its allies in times of crisis has seriously damaged Russia’s reputation as a global power, write Maksym Beznosiuk and Will Dixon.

Conflict Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Mar 14, 2026

UN: Putin’s deportation of Ukrainian children is a crime against humanity

By Peter Dickinson

Russia’s deportation of Ukrainian children is a crime against humanity, a new United Nations investigation has found. The mass abduction and indoctrination of Ukrainian children is part of a genocidal Kremlin plan to erase Ukrainian identity, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Mar 12, 2026

Iran war highlights Ukraine’s rapid rise to drone superpower status

By David Kirichenko

The Iran war has sparked a sudden surge in international demand for Kyiv’s unique anti-drone expertise and highlighted Ukraine's rapid emergence as one of the world's leading drone warfare superpowers, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Mar 10, 2026

Western leaders must abandon false hopes of negotiated peace with Putin

By Oleksandr Merezhko

If Western leaders seek a sustainable peace in Europe, they must abandon false hopes of a negotiated deal with Putin and instead demonstrate the kind of resolve that will make Russia listen, writes Oleksandr Merezhko.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Mar 10, 2026

Russian talk of protecting compatriots masks Putin’s imperial ambitions

By Agnia Grigas

Four years after Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the international debate about how the war should end remains haunted by myths first promoted by the Kremlin more than a decade ago, writes Agnia Grigas.

Belarus Central Asia

UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2026

Iran war could save Vladimir Putin’s failing Ukraine invasion

By Peter Dickinson

While Russia’s inability to assist Iran is undoubtedly embarrassing for the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin could still emerge as a key beneficiary of the escalating conflict in the Middle East, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Drones

UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2026

Russian army faces comms crisis amid Starlink cut and Kremlin crackdown

By Katherine Spencer, Marc Goedemans

The Russian army in Ukraine is facing a growing communication crisis amid recent disruptions to Telegram and Starlink, leaving troops increasingly in the dark and exposing mounting strains inside Russia, write Katherine Spencer and Marc Goedemans.

Conflict Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Mar 2, 2026

Ukraine’s experience is indispensable in the fight against Iranian drones

By Peter Dickinson

Britain has announced plans to deploy Ukrainian drone warfare specialists to the Middle East as part of international efforts to counter the growing threat posed by swarms of Iranian drones, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Defense Technologies

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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

Mar 19, 2018

Ukraine should remove “stringent” disclosure law on civil society

By Gina S. Lentine

There has been an ominous change in the state of freedom of association in Ukraine over the last year. One of Ukraine’s leading activists, Vitaliy Shabunin of the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC), is facing trial on criminal charges and could receive up to five years in prison. The charges are at best exaggerated and at […]

Corruption Rule of Law

UkraineAlert

Mar 15, 2018

Sorry, Putin. Crimea still isn’t yours

By Alexander Vershbow

We must make clear to Moscow that any return to “business as usual” in the West’s relations with Moscow cannot begin without the return of the Donbas, and that no improvement in relations can be complete without the return of Crimea.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 15, 2018

One Overlooked and Easy Way the Trump Administration Can Help Ukraine

By Anders Åslund

Diplomatic relations between the United States and Ukraine are eminent. As former US Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer writes in his new book, The Eagle and the Trident, they have almost always been good. Ukraine’s outstanding sacrifice was to give up the third largest nuclear force in the world. An unfortunate consequence was that Russia […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 13, 2018

From Crimea to Salisbury: Time to Acknowledge Putin’s Global Hybrid War

By Peter Dickinson

Since Russian troops began seizing government buildings in Crimea four years ago, the international community has become accustomed to encountering new acts of Russian aggression on an almost daily basis. Whether it is masked men in eastern Ukraine, a chemical weapons attack in the English countryside, or an attempted coup in the Balkans, the process […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 13, 2018

Q&A: Tillerson Out, Pompeo In. What Does It Mean for Russia and Ukraine?

By Melinda Haring

On March 13, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was sacked. US President Donald Trump plans to replace him with former CIA director Mike Pompeo. UkraineAlert asked its experts the following: What does Pompeo think about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his aggressive foreign policy? What does the leadership change mean for US policy toward Ukraine […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 12, 2018

The Truth Behind Ukraine’s Language Policy

By Tetyana Ogarkova

On February 28, Ukraine’s Constitutional Court ruled the bill “On the principles of the state language policy” unconstitutional and rendered it invalid. The law in question, adopted back in 2012 and known as the “Kivalov-Kolesnichenko language law,” granted Russian the status of a “regional language.” It was precisely the abolition of this law by the […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 12, 2018

Ukraine’s Six Teams of Reformers to Watch

By Aivaras Abromavičius

Ukraine has changed in recent years. But, as is often the case, it’s two steps forward, one step back. At numerous meetings with international partners and journalists, I’m often asked where the latest positive dynamic in government reforms is and which groups of reformers are likely to produce positive results. Having worked in the government […]

Ukraine

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