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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

Is This Russia or Ukraine? Top Anti-Corruption Activist May Face Five Years in Prison on Bogus Charges

UkraineAlert
Jan 20, 2026

Ukraine’s best security guarantee is the ability to strike back inside Russia

By
Serhii Kuzan

With Kyiv’s Western allies unlikely to risk war with Russia, Ukraine’s most realistic security guarantee remains a strong military coupled with the ability to strike targets deep inside Russia, writes Serhii Kuzan.

Conflict
Defense Policy

Is This Russia or Ukraine? Top Anti-Corruption Activist May Face Five Years in Prison on Bogus Charges

UkraineAlert
Jan 15, 2026

Veterans can shape the future of Ukrainian democracy

By
Vasyl Sehin

The participation of military veterans in Ukraine’s political life has the potential to dramatically strengthen Ukrainian democracy and safeguard the country’s historic transition from centuries of Russian autocracy, writes Vasyl Sehin.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

Is This Russia or Ukraine? Top Anti-Corruption Activist May Face Five Years in Prison on Bogus Charges

UkraineAlert
Jan 8, 2026

Ukraine’s robot army will be crucial in 2026 but drones can’t replace infantry

By
David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s growing robot army of land drones will play a vital role in the country’s defense during 2026, but they are not wonder weapons and cannot serve as a miracle cure for Kyiv’s manpower shortages, writes David Kirichenko.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Nov 16, 2023

Vladimir Putin’s anti-colonial posturing should not fool the Global South

By
Taras Kuzio

The countries of the Global South may have many good reasons for pursuing closer ties with Putin’s Russia, but a shared opposition to imperialism is most certainly not one of them, writes Taras Kuzio.


Africa

Conflict


UkraineAlert

Nov 16, 2023

Ukraine vows to strike back if Russia resumes energy infrastructure attacks

By
Marcel Plichta

Ukrainians are currently preparing for a repeat of Russia's winter bombing campaign targeting the country's civilian energy infrastructure, but this year Ukraine has the capacity to strike back, writes Marcel Plichta.


Conflict

Drones


UkraineAlert

Nov 14, 2023

Why Ukraine refuses to negotiate with “habitual liar” Vladimir Putin

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has dismissed mounting calls for a negotiated peace deal with Russia, arguing that Vladimir Putin is a "habitual liar" who cannot be trusted to keep his word, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict

Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Nov 13, 2023

Ukraine’s top general believes technology can defeat Putin’s Russia

By
Mykola Bielieskov

Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny believes technology holds the key to defeating Russia's invasion and argues that drones and electronic warfare can help secure Ukrainian victory, writes Mykola Bielieskov.


Conflict

Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Nov 13, 2023

Ukraine braces for another winter of Russian attacks on power grid

By
Aura Sabadus

While the Ukrainian authorities have had over half a year to prepare for a new wave of Russian air strikes, the country’s civilian energy infrastructure remains vulnerable, writes Aura Sabadus.


Conflict

Drones


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

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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

Is This Russia or Ukraine? Top Anti-Corruption Activist May Face Five Years in Prison on Bogus Charges

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

Is This Russia or Ukraine? Top Anti-Corruption Activist May Face Five Years in Prison on Bogus Charges

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

Is This Russia or Ukraine? Top Anti-Corruption Activist May Face Five Years in Prison on Bogus Charges

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

Jan 29, 2018

Is This Russia or Ukraine? Top Anti-Corruption Activist May Face Five Years in Prison on Bogus Charges

By Melinda Haring

In October 14, 2014, activists unveiled a three-meter high set of flesh-colored buttocks in front of Ukraine’s parliament. Giggles aside, the stunt was a serious one, meant to focus Kyiv’s attention on parliament’s foot dragging on corruption. An idiomatic expression in Ukrainian, “to be covered by an ass,” means that something awful will happen. Through […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 26, 2018

Lethal Weapons to Ukraine: A Primer

By Peter J. Marzalik and Aric Toler

On December 22, 2017, the Trump administration approved supplying Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, capping a nearly three-year debate in Washington over whether the United States should provide lethal defensive weapons to counter further Russian aggression in Europe. A few days prior the US Department of State announced that senior officials had authorized a sizeable […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 25, 2018

Will the Kremlin’s Most Important Ally in Europe Be Reelected?

By Veronika Víchová, Markéta Krejčí, and Klára Veverka

One day remains until the second round of the Czech presidential election, and polls show a tie with 10 percent of voters undecided. The race pits the current president, Miloš Zeman, against the former chairman of the Academy of Sciences, Jiří Drahoš. New reports allege that there’s a hidden scheme to support pro-Russian president Zeman—at […]

Central Europe Russia

UkraineAlert

Jan 24, 2018

What Lavrov’s Lies Mean for Ukraine

By Stephen Blank

Voltaire reportedly said that those who can persuade one to believe absurdities will lead one to commit atrocities. In contemporary politics Russia’s stance on Ukraine represents a cardinal example of the enduring validity of his remark. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently restated three lies: there are no Russian troops in the Donbas, the conflict […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2018

Russia Cannot Acknowledge MH17 Role without Exposing Secret Ukraine War

By Peter Dickinson

The shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine on July 17, 2014, transformed a localized post-Soviet conflict into a major global crisis. With victims from eleven different countries including 189 Dutch citizens, the international backlash was prompt and marked a clear escalation in the confrontation between Russia and the West over the war […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2018

Justice Deferred but Not Yet Denied

By Mykhailo Zhernakov

2017 was a pivotal year in Ukraine, but not the way we expected. We were supposed to get a brand new Supreme Court to replace four old cassation courts that were synonymous with corruption and abuse. Instead, it was new only on paper.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2018

Ukraine: Where Watchdogs Need Safeguards

By Luke Drabyn and Samantha Feinstein

It is ironic but fitting that in Ukraine, the agency tasked with protecting whistleblowers has instead fostered so much corruption that its own employees, after speaking out, have become victims of retaliation. In mid-November, Hanna Solomatina, the former head of the financial control department within the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP), alleged that she […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2018

When Will We See a Breakthrough in Ukraine?

By Pavlo Sheremeta

When asked what the exchange rate will be in 2018, I answer a question with a question: when will elections in Ukraine take place? A definite answer  is hard to come by in our country. Only one thing is certain: the fight in Ukraine will continue. Anders Åslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 18, 2018

Ukraine’s Making Real Progress in the Energy Sector

By Olga Bielkova

Energy independence is a question of national security for Ukraine, and one that we worked on assiduously in 2017. Most observers know that Naftogaz emerged victorious in an $80 billion arbitration case in Stockholm, but that’s only part of the story. Here are the big five milestones that really mattered for the energy sector last […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 18, 2018

Why Russia’s Soft Power Is Here to Stay (At Least for Now)

By Matthew Finkel

Hydrocarbon exports remain the centerpiece of Russia’s national revival strategy, despite the negative impact of developmental and investment setbacks, OPEC price dumping in traditional Russian export markets, Western sanctions, and a growing push toward energy independence in Eastern Europe. Russia continues to suffer from many of the classic symptoms of Dutch disease: a number of […]

Russia Ukraine
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