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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.


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Latest analysis


UkraineAlert

Jul 11, 2017

Ukraine Walks Back Disclosure Law on NGOs

By
Melinda Haring

Two bills that would remove Ukraine’s controversial disclosure requirements for nongovernment organizations and replace them with more extensive reporting requirements were introduced in parliament on July 10. In an interview, Dmytro Shymkiv said bill 6674 and 6675 would make the public aware of how tax-exempt money is being spent “as it is done everywhere else […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jul 10, 2017

Dispelling Disinformation: Four Lessons from Ukraine

By
Ellen Riina

“There are no Russian troops in Crimea. It’s a civil war in Ukraine. MH-17 was shot down from another plane. Ukraine is a failed state.” These are all false narratives that were created to undermine Ukraine’s response to Russian aggression and sow divisions between pro-Europe and pro-Russian populations in Ukraine, according to Myroslava Gongadze, the […]


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UkraineAlert

Jul 10, 2017

Ukraine’s Parliament Faces Moment of Truth

By
William B. Taylor

This week Ukraine’s parliament will vote on sweeping health care reform. If passed, the reform will modernize the country’s Soviet-era health care system and bring it up to international standards. However, the bill is currently being held hostage to political partisanship, which works to the detriment of Ukraine’s national interests. If the bill fails, then […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jul 10, 2017

Trump Administration Is Serious about Ukraine After All

By
Diane Francis

Kyiv had a very good week. On July 9, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced that sanctions against Russia will remain in place until the Kremlin takes the first step to ease tensions in eastern Ukraine. And on July 7, before US President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin met for the first […]


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UkraineAlert

Jul 5, 2017

Against All Odds, Ukraine’s Refugees Rebuild

By
Diane Francis

The unfinished concrete block house outside Kyiv is home to twenty-three refugees who were evacuated from the war in Ukraine. They share one bathroom, one kitchen, one television, and sleep on bunkbeds on its second floor. Furnishings are makeshift, the house is dark, appliances are donated, and the stairs are rickety. Most are elderly, two […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jul 5, 2017

Positive Change Is Not Happening in Ukraine’s Courts

By
Josh Cohen

In his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, “Positive Change Is Happening in Ukraine,” Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman’s glosses over the real driver of a business-friendly climate: the courts. He fails to mention the courts, judicial reform, or the process to rebuild the Supreme Court, a process which is being sabotaged. Ukraine’s judiciary is riven with […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jul 3, 2017

US Trade Actions Threaten Ukraine and Strengthen Russia

By
Daniel Valk

As President Donald Trump prepares for his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week at the G-20 in Hamburg, Germany, the US Department of Commerce is making two important trade decisions that threaten the economic and geopolitical stability of Ukraine. In 2014, as Ukraine was reeling from the annexation of Crimea, and as […]


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UkraineAlert

Jul 3, 2017

War in Ukraine Was Years in the Making

By
Vera Zimmerman

Ukraine is the only country in the world that has ongoing experience with a hybrid war—a simultaneous and adaptive military strategy that blends conventional and non-conventional means. As a result, it offers valuable lessons that could help the West better understand emerging threats. In the last three years, Ukraine has found itself drawn into the […]


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UkraineAlert

Jun 30, 2017

Ukraine’s Trashy Politics

By
Diane Francis

Lviv is Ukraine’s most beautiful city, an exquisite UNESCO World Heritage site that has survived attacks and changed hands for seven centuries. The city is a successful IT hub and its hotels, restaurants, and architecture attract 2.5 million visitors a year. Since 2006, its reform-minded mayor and city council have upgraded infrastructure and enticed industry […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jun 29, 2017

War in Ukraine 2.0

By
Melinda Haring

Russia is targeting the most capable and dedicated parts of the Ukrainian military. On June 27, Colonel Maksim Shapoval, commander of an elite Ukrainian military intelligence unit, was killed when his car exploded during his morning commute in downtown Kyiv. A few hours later, a massive cyberattack took out computer systems across the city. The […]


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Ukraine

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UkraineAlert

Jun 25, 2018

Q&A: What’s Behind Moldova’s Massive Protests?

By Melinda Haring

Protesters are taking to the streets of Moldova’s capital of Chisinau again. On June 3, Andrei Nastase was elected mayor of Chisinau with 52.5% of the vote. Nastase, a pro-European prosecutor and anti-corruption activist, defeated Socialist Ion Ceban who favors closer ties to Moscow. On June 19, a Chisinau court struck down the election results, […]

Moldova Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 25, 2018

Hunger Strike Points to Missed PR Opportunity for Putin Regime

By Diane Francis

The World Cup in Russia is a Potemkin football extravaganza or a fancy façade designed to depict the country as advanced and civilized. In reality, it’s neither. Facts are that in recent international sporting events Russia’s athletes have been caught doping on a massive scale, or, alternatively, Putin has used festivities to camouflage the invasion […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 21, 2018

There’s More to Ukraine than Krieg, Krise, and Krim (War, Crisis, Crimea): How Germans See the Country

By Andreas Umland

Both Germany and Ukraine have special significance for the European project. Germany is Western Europe’s economically and demographically most significant country, while Ukraine is Eastern Europe’s largest and a geopolitical pivot point. The historical links between Ukrainians and Germans run deep. And yet little attention has been paid to the nature of the relationship between […]

Germany Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 20, 2018

Ten Ukrainian Technologies You May Already Be Using

By Ruslan Minich

What do Snapchat filters, liquid jet scalpels, Uber for yachts, and virtual reality gloves have in common? They are all decisively modern innovations that have emerged at the cutting edge of technological development—and they all demonstrate the ingenuity and economic dynamism of twenty-first century Ukraine.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 20, 2018

Ukraine’s Got a Real Problem with Far-Right Violence (And No, RT Didn’t Write This Headline)

By Josh Cohen

It sounds like the stuff of Kremlin propaganda, but it’s not. Last week Hromadske Radio revealed that Ukraine’s Ministry of Youth and Sports is funding the neo-Nazi group C14 to promote “national patriotic education projects” in the country. On June 8, the Ministry announced that it will award C14 a little less than $17,000 for a […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 18, 2018

Five Ways the Kremlin Can Meddle in Ukraine’s Big Election

By Mykola Vorobiov

On June 15, Yulia Tymoshenko launched the start of Ukraine’s presidential election season with a two-and-half hour speech in Kyiv, Ukraine. With twenty-nine percent of voters telling pollsters they haven’t made their minds up for the race slated for March 31, the field is wide open. But it’s not too soon to start worrying about […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 15, 2018

They speak Russian in Crimea, but that doesn’t make it part of Russia

By Peter Dickinson

Away from the frontlines of the conflict, the myth of Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin Russian-speakers never really needed debunking.

Conflict Nationalism

UkraineAlert

Jun 14, 2018

Will Ukraine’s New Anticorruption Court Make a Difference?

By Anastasia Krasnosilska

On June 7, Ukraine’s parliament finally adopted a long-awaited law that paves the way for the establishment of an anticorruption court. Members of parliament had only one hour to evaluate the draft before voting, and the final text was released on June 13. Ukrainians have been waiting for four long years for justice. None of […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 13, 2018

Will Ukraine Be the Ultimate Loser of Putin’s World Cup?

By Peter Dickinson

Back in 2010 when world football governing body FIFA awarded Russia the right to host this year’s World Cup finals, few viewed Moscow as a threat. At the time, President Dmitry Medvedev seemed eager to portray himself as a Western-friendly reformer. In the diplomatic arena, the reset with the Obama White House had yet to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 13, 2018

Why Ukrainians Are Betting On a Rock Star or Comedian to Turn Things Around

By Vera Zimmerman

No one knows how the Ukrainian presidential election next March will play out, but it’s fair to say that election season has already begun. Polls paint a worrying picture for candidates.  Despite perfect name recognition, the frontrunner Yulia Tymoshenko has only 9 to 13 percent support, according to recent polls (Rating, SOCIS, and Democratic Initiatives). […]

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