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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

May 16, 2022

Ukraine War Diary: Everyday life is slowly returning to Fortress Kyiv

By
Vitaly Sych

Ukraine War Diary: A semblance of normality is returning to life in the capital but Kyiv remains a fortress city where a strong military presence and an absence of children serve as constant reminders that the country is at war.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

May 15, 2022

Will Putin use chemical weapons in Ukraine?

By
Ben Connable

Fears are mounting that Vladimir Putin may seek to save his failing Ukraine invasion by deploying chemical weapons, but there are reasons to believe that the Russian army is not capable of biological warfare.


Arms Control


Conflict


UkraineAlert

May 15, 2022

Western advocates of appeasement need a crash course in Putinology

By
Anders Åslund

The war in Ukraine has exposed the fundamental failure of international audiences to appreciate the true nature of modern Russia. Western advocates of appeasement clearly need a crash course in Putinology.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

May 14, 2022

Ukraine wins Eurovision as European voters show song contest solidarity

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine's Eurovision victory is a soft power success story that underlines the country's dominance over Russia on the information front while highlighting the strength of international solidary and support for Ukraine.


Conflict


Europe & Eurasia


UkraineAlert

May 12, 2022

Independent Ukraine’s first president Leonid Kravchuk dies aged 88

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s first post-Soviet president Leonid Kravchuk passed away on May 10. He is best remembered for his leading role in the 1991 Ukrainian Declaration of Independence and the collapse of the Soviet Union.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

May 12, 2022

Putin’s Imperial War: Russia unveils plans to annex southern Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Kremlin officials have underlined the expansionist imperial agenda driving Putin's Ukraine war by announcing plans to officially annex Ukraine's Kherson Oblast and incorporate it into the Russian Federation.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

May 11, 2022

Kazakhstan cancels Victory Day in protest over Putin’s Ukraine War

By
Wilder Alejandro Sánchez, Kamila Auyezova

Kazakhstan's recent decision to cancel the country's annual WWII Victory Day parade was a small but significant indication of Nur-Sultan's opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.


Central Asia


Conflict


UkraineAlert

May 8, 2022

Vladimir Putin’s WWII victory cult is a recipe for international aggression

By
Andrej Lushnycky

Vladimir Putin has transformed Russia's traditional Victory Day commemorations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany into a nationalistic celebration of militarism that helps justify Moscow's war of aggression in Ukraine.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

May 6, 2022

Countering the Kremlin: America must not wait for European unity

By
Olexander Scherba

Vladimir Putin's ongoing invasion of Ukraine marks the culmination of Russia’s long campaign to corrupt Europe. The EU condemns the war while at the same time sponsoring it, writes Olexander Scherba.


Conflict


Corruption


UkraineAlert

May 6, 2022

Making Putin pay: Russia must finance the rebuilding of post-war Ukraine

By
Kira Rudik

Making Putin pay: Russian assets currently frozen in the West could potentially be used to finance the rebuilding of post-war Ukraine but this will require both creativity and political will from Western leaders.


Conflict


Economy & Business

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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2018

Q&A: Ukraine’s Got Javelins Now. So What?

By Melinda Haring

On April 30, the US Department of State confirmed to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty the delivery of Javelin antitank missile systems to Ukraine. This issue has been long-standing: the Obama administration refused to send the weapons to Kyiv, while President Donald Trump changed course. Some experts warn that giving Ukraine lethal defensive weapons will only […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 26, 2018

Leak May Put Brakes on Putin’s European Pipeline Dominance

By Oleksandr Kharchenko

Gazprom has been making headlines in Europe lately. And not in a good way. The leaking of a 271-page report compiled by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition, which describes violations of European legislation by the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, recently became a sensation. It’s not, however, because the report reveals any previously unknown facts. […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 25, 2018

What Happened to the Ships the US Tried to Give to Ukraine?

By Valeriya Yegoshyna

Editor’s note: On September 27, the United States officially transferred two former 110-foot Coast Guard cutters ships to Ukraine. However, the question remains: why did it take the Ukrainian government nearly four-and-a-half years to accept the US offer? We recommend the excellent RFE/RL “Schemes” investigation below.  Four years after Crimea’s annexation, Ukraine is still struggling to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 24, 2018

What Europe’s Forgotten War Actually Feels Like

By Ruslan Minich

“We were moving through flashing fields. And I realized history was evolving right in front of my very eyes. I had yellow goggles on; everything was yellow with them. I took the goggles off, and then the wind started blowing in my eyes. I couldn’t see anything,” says volunteer soldier Bizhan Sharopov, who fought against […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 24, 2018

Ukraine May Be Getting Its Own Church, but Not as Fast as Poroshenko Thinks

By James J. Coyle

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced on April 17 that Ukraine might have an independent, unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church as early as July 28—the anniversary of Kyivan Rus’ adoption of Christianity. He made this prediction after the Ukrainian parliament voted to support the president’s efforts to convince Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to grant autocephalous status to the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 24, 2018

As Some Bail, Denis Gursky Sees Ukraine as Land of Opportunity, and Thinks You Should Too

By Melinda Haring

It’s Easter Monday in Kyiv, a holiday, and no one is working except Denis Gursky. The affable Mariupol native has an anxiety-inducing to-do list, but you wouldn’t know it from his easy laugh and wide smile. We meet at Gursky’s stunning new 500-square meter co-working space in Kyiv’s tallest commercial building to discuss Ukraine’s unique […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 19, 2018

How to Build a Real Political Party in Ukraine

By Viola Gienger

Oleksandr Solontay is trying to accomplish the political equivalent of pushing Ukraine’s winter snow uphill. In a country that still struggles to shake its addiction to oligarchs and other figureheads despite multiple attempts at revolution, the thirty-seven-year old is aiming to construct a political party from the ground up. Solontay, an educator and former city […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 19, 2018

Why Ukraine’s Radical Parties Are Sitting Pretty for Upcoming Elections

By Mykola Vorobiov

Ukrainian nationalism is growing quickly, but radical parties have never done well in elections. This may change in 2019, when Ukraine will hold both presidential and parliamentary elections, which are the first national elections after the Euromaidan revolution and the Russian military invasion in 2014. While Ukraine has committed to joining Euro-Atlantic institutions and embarked […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 19, 2018

Why Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Drive Is Failing

By Tetyana Ogarkova

After the victory of the Euromaidan, the demand for combating corruption drastically increased, and new institutions were established to fight high-level corruption. However, there is an ongoing conflict between two of the newly established agencies that greatly diminishes their ability to fight corruption. Below we explain the fight in ten question and answers.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 16, 2018

Russian Americans Say Keep It Up, President Trump

By Dmitry Valuev

The Congress of Russian Americans, a group claiming to represent five million Russian-speaking Americans, recently wrote to US President Donald Trump deploring the state of Russian-American relations, denouncing the expulsion of sixty Russian diplomats from the United States, and denying Russia’s involvement in the recent poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England. […]

Russia