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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

US Wrongly Thought Nukes Were Ukraine’s Biggest Problem

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

US Wrongly Thought Nukes Were Ukraine’s Biggest Problem

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

US Wrongly Thought Nukes Were Ukraine’s Biggest Problem

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

Jan 23, 2025

NATO chief: Cost of Russian victory in Ukraine would be ‘trillions not billions’

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert">Peter Dickinson</span>

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has warned NATO leaders that a Russian victory in Ukraine would cost alliance members "trillions not billions," writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict

Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Jan 23, 2025

North Korea is using Russia’s Ukraine invasion to upgrade its army

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Alina Hrytsenko</span>

North Korea's participation in Russia's Ukraine invasion is a dangerous escalation in what is already the largest European war since World War II with potentially alarming implications for global security, writes Alina Hrytsenko.


Conflict

Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Jan 23, 2025

European Parliament and United States condemn ‘sham’ Belarus vote

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert">Mercedes Sapuppo</span>

The European Parliament has condemned this weekend’s presidential election in Belarus as a “sham” designed to keep the country’s long-serving dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka in power, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.


Belarus

Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jan 21, 2025

Ukrainian parliament prepares to vote on Bulgarian nuclear reactor purchase

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Stephen Blank </span>

Ukraine is poised to purchase a pair of Soviet-era nuclear reactors from Bulgaria in a deal that highlights the country’s struggle for greater energy security amid Russia’s ongoing bombardment of civilian infrastructure, writes Stephen Blank.


Conflict

European Union


UkraineAlert

Jan 21, 2025

Donald Trump’s promise of strong US leadership should begin with Ukraine

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Arseniy Yatsenyuk</span>

By resolutely backing Ukraine, President Trump can prevent the slide toward World War III and reestablish US leadership in a world threatened by Putin's Axis of Autocrats, writes former Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk.


Conflict

European Union


UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2025

Ukraine’s escalating air attacks bring Putin’s invasion home to Russia

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Maria Avdeeva</span>

Ukraine has begun 2025 with a series of increasingly ambitious long-range air attacks against strategic military and industrial targets that are succeeding in bringing Putin’s invasion home to Russia, writes Maria Avdeeva.


Conflict

Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Jan 15, 2025

Europe has a window of opportunity to shape Ukraine peace efforts

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert">Doug Klain</span>

With the incoming Trump administration still formulating its approach to ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine, European leaders now have an historic window of opportunity to shape the future of European security, writes Doug Klain.


Conflict

European Union


UkraineAlert

Jan 15, 2025

Appeasement will only fuel Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions in Ukraine

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Anastasiia Marushevska</span>

Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine is an old-fashioned colonial war rooted in centuries of Russian imperial history that cannot be ended by limited territorial concessions or other attempts at appeasement, writes Anastasiia Marushevska.


Conflict

Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Jan 14, 2025

No peace without security: Ukraine needs guarantees against new Russian invasion

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert">Peter Dickinson</span>

Ukraine is ready to make territorial concessions but insists that any peace deal must include credible long-term security guarantees to prevent a new Russian invasion, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict

European Union


UkraineAlert

Jan 9, 2025

Abandoning Ukraine would plunge the entire world into an era of instability

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Victor Liakh</span>

If Western leaders choose to sacrifice Ukraine in a misguided bid to placate Putin, the shift from a rules-based international order to the law of the geopolitical jungle will be complete, writes Victor Liakh.


Conflict

Freedom and Prosperity

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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

US Wrongly Thought Nukes Were Ukraine’s Biggest Problem

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

US Wrongly Thought Nukes Were Ukraine’s Biggest Problem

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

US Wrongly Thought Nukes Were Ukraine’s Biggest Problem

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

Oct 4, 2017

US Wrongly Thought Nukes Were Ukraine’s Biggest Problem

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Anders Åslund</span>

Ukraine has played an important role in US foreign policy since it became independent in 1991. So far, this topic has received scant scholarly interest. The most substantial book to date was Sherman Garnett, The Keystone in the Arch: Ukraine in the Emerging Security Environment of Central and Eastern Europe, which was published in 1997, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 4, 2017

History as a Weapon in Russia’s War on Ukraine

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Peter Dickinson</span>

The international media will embrace all things Bolshevik this autumn as the world marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution. Audiences can expect everything from gushing feature articles about early Soviet cinematography to edgy op-eds on the place of propaganda posters in twentieth century art. Amid this deluge of Communist kitsch, we are unlikely to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 2, 2017

Merkel’s Next Challenge: Defeating Putin in Central Eastern Europe

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Péter Krekó</span>

Now that the German elections are over and the victorious Chancellor Angela Merkel is preparing for coalition talks with potential partners, two important questions arise: how will the political changes in Germany affect German-Russian relations, which have become embittered in the last few years? And what impact could the election have on Germany’s influence in […]

Germany Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2017

Ukraine’s Got a Real Chance to Change. Will It Blow It Again?

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Diane Francis</span>

Ukraine’s future rests on whether its judicial reforms will bring about the rule of law for the first time in its history, or whether political influence continues to contaminate its system. It appears the latter is the case. Today, 111 new Supreme Court nominees were proposed to President Petro Poroshenko for his signature to begin […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 28, 2017

Trump and Poroshenko: The Billionaire Boys Club

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Adrian Karatnycky</span>

Petro Poroshenko scored a prized diplomatic plum for which most heads of state and government aggressively vie: a one-on-one meeting with President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. In addition to Ukraine’s president, Trump held only nine other private meetings with the heads of state or government […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 28, 2017

How to Keep the Russian Bear Out of Ukraine’s Energy Sector

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Olga Bielkova and Anders Åslund</span>

Russia is at war with Ukraine. This is a hybrid war with many arms. One of them is energy. The Kremlin has weaponized the energy trade between Russia and Ukraine to impose a client-state status on Ukraine. Given its weak negotiating position, Ukraine had to accept Gazprom’s unjustified prices. Facing the threat of supply interruptions, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 28, 2017

Patriot: Working Hard to Bring Home Ukrainian POWs

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Vera Zimmerman</span>

The situation with prisoners of war being held in Ukraine’s occupied Donbas is a tragedy. Some have been locked up for over two years, some tortured, and a few executed. Access to them by international missions is usually denied. Despairing families sometimes fall prey to swindlers seeking ransom. Since the war is officially undeclared, these […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2017

Who Says that Russians Have to Live Under a Corrupt, Aging, and Irrational Strongman?

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Anastazia Clouting</span>

On September 13, a man who cheated death twice came to Washington. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a journalist and deputy head of the nongovernmental organization Open Russia, survived a second state-sanctioned poisoning in February. He has lived to deliver a message for democratic allies in the West. In a speech at the US Capitol, Kara-Murza said, “It […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2017

Four Real Ways to Fix Ukraine Now

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Josh Cohen</span>

Kyiv continues to make great progress stabilizing its economy as Ukraine’s recent sale of a $3 billion Eurobond demonstrates. When it comes to anticorruption reforms, though, it continues to be a case of two steps forward and one step back. To break this stalemate, Ukraine’s Western friends should push Kyiv to take the following four […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 22, 2017

Ukraine’s Diplomatic War for Peace

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Nataliya Katser-Buchkovska</span>

These early autumn days are still hot—particularly for the upper crust of the diplomatic world attending the United Nations General Assembly’s 72nd session. Much remains at stake. In particular, Ukraine will once again be requesting UN peacekeeping missions and other assistance from the United Nations to help bring the conflict in the east to a […]

Russia Ukraine
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