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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

Nov 9, 2020

LGBTQ rights in Ukraine and the false dawn of Zelenskyy

By
Bogdan Globa

Today’s Ukraine finds itself in an increasingly homophobic neighborhood with a president whose approach to LGBTQ issues has so far failed to match his liberal rhetoric on the subject.


Human Rights


Resilience & Society


UkraineAlert

Nov 8, 2020

Why a Biden presidency is very good news for Ukraine

By
Anders Åslund

After Joe Biden’s US presidential election victory was declared, President Zelenskyy was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate him. He was wise to do so. Ukraine has much to gain from a Biden presidency, as does Zelenskyy personally.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Nov 5, 2020

Ukraine caught between constitutional crisis and counter-revolution

By
Mattia Nelles

Ukraine finds itself caught between a constitutional crisis and a counter-revolution after the country's Constitutional Court canceled key anti-corruption reforms passed following the 2014 Revolution of Dignity.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Nov 4, 2020

Why war-torn east Ukraine votes for pro-Russian parties

By
Mykhaylo Shtekel

Pro-Russian parties did well in eastern Ukraine during local elections on October 25 as Kremlin-friendly politicians continued to dominate the region despite six years of undeclared war with Moscow.


Conflict


Elections


UkraineAlert

Nov 3, 2020

Ukrainian local election results reflect country’s decentralized democracy

By
Michael Druckman

Ukraine's recent local elections were primarily a referendum on the quality of local governance in the country, and the result was a resounding vote of confidence in the existing municipal authorities.


Elections


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Nov 2, 2020

Winners and losers of Ukraine’s local elections

By
Brian Mefford

Incumbent mayors emerged as the big winners of Ukraine's recent local elections with voters preferring familiar faces to rival candidates representing the country's major national political parties.


Elections


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Nov 1, 2020

Zelenskyy vows to thwart Kremlin counter-revolution

By
Anders Åslund

A new ruling by Ukraine's Constitutional Court threatens to dismantle the entire anti-corruption framework established since 2014 and derail years of historic progress towards Euro-Atlantic integration.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 29, 2020

Reform-minded Russian industrialists can help the US contain Vladimir Putin

By
Stephen Blank

Independent and reform-minded Russian industrialists are potentially important allies for the United States and other Western powers as they seek to push back against Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adventurism.


Oil and Gas


Russia


UkraineAlert

Oct 29, 2020

Kremlin memory wars and the search for a unifying Ukrainian national identity

By
Olesya Khromeychuk

Ukraine's post-Soviet quest for an inclusive national identity capable of uniting the country has had to contend with memory wars fueled by domestic political rivalries and renewed Russian imperial ambitions.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 25, 2020

Ukrainian local elections: Zelenskyy fairytale is over

By
Anders Åslund

Ukraine's October 25 local elections served as a vote of no confidence in President Zelenskyy's ruling Servant of the People party and reflected a deep sense of disillusionment with all national political parties.


Democratic Transitions


Elections

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

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

UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2018

Why Ukrainians Are So Upset about New Electricity Tariffs

By Anders Åslund

Energy tariffs are a serious concern in Ukraine. Before the 2014 Euromaidan, gas prices were too low and cost the government 8 percent of GDP in subsidies. Worse, most of that went to a few privileged gas traders. Low electricity tariffs left the owners of generation and distribution companies no incentive to invest. From 2014-17, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 1, 2018

Ukraine Scores Major Win over Russia and Gazprom

By Timothy Ash

Ukraine received a useful fillip on February 28 when the Stockholm Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the state gas supply and transit company, Naftogaz, and against its Russian counterpart, Gazprom, in a four-year dispute over gas transit. The court awarded Naftogaz $4.63 billion in damages, finding that Gazprom failed to pump agreed upon […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 1, 2018

Inconvenient Facts: Putin’s War Is Killing Russian Speakers

By Taras Kuzio

Russia has downplayed its military support for its proxies in eastern Ukraine by portraying the conflict as a “civil war” between Russian and Ukrainian language speakers. Western media often mistakenly portray the war in eastern Ukraine as a cultural war between Ukrainian and Russian speakers, drawing on the deeply held stereotype of a country divided […]

Russia Ukraine