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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

Mar 17, 2022

The EU needs Ukraine

By
Paul Grod

The European Union needs to embrace Ukraine's membership aspirations in order to demonstrate its own commitment to European values and its opposition to Vladimir Putin's authoritarian alternative.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 16, 2022

Vladimir Putin has almost no chance of successfully occupying Ukraine

By
Ben Connable

Vladimir Putin is throwing Russia's full military might into the invasion of Ukraine but any attempt to occupy large parts of the country is almost certainly doomed to fail.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Mar 15, 2022

Vladimir Putin has nothing but bad options in Ukraine

By
Doug Klain

After three weeks of military setbacks Putin now faces the choice of escalating his Ukraine war further and risking his own downfall or seeking a face-saving exit from a conflict that has united the world against Russia.


Conflict


Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion


UkraineAlert

Mar 15, 2022

Ukraine’s exodus escalates as millions more prepare to flee Putin’s invasion

By
Andrew D’Anieri

As Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine continues to escalate, millions more Ukrainians are expected to flee the country in the coming days to escape Russian war crimes and the horrors of occupation.


Conflict


Human Rights


UkraineAlert

Mar 15, 2022

Russia’s veto makes a mockery of the United Nations Security Council

By
Shelby Magid, Yulia Shalomov

Putin’s Ukraine War has fundamentally transformed the geopolitical landscape. This new reality must be reflected in the way the United Nations Security Council functions. If not now, when?


Conflict


International Organizations


UkraineAlert

Mar 11, 2022

Lend-Lease 2022: How the US can back Ukraine against Putin

By
Thomas S. Warrick

With Ukraine still in desperate need of more military aid to counter Vladimir Putin's invasion, it is now time for the United States to revive the Lend-Lease program signed into law eighty-one years ago on March 11, 1941.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Mar 10, 2022

Not just Putin: Most Russians support the war in Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Many international commentators have pinned the blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine solely on Vladimir Putin but the chilling truth is that an overwhelming majority of ordinary Russians also support the war.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 9, 2022

Putin’s Ukraine War leaves Russia trapped behind a new iron curtain

By
Dave Elseroad

Vladimir Putin's Ukraine War is part of a broader Kremlin offensive against human rights and civil liberties that is also being waged inside Russia itself against the country's marginalized and muzzled civil society.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 8, 2022

Ukraine urgently needs a multi-billion dollar international fund to survive

By
Ilya Timtchenko

Ukraine urgently needs international financial support to prevent an economic collapse as a result of Vladimir Putin's invasion and in order to fund the future rebuilding of the country's devastated towns and cities.


Conflict


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Mar 7, 2022

Western weakness is enabling Russian war crimes in Ukraine

By
Bohdan Klid

The democratic world has loudly condemned Vladimir Putin's Ukrainian invasion but longstanding policies of Western weakness towards the Kremlin linger on and are now enabling Russian war crimes in Ukraine.


Conflict


European Union

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Content

UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2017

Setting the Record Straight on Crimea

By Leonid Bershidsky

It is ironic that Diane Francis views my characterizations of the Crimea annexation as touting the Kremlin line. Everything I’ve written about the Russian takeover of Crimea, from this March 2014 column comparing it with the Anschluss, to the October 4 column that displeased Francis, could land me in jail in Russia. Crimean Tatar activist […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 11, 2017

The Only Thing Catalonia and Crimea Have in Common Is the Letter C

By Diane Francis

A Bloomberg piece in October titled “Why Catalonia Will Fail Where Crimea Succeeded” by Russian writer Leonid Bershidsky is an example of moral equivalence run amok. He compares two completely unrelated events—referenda in Crimea and Catalonia—as though they bear any similarity, and as though they carry the same moral weight. “The Catalan situation draws comparisons […]

Russia Southern & Southeastern Europe

UkraineAlert

Oct 10, 2017

Activists Urge Kyiv Mayor to Rename Street after Nemtsov

By Kateryna Smagliy

On October 9, when Boris Nemtsov would have turned 58, some of Ukraine’s politicians and activists held a press briefing to remember Nemtsov’s role in Ukraine’s two democratic revolutions and to urge Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko to rename a street after the slain Russian politician. “Ukraine remembers Boris Nemtsov’s support of the Orange Revolution and […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 10, 2017

Ukraine’s got talent: Engineer turned restaurateur turned politician breaking the old system

By Melinda Haring

Few would ever dream of challenging Vitali Klitschko, the three-time world heavyweight champion and mayor of Kyiv, in any kind of competition. But Sergiy Gusovsky isn’t like most people. Nearly a foot shorter and a political novice, Gusovsky went after Klitschko in the 2015 local elections. Even though the boxing champion was reelected mayor, Gusovsky grabbed […]

Democratic Transitions Political Reform

UkraineAlert

Oct 4, 2017

How Ukraine Can Avoid a Perfect Financial Storm

By Oleksandr Kharchenko

The recent resignation of all of the independent members of the Naftogaz Supervisory Board illustrates the sad state of the reform process in Ukraine. The reasons behind these resignations, which were publicly explained by the former members of the supervisory board in a letter to the Ukrainian government, are straightforward: they resigned because the Ukrainian […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 4, 2017

Now Is the Time for Electoral Reform in Ukraine

By Brian Mefford

Ukraine’s parliament has a busy agenda this autumn. Not only is a sweeping healthcare reform package needed to fix the country’s broken system, judicial reform, the creation of a special anticorruption court, and land reform are also pending. In spite of these burning priorities, now is also the best time for parliament to pass electoral […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 4, 2017

US Wrongly Thought Nukes Were Ukraine’s Biggest Problem

By Anders Åslund

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 Peter Dickinson

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 Péter Krekó

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 Diane Francis

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