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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

Jun 3, 2020

Bringing startup culture to the Ukrainian parliament

By
Diane Francis

Bringing startup culture to Ukrainian politics: 34-year-old Kira Rudik is a Ukrainian IT industry superstar who entered parliament last summer and now leads the country’s reformist Holos Party.


Democratic Transitions


Technology & Innovation


UkraineAlert

Jun 2, 2020

Trump’s G7 invite for Putin will encourage more war

By
Yuliia Popyk

US President Donald Trump wants to invite Vladimir Putin to the next G7 summit, despite the Russian leader's refusal to end the aggression against Ukraine that led to his initial suspension from G8 in 2014.


Conflict


France


UkraineAlert

May 31, 2020

To stop Putin, the Western world must revisit the 1994 Budapest Memorandum

By
Oleksii Reznikov

Ukraine's Deputy PM for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksii Reznikov says trust must be rebuilt before there can be peace with Russia. Returning to the framework of the Budapest Memorandum would be a step in the right direction, he argues.


Conflict


Nuclear Nonproliferation


UkraineAlert

May 28, 2020

Zelenskyy at home: One year of domestic reform?

By
Adrian Hoefer

Since his election last year, President Zelenskyy and his government have pledged to transform and energize Ukraine’s economy. Those pledges have not been realized. Why, and what should the government do this year to live up to those promises?


Economy & Business


Political Reform


UkraineAlert

May 28, 2020

Can post-pandemic Ukraine prevent another exodus?

By
Michael Druckman

As Ukraine looks towards the post-coronavirus recovery period, the country needs to think hard about how it intends to persuade millions of Ukrainian migrant workers to build their futures at home.


Coronavirus


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

May 27, 2020

Ukrainians who fled Putin face new pandemic realities

By
Iryna Matviyishyn

For the estimated 1.4 million Ukrainians internally displaced by Putin's war, the past six years have brought traumatic change. These IDPs are now facing the further challenge of the coronavirus pandemic.


Conflict


Coronavirus


UkraineAlert

May 26, 2020

Ukrainian local elections: Will Zelenskyy win again?

By
Mykola Vorobiov

Ukraine will hold local elections in October 2020. This will be the first big test for President Zelenskyy and his Servant of the People party since landslide victories in 2019's presidential and parliamentary votes.


Democratic Transitions


Elections


UkraineAlert

May 26, 2020

Statement by former US Ambassadors to Ukraine

By
Atlantic Council Eurasia Center

Former US ambassadors to Ukraine emphasize the importance of the US-Ukraine relationship.


Politics & Diplomacy


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

May 24, 2020

Ukraine’s showbiz president shuns mainstream media

By
Tetiana Gaiduk

Volodymyr Zelenskyy won the Ukrainian presidency with a campaign that positioned him as an everyman alternative to the country's discredited political elite, but a lack of media engagement now risks undermining his democratic credentials.


Democratic Transitions


Internet


UkraineAlert

May 21, 2020

Russo-Ukrainian War: Zelenskyy unable to find path to peace with Putin

By
Peter Dickinson

President Zelenskyy’s talk of a new approach to peace with Russia proved hugely attractive to the war-weary Ukrainian public in 2019. However, one year on, there is very little to show for this initial optimism.


Conflict


Russia

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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

Feb 19, 2018

Four Years after the Maidan, How Is the Investigation Going?

By Tetyana Ogarkova

On February 18, 2014, the most tragic part of the Revolution of Dignity started; more than one hundred people were killed, several dozens went missing, and over a thousand were wounded in Kyiv on February 18-20. Yevhenia Zakrevska, the leading lawyer of the so-called Heavenly Hundred families who lost loved ones on the Maidan during […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 15, 2018

We’re All In! Ukraine Moving Forward on Women’s Participation

By Lauren Van Metre

Women’s rights have made major strides in Ukraine since 2014. In particular, elevating the coordination of the government’s gender equality policies to the office of the Vice Prime Minister for EU and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, has led to real breakthroughs.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 14, 2018

Forget East-West and Language Divide. Politicians May Exploit New Wedge Issues in Ukraine’s Elections

By Ruslan Minich

Ukraine has decisively moved toward the West. Previously pulled between East and West, Ukrainians are now more united on key issues that had previously rankled the country for decades. More Ukrainians want educational instruction in Ukrainian, greater numbers prefer EU and NATO membership, and support for democracy far outstrips support for a strongman. At the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 14, 2018

How to Waste Western Military Assistance

By Olena Prokopenko

In late 2017, Ukraine failed to receive assistance that was expected from two of its largest donors, the IMF and the EU. The anticipated funding—over $2.5 billion—was strictly conditioned on specific reforms. Both donors referred to the country’s lack of compliance with its obligations in the anticorruption and economic areas. In response, the Ukrainian government […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 12, 2018

Is This the End of Mikheil Saakashvili in Ukraine?

By Melinda Haring

Today opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili was deported to Poland. For months he has been leading protests outside of Ukraine’s parliament, urging President Petro Poroshenko to resign. The Saakashvili drama has been ongoing; last year he was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship and then reentered the country illegally. In December, he was arrested and then broke […]

The Caucasus Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 9, 2018

What Do Ukraine, Congo, Cuba, North Korea, Tajikistan, and Venezuela Have in Common?

By Maxim Martynyuk

Since 2014, when a democratic revolution triumphed in Ukraine, there have been two kinds of reports coming from my country: those about Ukrainians’ heroic resistance against Russian aggression, and those about the corruption that is destroying the country. The truth, of course, is more nuanced and mundane: Ukraine is gradually advancing, sometimes with two steps […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 7, 2018

The View from Inside a Donetsk Prison

By Matthew Kupfer

When Russian-led separatists seized control of Donetsk in 2014, Ihor Kozlovsky did what many residents of the city were doing: he stayed put. But unlike others, Kozlovsky was not a supporter of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR). In fact, he was a Ukrainian patriot, a professor and world-renowned expert of comparative religion at Donetsk […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 7, 2018

Why Election Reform Should Be a Top Priority Now

By Andrew Fink

Election reform in Ukraine is finally gaining some momentum. In December, parliament passed in the first reading draft law #3112-1, which creates an open list proportional election system and makes it easier for small parties to win seats in parliament. In addition, the president’s long-awaited list of candidates for the Central Election Commission has finally […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 7, 2018

Ukraine Headed for Perfect Storm of Demographic Decline

By Peter Dickinson

In January, the Czech government announced plans to double its annual quota for Ukrainian fast-track migrant workers from 9,600 to 19,600. Three years ago, the quota had been just 3,800. Prague’s message is clear—Ukrainian workers are not merely welcome but vital to the Czech Republic’s economy. The Czechs are not the only ones in Central […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 6, 2018

Will Russia Reinterpret International Law and Get Away With It?

By James J. Coyle

Russia’s disinformation activities have reached a new level: the government is now attempting to reinterpret international law. And the international community appears to be largely ignoring these audacious, unlawful efforts. The latest effort began on January 14 when the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Konstantin Zatulin, acknowledged that Russia […]

Russia Ukraine