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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

Oct 14, 2021

Open Skies agreement will deepen Ukraine’s European integration

By
Peter Dickinson

The Open Skies aviation agreement signed in Kyiv on October 12 will strengthen connectivity between Ukraine and the EU while significantly enhancing Ukraine's ongoing European integration.


Economy & Business


European Union


UkraineAlert

Oct 14, 2021

Old problems threaten Ukraine’s new Bureau of Economic Security

By
Victor Tregubov

Ukraine is currently in the process of reforming the country’s tax police. While there was much initial optimism earlier this year over the creation of a Bureau of Economic Security, familiar concerns are now creeping in as this new agency slowly takes shape.


Corruption


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Oct 14, 2021

Ukraine hopes industrial parks can attract international investors

By
Oleksii Chernyshov

President Zelenskyy recently signed off on a series of amendments to Ukrainian legislation on industrial parks as part of an initiative to establish a network of 25 flagship industrial parks across the country.


Economy & Business


Trade and tariffs


UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2021

Medvedev echoes Putin’s dangerous Ukraine obsession

By
Peter Dickinson

Former Russian president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev has penned a vitriolic essay attacking the current Ukrainian leadership that underlines the scale of Moscow's dangerous obsession with the loss of Ukraine.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 11, 2021

Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy must prove he is serious about judicial reform

By
Mykhailo Zhernakov, Nestor Barchuk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's reputation as a reformer hinges on his ability to deliver on promises to transform Ukraine's discredited judiciary and achieve a breakthrough towards the rule of law in the country.


Corruption


Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Oct 10, 2021

Europe’s energy crisis highlights dangers of reliance on Russia

By
Aura Sabadus

Russia stands accused of exploiting the current gas crisis in Europe as part of Kremlin efforts to strengthen Moscow's position in EU energy markets and push through certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.


European Union


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2021

Southern Ukraine’s Bessarabia is poised for a regional revival

By
Andrew D’Anieri

Rural Bessarabia in southwestern Ukraine is physically isolated from the rest of the country and has often been overlooked in national politics but is now undergoing an exciting regional revival.


Economy & Business


Infrastructure Protection


UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2021

Ukraine seeks peace with the past

By
Olesya Khromeychuk

Since becoming independent in 1991, Ukraine had been locked in relentless memory wars. Three decades on, the country may now be moving towards a new era marked by more meaningful commemoration of the troubled past.


Disinformation


Resilience & Society


UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2021

The EU must stop serving as a playground for corrupt Ukrainian oligarchs and officials

By
Daria Kaleniuk

If the EU is serious about helping Ukraine achieve a decisive break with the institutional corruption of the post-Soviet era, it must also stop serving as a playground for corrupt Ukrainian oligarchs and officials.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2021

Saakashvili arrest overshadows Georgian ruling party’s election win

By
Peter Dickinson

Georgia’s ruling party Georgian Dream secured victory in October 2 local elections but the imprisonment of returning ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili leaves little realistic chance of an end to political tensions.


Elections


The Caucasus

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

Jan 24, 2018

What Lavrov’s Lies Mean for Ukraine

By Stephen Blank

Voltaire reportedly said that those who can persuade one to believe absurdities will lead one to commit atrocities. In contemporary politics Russia’s stance on Ukraine represents a cardinal example of the enduring validity of his remark. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently restated three lies: there are no Russian troops in the Donbas, the conflict […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2018

Russia Cannot Acknowledge MH17 Role without Exposing Secret Ukraine War

By Peter Dickinson

The shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine on July 17, 2014, transformed a localized post-Soviet conflict into a major global crisis. With victims from eleven different countries including 189 Dutch citizens, the international backlash was prompt and marked a clear escalation in the confrontation between Russia and the West over the war […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2018

Justice Deferred but Not Yet Denied

By Mykhailo Zhernakov

2017 was a pivotal year in Ukraine, but not the way we expected. We were supposed to get a brand new Supreme Court to replace four old cassation courts that were synonymous with corruption and abuse. Instead, it was new only on paper.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2018

Ukraine: Where Watchdogs Need Safeguards

By Luke Drabyn and Samantha Feinstein

It is ironic but fitting that in Ukraine, the agency tasked with protecting whistleblowers has instead fostered so much corruption that its own employees, after speaking out, have become victims of retaliation. In mid-November, Hanna Solomatina, the former head of the financial control department within the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP), alleged that she […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2018

When Will We See a Breakthrough in Ukraine?

By Pavlo Sheremeta

When asked what the exchange rate will be in 2018, I answer a question with a question: when will elections in Ukraine take place? A definite answer  is hard to come by in our country. Only one thing is certain: the fight in Ukraine will continue. Anders Åslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 18, 2018

Ukraine’s Making Real Progress in the Energy Sector

By Olga Bielkova

Energy independence is a question of national security for Ukraine, and one that we worked on assiduously in 2017. Most observers know that Naftogaz emerged victorious in an $80 billion arbitration case in Stockholm, but that’s only part of the story. Here are the big five milestones that really mattered for the energy sector last […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 18, 2018

Why Russia’s Soft Power Is Here to Stay (At Least for Now)

By Matthew Finkel

Hydrocarbon exports remain the centerpiece of Russia’s national revival strategy, despite the negative impact of developmental and investment setbacks, OPEC price dumping in traditional Russian export markets, Western sanctions, and a growing push toward energy independence in Eastern Europe. Russia continues to suffer from many of the classic symptoms of Dutch disease: a number of […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 18, 2018

Why Poroshenko’s Anti-Corruption Court Is a Sham Proposal

By Anastasia Krasnosilska

Ukrainians want corrupt public officials to go to jail. It didn’t happen in 2014, 2015, 2016, or 2017. In July, a Kyiv court released Roman Tymkiv, the head of a state-owned military plant, on bail. Tymkiv was accused of embezzling $1 million by supplying the Ukrainian army with used tank engines for the price of […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 17, 2018

How Poroshenko Can Easily Be Reelected

By Diane Francis

Democracies guarantee freedom of speech for their elected politicians by granting them immunity from libel or slander for statements made inside their legislative chambers. This privilege was established centuries ago in Britain to protect the people’s representatives from the monarchy, House of Lords, and other powerful vested interests. Ukraine, on the other hand, has perverted […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2018

What Did Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution Really Accomplish?

By Melinda Haring

Yale University history professor Marci Shore’s new book, The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution (Yale University Press, 2018), captures the historic period surrounding the Maidan revolution that took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, from November 2013 to February 2014, when ordinary Ukrainians took to the streets and demanded justice and dignity. Shore’s book couldn’t […]

Russia Ukraine