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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
Economic Sanctions


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

Apr 11, 2017

Why Does the IMF Keep Funding Ukraine?

By Anders Åslund

When the International Monetary Fund’s board convened on April 3, it found that the Ukrainian government had fulfilled only five out of fourteen structural reform conditions it had outlined. Nevertheless, Ukraine received a $1 billion installment of its $17.5 billion financial support for the government’s reform program. Was it pure politics that Ukraine got a […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 10, 2017

Why Did Putin Get Stuck in Eastern Ukraine?

By Peter Dickinson

Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine is now entering its fourth year, but there was a time when few expected it to last even four weeks. The virtually bloodless seizure of Crimea, which fell to Russian troops in early 2014 without a fight, led most observers to conclude that Ukraine was effectively defenseless and at Moscow’s […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 10, 2017

Is Russia Winning in Serbia? Maybe, But Not for the Reasons You Think

By Dimitar Bechev

One year ago, in April 2016 when Serbia held snap polls, the BBC ran the headline “Pro-EU Prime Minister Vučić Claims Victory.” One year later, after Aleksandar Vučić’s resounding win in the presidential election on April 2, the international media has styled him “Putin’s Serb ally.” Who’s right and where is Serbian foreign policy heading? […]

European Union
International Organizations

UkraineAlert

Apr 10, 2017

From Trench Coats to Tuxedos: How the Kremlin Deploys its Dirty Tricks Today

By Diane Francis

The same dirty tricks deployed by the KGB for decades are used in today’s Cold War 2.0, and have permeated geopolitics from Syria to Ukraine and the world’s capitals. But spies in trench coats been supplanted by Russians in tuxedos with huge bank accounts who use financial, social, and political weaponry to build tentacles that […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 5, 2017

The Coming Crackdown on Ukraine’s Anticorruption Crusaders

By Daria Kaleniuk

President Petro Poroshenko’s new restrictions on anticorruption groups are appalling and threaten to reverse much of the progress Ukraine has made since the Euromaidan. Some analysts who defend the new law have got the details all wrong. Others have sounded the alarm, but the fine points of the regulations remain murky. On March 27, Poroshenko […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 3, 2017

Three Ways the West Can Get Tougher on Russia for Crimea Land Grab

By Taras Kuzio

Russia’s occupation of Crimea has reached its third anniversary, and there is no evidence in sight that President Vladimir Putin will withdraw his occupation forces. Both the United States and Canada have reiterated their support for continued sanctions against Russia as long as Crimea continues to be occupied. Still, ending Russia’s illegal occupation could take […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 31, 2017

Is Russia Getting Ready to Invade Ukraine Again?

By Stephen Blank

Recent Russian actions suggest a new stage of the Russian threat to Ukraine—and potentially to the Caucasus, Belarus, or the Baltic States as well—that could presage a new large-scale military operation. First, in 2016, Russia created twenty-five division formations and fifteen brigades, while raising manpower by only 10,000 men. This suggests the possibility that Russia […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 30, 2017

Why Putin’s Flirtation with the French Far Right May Backfire

By Péter Krekó and Alina Polyakova

On March 24, Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front (FN) party and a contender for the French presidency, flew to Moscow for a surprise visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Le Pen’s photo op of a one-on-one meeting with Russia’s president certainly made her look presidential, but it’s an image that may […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

Mar 30, 2017

One Small Step for Georgia, One Giant Leap for the EU

By Alexandra Hall Hall

At a time when doors across the West are closing to migrants, one small country has managed to buck the trend: the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia. On March 28, the country secured visa-free travel to the Schengen area of the EU, which includes all member states except Ireland, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, and […]

European Union
International Organizations

UkraineAlert

Mar 29, 2017

Ukraine Is in the Middle of a Counterrevolution Again. Is Anyone Paying Attention?

By Maxim Eristavi

While the world is distracted by multiple crises, Ukraine’s ruling elites are trying to undo the modest progress the country has achieved since the Maidan Revolution. Despite the mainstream narrative, when it comes to reforms in post-revolutionary Ukraine, the record has been anything but black and white. But if you need a consensus on the […]

Ukraine