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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

Ukraine’s Invisible Refugees

UkraineAlert
May 13, 2025

Drone superpower: Ukrainian wartime innovation offers lessons for NATO

By
David Kirichenko

Today’s Ukraine is now a drone superpower with an innovative domestic defense industry that can provide its NATO allies with important lessons in the realities of twenty-first century warfare, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Industry

Ukraine’s Invisible Refugees

UkraineAlert
May 6, 2025

The shadow of 1930s appeasement hangs over US-led peace talks

By
Oleksandr Merezhko

As the world prepares to mark the eightieth anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, the shadow of events leading up to World War II hangs over efforts to end Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine, writes Oleksandr Merezhko.

Conflict
European Union

Ukraine’s Invisible Refugees

UkraineAlert
Apr 17, 2025

The Ukrainian army is now Europe’s most credible security guarantee

By
Pavlo Verkhniatskyi

As Europe confronts the new geopolitical realities of an expansionist Russia and an isolationist United States, the continent’s most credible security guarantee is now the Ukrainian Armed Forces, writes Pavlo Verkhniatskyi.

Conflict
Defense Industry

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Jun 19, 2025

New EU and US energy sanctions are needed to disarm Putin’s war machine

By
Aura Sabadus

The EU and US have prepared measures that could dramatically weaken Russia’s energy weapon and undermine Putin’s war machine. The question now is whether they have the political leadership to proceed, writes Aura Sabadus.

Conflict
Economic Sanctions


UkraineAlert

Jun 19, 2025

Addressing Georgia’s slide away from European integration

By
Matteo Mecacci

Officials in Brussels and Tbilisi must act to rebuild trust and address the deteriorating relationship between Georgia and the European Union, writes Matteo Mecacci.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jun 17, 2025

Putin’s Kyiv blitz sends message to G7 leaders: Russia does not want peace

By
Peter Dickinson

As G7 leaders gathered on Monday for a summit in Canada, Russia unleashed one of the largest bombardments of the Ukrainian capital since the start of Moscow’s invasion more than three years ago, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Jun 17, 2025

Russia and Ukraine are locked in an economic war of attrition

By
Anders Åslund

As the Russian army continues to wage a brutal war of attrition in Ukraine, the two nations are also locked in an economic contest that could play a key role in determining the outcome of Europe’s largest invasion since World War II, writes Anders Åslund.

Conflict
Corruption


UkraineAlert

Jun 12, 2025

Ukraine is shaping the future of drone warfare at sea as well as on land

By
Peter Dickinson

Kyiv’s string of remarkable naval victories in the Battle of the Black Sea confirm that Ukrainian innovation is shaping the future of drone warfare at sea as well as on land, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Jun 12, 2025

Putin’s peace plan is a blueprint for the end of Ukrainian statehood

By
Tetiana Kotelnykova

Russia’s peace plan sends a clear signal that Moscow wants to erase Ukraine as a state and as a nation. If Western leaders wish to avoid this catastrophic outcome, they must convince Putin that the alternative to a negotiated peace is a Russian defeat, writes Tetiana Kotelnykova.

Conflict
Freedom and Prosperity


UkraineAlert

Jun 10, 2025

Modern Ukraine’s national journey can be traced on Kyiv’s central square

By
Peter Dickinson

Since 1991, Kyiv’s Maidan square has emerged from Ukraine’s post-Soviet identity crisis via two popular uprisings to become the sacred ground zero of a nation forged in the crucible of revolution and war, writes Peter Dickinson.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 10, 2025

Ukrainian innovations are redefining the role of drones in modern war

By
Vitaliy Nabukhotny

Ukraine’s audacious drone strikes on Putin’s bomber fleet at airbases across Russia have been hailed as a watershed moment in military history, leading to claims that Ukraine is “redefining modern warfare,” writes Vitaliy Nabukhotny.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Jun 5, 2025

Russian hybrid warfare: Ukraine’s success offers lessons for Europe

By
Maksym Beznosiuk

As the Kremlin continues to escalate its hybrid war against Europe, Ukraine’s unique experience since 2014 of combating Russian hybrid warfare offers important lessons, writes Maksym Beznosiuk.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Jun 5, 2025

Trump’s Russia policy must be rooted in realism

By
Agnia Grigas

The Trump administration favors a realist approach to international relations, but a pragmatic assessment of Russia’s capabilities and objectives is needed to achieve the stated goal of bringing the war in Ukraine to an end, writes Agnia Grigas.

Conflict
Disinformation

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spotlight

Resilience in the face of adversity

Ukraine’s transformation

Ukraine has moved tentatively toward an open society and market economy since independence. The country has held several democratic elections and made halting progress in addressing corruption and state control in its economy. Since the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Ukraine has undertaken significant governance and economic reform and moved decisively toward a Europe-Atlantic foreign policy. Since 2022, Ukraine has resiliently continued to advance some reforms despite fighting for its very existence against the full-scale Russian invasion.

Learn more about Ukraine

Ukraine’s Invisible Refugees

UkraineAlert
Dec 5, 2024

Ukraine’s entrepreneurial class can drive the country’s economic recovery

The Ukrainian SME sector has demonstrated remarkable wartime resilience and is poised to be at the forefront of efforts to create a modern, innovative, postwar economy, writes Anton Waschuk.

Read More

Ukraine’s Invisible Refugees

UkraineAlert
Oct 1, 2024

Ukraine needs international investors to maintain defense tech momentum

By
Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s rapidly expanding defense tech sector can play a game-changing role in the war against Russia but Ukrainian companies need international investment, writes Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

Ukraine’s Invisible Refugees

UkraineAlert
Jun 13, 2024

Ukraine officially embraces English as historic westward pivot continues

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

By officially embracing English, Ukrainians aim to support their country’s historic pivot away from Moscow and return to the European community of nations, writes Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Civil Society
Conflict

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

Oct 19, 2016

Ukraine’s Invisible Refugees

By Diane Francis

Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan are not the world’s only major “refugee” hosting nations. Ukraine too hosts enormous numbers of people who have had to leave their homes because of war. Millions fled their homes in 2014 after Russian operatives and tanks invaded Ukraine’s eastern regions and annexed Crimea. But they are not labeled “refugees.” Instead, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 18, 2016

Europe Funds Russian Aggression in Ukraine, Syria, and Beyond

By Mykhailo Gonchar and Hanna Hopko

Three-Fourths of Russian Oil Sold to Europe On October 20, the Council of the European Union will consider its strategy toward the Russian Federation. Following the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Europe faces a genuine challenge: to recognize Russian aggression against Ukraine for what it is, and to provide truly […]

European Union Germany

UkraineAlert

Oct 18, 2016

Ukraine Scores Diplomatic Breakthrough

By Vera Zimmerman

“Security First, Elections Next,” the West Concedes After long resisting Western pressure to implement the political points in the Minsk agreements, Ukraine scored a diplomatic victory last week when the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) passed two important resolutions. The first resolution officially defines the conflict in Ukraine as Russian aggression, countering […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2016

Ukraine’s New Liberals Face Tough Climb from Streets to Seats in Parliament

By Melinda Haring

Ukraine now has a liberal European party, but can it become a nationwide party with real heft in parliament? On July 9, Euromaidan leaders joined forces with the Democratic Alliance party. The reinvigorated party is still preparing its program statement, but broadly it’s a liberal European party that supports free market ideas, strongly opposes corruption, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 13, 2016

Will the West Ever Stand Up to Putin?

By Hanna Hopko

German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested that the Normandy Four—leaders from France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine—gather on October 19 to discuss the war in Ukraine. But this is premature. Nothing will come out of this meeting without a detailed roadmap for a real ceasefire and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adherence to fully implement the Minsk agreements.

Russia Syria

UkraineAlert

Oct 13, 2016

Natalie Jaresko Says $25 Billion More Needed to Make Ukraine’s Reforms Irreversible

By Melinda Haring

Fatigue, Vested Interests, and Populism Threaten Ukraine’s “Longest and Most Successful” Reform Process “There’s no country in the world that has been in such dire circumstances and yet turned around the economy in such a short period of time,” said Natalie Jaresko, who served as Ukraine’s Finance Minister from December 2014 to April 2016. She […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2016

What Ukraine Can Learn from Romania’s Fight against Graft

By Michael Druckman

In 2015, Romania got serious about its corruption problem. DNA, its aggressive anticorruption body, indicted 1,250 public officials, including the sitting prime minister. Five other ministers, twenty-one members of parliament, and Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu were indicted. The agency ordered the seizure of nearly half a billion euros. Romania is now perceived as less corrupt. […]

Central Europe Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 11, 2016

The Other Victims of the War in Ukraine

By Laura A. Dean

Ukraine has long been a country associated with human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women, but recent reports of human trafficking as a consequence of the war in eastern Ukraine have brought a new urgency to this ongoing crisis. News articles tell chilling stories about slave labor camps, children’s brothels, drug couriers, drug couriers, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 10, 2016

How Ukraine Can Make Its Diplomacy Smarter

By Victoria Khaladzhy

Public diplomacy has been singled out as a far-reaching mechanism for promoting Ukraine’s interests in the world. Diplomats have taken first steps in utilizing instruments from the country’s existing foreign policy tools. These include increasing person-to-person engagement, promoting economic interactions, intensifying exchange programs, and upgrading cultural centers abroad. Like other governments, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 10, 2016

Washington’s Patience with Kyiv Runs Thin

By Sergii Leshchenko

Last week my colleagues Mustafa Nayyem, Svitlana Zalishchuk, and I had dozens of meetings in the United States. Our impression was disappointing. Since the resignation of Arseniy Yatsenyuk (Washington’s favorite Ukrainian politician), reports of further corruption, and the lack of progress in resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the United States has grown weary of […]

Ukraine
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