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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

Jul 27, 2020

“Mr. Jones” film exposes the fake news campaign behind Stalin’s Ukrainian genocide

By
Serhii Plokhii

"Mr. Jones" is an important historical drama that sheds long overdue light on Stalin's man-made famine in 1930's Ukraine. The famine killed millions but remains relatively unknown among international audiences.


Disinformation


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Jul 24, 2020

Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts go up in smoke

By
Peter Dickinson

A July 23 arson attack on the home of leading Ukrainian anti-corruption activist Vitaliy Shabunin has sparked concerns over the country's continued commitment to reforms under President Zelenskyy.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jul 22, 2020

Russia’s MH17 web of lies looks set to unravel in court

By
Georgiy Kent

Ever since flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in summer 2014, Russia has denied responsibility. However, international efforts to prove Moscow's guilt have gained momentum in 2020.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Jul 22, 2020

How to win Ukraine’s long fight for good governance

By
Anders Åslund

Ever since 1991, Ukraine has been described as a land of huge potential, but it remains among Europe's poorest nations. Can President Zelenskyy provide the good governance Ukraine requires to succeed?


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jul 21, 2020

Ukraine’s healthcare system is in critical condition again

By
Judy Twigg

After a few years in remission, Ukraine’s health sector is in critical condition once again, with efforts underway to reverse the reform progress achieved in the sector since the 2014 Revolution of Dignity.


Democratic Transitions


Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Jul 20, 2020

Belarus presidential vote: Ukrainian MPs join calls for democratic breakthrough

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

The August 9 presidential election in Belarus promises to have major geopolitical ramifications for the entire region. A cross-party group of Ukrainian MPs has formed an association to support democracy in Belarus ahead of the vote.


Belarus


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jul 20, 2020

Statelessness in Ukraine: New law offers fresh hope

By
Eric Fritz and Kseniia Karahiaur

Almost thirty years since the collapse of the USSR, statelessness remains a significant issue in independent Ukraine, but new legislation aims to make it easier for residents to gain legal status.


Human Rights


International Norms


UkraineAlert

Jul 17, 2020

Israeli-Ukrainian artist offers window on late Soviet realities

By
Jacob Heilbrunn

Artist Zoya Cherkassky stands for something permanent and enduring, drawing on the deep traditions that she encountered both in Ukraine and in Judaism.


Civil Society


Israel


UkraineAlert

Jul 16, 2020

Will Ukraine’s new central bank chief be independent?

By
David Clark

President Zelenskyy has appointed Kyrylo Shevchenko as Governor of Ukraine's National Bank but questions remain over whether the new NBU chief will be able to remain truly independent.


Democratic Transitions


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Jul 15, 2020

New US sanctions block Putin’s pipeline despite Danish breakthrough

By
Diane Francis

Russia has recently secured approval from Denmark to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, but new US sanctions reflect America's resolve to make sure the strategically important project remains unfinished.


European Union


Geopolitics & Energy Security

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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

Sep 13, 2017

Does Russia Have Hard Power in the US?

By Lada Roslycky

There is something naïve about many people born in democratic countries. They seem to take the human rights, values, and principles upon which their countries are built for granted. Dangerously, they have a difficult time imagining that their rights and freedoms can be manipulated in such a way as to threaten their institutions, national security, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 12, 2017

Russia’s Peacekeeping Proposal in Ukraine Is a Sham

By James J. Coyle

Russia has introduced a United Nations draft resolution for peacekeepers in Ukraine amid acclaim by German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and the chairman of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE). On its face, this would appear to meet a long-standing demand of the government in Kyiv and mark a reversal of Russia’s […]

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Sep 12, 2017

North Korean Missile Engines: Not from Ukraine

By Mariana Budjeryn and Andrew Zhalko-Tytarenko

A new report points to Ukraine as a possible source of liquid propellant engines (LPE) powering intercontinental-range missiles successfully ground-tested by North Korea last year and flight-tested this year. As the world grapples with the fait accompli of North Korean nuclear and missile capability, the path Pyongyang took to acquire it is of considerable interest, […]

Korea Russia

UkraineAlert

Sep 12, 2017

Ukrainians’ Stock Soars in Central Europe as Employers Vie for Labor

By James Brooke

One of this summer’s big lessons is that the image of Ukrainians has turned around in the region. As Central European governments fight to block EU-mandated quotas of asylum seekers from Syria and Iraq, Ukraine has emerged as the region’s source of desirable guest workers. Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, and Estonian governments have set up recruiting […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 7, 2017

Scarred: How Famine Shaped Modern Ukraine and Russia

By Diane Francis

In the 1930s, Joseph Stalin committed crimes against humanity by purposely starving to death more than four million Ukrainians for resisting his Five-Year Plan to collectivize agriculture. Millions more fled and in 1937, Stalin executed or imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian leaders and influencers. For three more generations, Russia kept Stalin’s genocide hidden until […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 7, 2017

Pyongyang’s Ambitions Have Nothing to Do with Kyiv and Everything to Do with Moscow

By Lada Roslycky

The North Korean leadership, headed by 33-year-old Kim Jong-un, is openly threatening its neighbors, as well as the United States, with missile strikes. How has this little country, most of whose citizens live in poverty, managed to cause such a global security issue? A recent New York Times article accused Ukraine of illegally supplying rocket […]

Korea Russia

UkraineAlert

Sep 7, 2017

Will Ukraine’s Parliament Accomplish Anything This Fall?

By Olena Prokopenko and Christina Parandii

On September 5, a new political season began in Ukraine. Parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy has already branded parliament’s new plenary session “the autumn of reforms” by promising to deliver results on some of the most hot-button issues, including healthcare, pension, education, and judicial reforms. Parliament is behind and needs to kick things into high gear; […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 5, 2017

Should the US Arm Ukraine? For the Answer, Look to the Soviet-Afghan War

By Johnny Herbst

In February 2014, Russia seized and annexed Crimea; a few weeks later, Moscow launched its no-longer-covert hybrid war against Ukraine in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. It is now 2017 and the situation remains relatively unchanged. The conflict in the east is at a standstill, no side has a clear advantage, and it appears that […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 5, 2017

Parliament Is the Problem in Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

September marks the beginning of season 48 of “Game of Chairs,” otherwise known as the Ukrainian parliament. As the country’s MPs return for the autumn parliamentary session, few will be tuning in. While the palace intrigues and Machiavellian plot twists of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” makes for compulsive viewing, the ideological ambiguity and backroom dealing […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 4, 2017

How to Finish the Revolution in Ukraine

By Olena Sotnyk

More than three years after the Euromaidan, Ukraine still hasn’t successfully prosecuted any high-level crooks, and we’ve got plenty here. At Stanford University’s Draper Hills Summer Fellowship this summer, we examined how to catch a “big fish” and looked at a case study in Indonesia, where the country’s anticorruption commission had just begun. Despite being […]

Ukraine