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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

Sep 22, 2020

Desecration of genocide monument marks a new low in Ukraine’s memory wars

By
John Vsetecka

The recent desecration of an iconic Kyiv statue honoring the millions of Ukrainians killed in the 1930s Soviet genocide marks a new low in the memory wars over the country's troubled and traumatic past.


Disinformation


Resilience & Society


UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2020

Why Ukraine needs a new approach to refugees

By
Eric Fritz

Refugees in Ukraine currently face an uphill battle, but if the Ukrainian authorities were to invest more in refugee resettlement programs, the country as a whole would inevitably benefit in the long run.


Human Rights


Migration


BelarusAlert

Sep 17, 2020

Belarus national awakening offers hope for Ukraine as Soviet collapse continues

By
Solomiia Bobrovska

Belarus has emerged from its post-Soviet slumber and has set out on the road to democracy. This is good news for the Belarusians themselves. It is also a welcome development for Ukraine but less so for Russia.


Belarus


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2020

Five predictions for Ukraine’s local elections

By
Brian Mefford

Ukrainians go to the polls on October 25 to vote in local elections that promise to serve as the first major electoral test for President Zelenskyy since he and his party swept to power last year.


Elections


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2020

Ukraine’s reforms remain hostage to corrupt courts

By
Diane Francis

In 2019, political newcomer Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his party won historic election victories based largely on the appeal of promises to eradicate corruption. Just over one year later, these efforts are backsliding and in danger of ending entirely.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Sep 10, 2020

Football fairytale: Ukrainian village team Kolos prepares to join Europa League elite

By
Andrew Todos

Ukrainian village team Kolos Kovalivka are preparing to write a new chapter in what is one of the most romantic stories in modern football history when the club makes its Europa League debut in Greece.


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Sep 10, 2020

Ukraine’s education sector reforms are under threat

By
Liliia Hrynevych and Ivanna Kobernyk

Education sector reform is widely seen as one of the more successful transformations in Ukraine since the country’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity but this progress is now under threat amid a changing political climate.


Education


Ukraine


BelarusAlert

Sep 8, 2020

Will Belarus follow Ukraine out of the Russian orbit?

By
Taras Kuzio

By intervening in Belarus to prop up his fellow post-Soviet dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Vladimir Putin risks repeating the mistakes made in Ukraine and fueling anti-Russian sentiment among Belarusians.


Belarus


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 6, 2020

Has Vladimir Putin poisoned his pet pipeline project?

By
Diane Francis

Germany had long resisted US calls to abandon the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, but the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has now sparked a dramatic shift in German opinion.


Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Sep 3, 2020

Ukraine quietly launches a gas market revolution

By
Oleksandr Kharchenko

A gas market revolution has just taken place in Ukraine. This significant development has occurred without much fanfare, but it comes following five long years of intense political battles.


Energy Markets & Governance


Oil and Gas

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

Oct 4, 2017

Now Is the Time for Electoral Reform in Ukraine

By Brian Mefford

Ukraine’s parliament has a busy agenda this autumn. Not only is a sweeping healthcare reform package needed to fix the country’s broken system, judicial reform, the creation of a special anticorruption court, and land reform are also pending. In spite of these burning priorities, now is also the best time for parliament to pass electoral […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 4, 2017

US Wrongly Thought Nukes Were Ukraine’s Biggest Problem

By Anders Åslund

Ukraine has played an important role in US foreign policy since it became independent in 1991. So far, this topic has received scant scholarly interest. The most substantial book to date was Sherman Garnett, The Keystone in the Arch: Ukraine in the Emerging Security Environment of Central and Eastern Europe, which was published in 1997, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 4, 2017

History as a Weapon in Russia’s War on Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

The international media will embrace all things Bolshevik this autumn as the world marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution. Audiences can expect everything from gushing feature articles about early Soviet cinematography to edgy op-eds on the place of propaganda posters in twentieth century art. Amid this deluge of Communist kitsch, we are unlikely to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 2, 2017

Merkel’s Next Challenge: Defeating Putin in Central Eastern Europe

By Péter Krekó

Now that the German elections are over and the victorious Chancellor Angela Merkel is preparing for coalition talks with potential partners, two important questions arise: how will the political changes in Germany affect German-Russian relations, which have become embittered in the last few years? And what impact could the election have on Germany’s influence in […]

Germany Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2017

Ukraine’s Got a Real Chance to Change. Will It Blow It Again?

By Diane Francis

Ukraine’s future rests on whether its judicial reforms will bring about the rule of law for the first time in its history, or whether political influence continues to contaminate its system. It appears the latter is the case. Today, 111 new Supreme Court nominees were proposed to President Petro Poroshenko for his signature to begin […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 28, 2017

Trump and Poroshenko: The Billionaire Boys Club

By Adrian Karatnycky

Petro Poroshenko scored a prized diplomatic plum for which most heads of state and government aggressively vie: a one-on-one meeting with President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. In addition to Ukraine’s president, Trump held only nine other private meetings with the heads of state or government […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 28, 2017

How to Keep the Russian Bear Out of Ukraine’s Energy Sector

By Olga Bielkova and Anders Åslund

Russia is at war with Ukraine. This is a hybrid war with many arms. One of them is energy. The Kremlin has weaponized the energy trade between Russia and Ukraine to impose a client-state status on Ukraine. Given its weak negotiating position, Ukraine had to accept Gazprom’s unjustified prices. Facing the threat of supply interruptions, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 28, 2017

Patriot: Working Hard to Bring Home Ukrainian POWs

By Vera Zimmerman

The situation with prisoners of war being held in Ukraine’s occupied Donbas is a tragedy. Some have been locked up for over two years, some tortured, and a few executed. Access to them by international missions is usually denied. Despairing families sometimes fall prey to swindlers seeking ransom. Since the war is officially undeclared, these […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2017

Who Says that Russians Have to Live Under a Corrupt, Aging, and Irrational Strongman?

By Anastazia Clouting

On September 13, a man who cheated death twice came to Washington. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a journalist and deputy head of the nongovernmental organization Open Russia, survived a second state-sanctioned poisoning in February. He has lived to deliver a message for democratic allies in the West. In a speech at the US Capitol, Kara-Murza said, “It […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2017

Four Real Ways to Fix Ukraine Now

By Josh Cohen

Kyiv continues to make great progress stabilizing its economy as Ukraine’s recent sale of a $3 billion Eurobond demonstrates. When it comes to anticorruption reforms, though, it continues to be a case of two steps forward and one step back. To break this stalemate, Ukraine’s Western friends should push Kyiv to take the following four […]

Ukraine