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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

Aug 14, 2022

Russia’s invasion has highlighted Ukraine’s nation-building progress

By
Anders Åslund

Ukraine's remarkably resilient response to Russia’s February 2022 invasion has highlighted the impressive nation-building progress made by the country since the chaotic early years of the post-Soviet era.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 12, 2022

Guide to wartime Kyiv: City on the frontlines of European history

By
Andreas Umland

Visiting wartime Ukraine is certainly an extreme option but a trip to today’s Kyiv offers an opportunity to witness world history in the making while providing Ukrainians with meaningful moral and material support.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 11, 2022

Generation UA: Young Ukrainians are driving the resistance to Russia’s war

By
Mehri Druckman

Generation UA: From politics and the military to civil society and journalism, the post-independence generation of young Ukrainians is driving the country's remarkable fight back against Russia's invasion.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 10, 2022

Putin is running out of excuses as Ukraine expands the war to Crimea

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian officials have denied that Ukraine was behind an audacious August 9 attack on an airbase in occupied Crimea but Moscow's excuses are beginning to wear thin as Vladimir Putin's invasion continues to unravel.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Aug 9, 2022

Flawed Amnesty report risks enabling more Russian war crimes in Ukraine

By
Lillian Posner

Amnesty International's recent report accusing Ukraine of endangering civilian lives has sparked a wave of international criticism and is being actively used by the Kremlin to justify Russian bombing of civilian targets.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 8, 2022

Putin has forced Ukrainians to view Russian culture as a weapon of war

By
Kate Tsurkan

Efforts to reduce Russia's cultural footprint in Ukraine have sparked criticism but in reality it is Putin who has weaponized Russian culture and forced Ukrainians to view the likes of Pushkin and Dostoevsky as tools of empire.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 5, 2022

Russia’s invasion is putting the future of Ukraine’s forests at risk

By
Yehor Hrynyk

As the Russian invasion approaches the six-month mark, Ukraine's forests are facing the twin threats of frontline wildfires and wartime emergency economic measures that could lead to a disastrous increase in logging.


Conflict


Eastern Europe


UkraineAlert

Aug 4, 2022

Russian army faces morale problems as Putin’s Ukraine invasion drags on

By
Peter Dickinson

A new opinion poll indicates that the Russian public continues to strongly support their country's invasion of Ukraine but there are growing signs that Vladimir Putin's invading army is suffering from low morale.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Aug 4, 2022

Ukraine grain deal: World must still confront Putin’s Black Sea blackmail

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

The recent UN-brokered agreement to end Russia's Black Sea blockade and renew Ukrainian grain shipments is a step in the right direction but the only way to truly safeguard global food security is via military measures.


Conflict


Drones


UkraineAlert

Aug 2, 2022

Ukrainian civil society can play a key role in securing victory over Russia

By
Jonas Oehman

Ukraine's international partners should seek to develop stronger partnerships with the country's vibrant civil society sector and make better use of existing networks linking volunteers with the Ukrainian military.


Civil Society


Conflict

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

May 24, 2017

The Obvious Mistake We Make in Fighting Russian Disinformation

By Geysha Gonzalez

“The person who tells their story best, wins,” said Jed Willard of the FDR Center for Global Engagement at Harvard University in Prague on May 17, succinctly explaining the challenges of fighting disinformation. Willard and 330 other experts from twenty-nine countries gathered in Prague for a strategic communications summit (STRATCOM) hosted by European Values, a […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

May 24, 2017

Will Facebook Finally Fight Disinformation or Just Make Things Worse?

By Nina Jankowicz

For years, Facebook has quietly and very intentionally inserted itself into the daily lives of its users. It has succeeded wildly, becoming arguably the world’s most ubiquitous communication platform, with an average of 1.28 billion daily users. But now that it has become one of the world’s most popular sources of news, Facebook is failing […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

May 23, 2017

By Changing Alphabet, Kazakhs Take Another Step Toward the West

By Ariel Cohen

Kazakhstan has decided to switch alphabets, from Cyrillic to Latin script, by 2025. After decades of Russian and Soviet domination, countries are developing their own cultural code, though some feel uneasy about the change. Yet the Latin alphabet will only boost Kazakhstan’s international integration and its economic, technological, and scientific development. Plus, Latin script isn’t […]

Central Asia

UkraineAlert

May 23, 2017

The Reform Story Isn’t Over in Kyiv

By Ivan Mikloš

In the West, many people are ready to write off Ukraine. They wrongly believe that Ukraine’s reforms are stagnating, corruption is widespread, and the country is at war. But Ukraine’s reforms are definitely not done. To understand Ukraine’s promise, one must first grasp the country’s situation in 2014 when the reforms began. Two decades of […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 22, 2017

Why Are Russian Opposition Leaders Democrats at Home and Imperialists Abroad?

By Taras Kuzio

The US Congress has approved $100 million to counter “Russian influence and aggression” and support civil society organizations in Europe and Eurasia. According to the legislation, the funding will be used to “support democracy programs in the Russian Federation, including to promote internet freedom, and shall also be made available to support the democracy and […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 18, 2017

Something Is Very Wrong in Kyiv

By Josh Cohen

Ukraine Brags about Reforms and Harasses Activists Oleksandra Ustinova does not scare easily. Ustinova—Ustik to her friends—is a member of the board of the most outspoken watchdog in Kyiv and has led lobbying campaigns which successfully pushed through anticorruption reforms in Ukraine. She’s also a recognizable face with her straight blond hair and light blue […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 17, 2017

From Russia with Hate: The Kremlin’s Support for Violent Extremism in Central Europe

By Péter Krekó and Lóránt Győri

In 2016, the mayor of Ásotthalom, a small Hungarian town close to the country’s southern border, celebrated the opening of Gagarin Street with an obelisk to Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin and a speech about Russia’s greatness. The mayor was László Toroczkai, an extremist politician who serves as the vice president of the far-right Jobbik party; […]

Central Europe Hungary

UkraineAlert

May 17, 2017

Crimea’s Virtual Blackout Means Anything Goes

By Yuriy Lukanov

On Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, the Russian authorities are suppressing freedom of speech so that no one will really know what has happened there. Journalists in particular are under threat. The case of Ukrainian journalist Mykola Semena is one example of the situation in Crimea, which Russia has illegally occupied since 2014. His opinions were published […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 15, 2017

Why Ukraine’s Worst Enemy Is Not Vladimir Putin

By Peter Dickinson

Identifying Ukraine’s enemies has become a popular pastime. Unsurprisingly, Russia was the first one to be listed after the Kremlin dropped any pretense of Slavic fraternity and invaded the country. Corruption was next. Whereas Russia was the enemy at the gates, corruption was the enemy within. An eclectic collection of lesser enemies has since joined […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 15, 2017

Why the Internet May Save Us After All

By Nina Jankowicz

New Activists in Belarus and Russia Take to the Streets after Videos and Memes Spread On a single weekend in March, Russia and Belarus witnessed their largest protests in five years. Both countries have seen major street demonstrations in the past, but these were different and catalyzed by social media. The widespread use of online […]

Belarus Russia