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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 2, 2020

US should revive Lend-Lease to contain Russia

By
Stephen Blank

The Western world has repeatedly been caught out by each new phase of Vladimir Putin's hybrid war. Could a new Lend-Lease program for Central and Eastern Europe allow the West to regain the initiative from the Kremlin?


Central Europe


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Feb 27, 2020

The lesson of Crimea: Appeasement never works

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

The international community's weak response to Vladimir Putin's 2014 seizure of Crimea was a watershed moment for global security but attempts to appease Russia continue despite six subsequent years of hybrid warfare.


Conflict


Non-Traditional Threats


UkraineAlert

Feb 26, 2020

Is Zelenskyy preparing for a thaw in Russia-Ukraine ties?

By
Diane Francis

The appointment of Andriy Yermak as President Zelenskyy's new chief of staff has sparked debate over Yermak's ties to Moscow and links to pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians. Is Zelenskyy preparing for a thaw in ties with the Kremlin?


Conflict


Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding


UkraineAlert

Feb 26, 2020

Ten steps to boost Ukraine’s economic growth in 2020

By
Andy Hunder

Ukraine has achieved macroeconomic stability. It is now time to demonstrate accelerated growth. This can only be achieved by boosting Foreign Direct Investment. Andy Hunder outlines 10 steps towards achieve this goal.


Economy & Business


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Feb 24, 2020

Why Azov should not be designated a foreign terrorist organization

By
Anton Shekhovtsov

The authors of a recent New York Times op-ed produce no clear proof of ongoing links between American right-wing terrorists and a unit within Ukraine’s Interior Ministry.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Feb 20, 2020

Russia loses leverage as Ukrainian exports go global

By
Anders Åslund

Russia was once Ukraine's all-dominant trading partner but six years of undeclared war between the two countries has dramatically reduced bilateral trade while forcing Ukrainian exporters to broaden their horizons.


Russia


Trade and tariffs


UkraineAlert

Feb 19, 2020

The case for high state salaries in Europe’s poorest country

By
Peter Dickinson

As the top manager of a flagship state-owned Ukrainian company, Ukrposhta CEO Igor Smelyansky has been publicly vilified for his high salary – but he argues that competitive incomes are the only way to beat institutionalized corruption.


Corruption


Populism


UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2020

How Kyiv views the 12 step plan

By
ROK Movement Against Capitulation / (Рух Опору Капітуляції)

Russia must take political and material responsibility for the consequences for the crime it committed: aggression and the occupation of the Ukrainian territory.


Conflict


Crisis Management


UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2020

Unsolved Maidan massacre casts shadow over Ukraine

By
Bohdan Nahaylo

As Ukraine marks the sixth anniversary of the Maidan massacre the country is still waiting for justice. Could something akin to the kind of truth and reconciliation commissions that have proven effective in other countries also work in Ukraine?


Democratic Transitions


Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding


UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2020

Russian escalation dampens hopes for peace in Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian hybrid forces in eastern Ukraine launched a series of artillery bombardments and localized advances early on February 18. What does this latest escalation mean for the already faint hopes of an end to the six-year conflict?


Conflict


Russia

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 15, 2017

Ukrainian Jews Find Safe Haven, Challenges in Israel

By Larry Luxner

Every Sunday and Tuesday evening, Alena Sapiro, 26, takes the hour-long bus ride from her home in Lod to attend Ramit Avidan’s intermediate Hebrew classes at Ulpan Gordon, a Tel Aviv school for new immigrants run by the Israeli Ministry of Absorption. Sapiro, who helps develop mobile apps for a local software company, came on […]

Israel Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 15, 2017

Ukraine PM Groisman Visits Israel, Marking Improvement in Delicate Bilateral Relations

By Larry Luxner

The May 14 arrival of Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman to Israel signals a rapprochement of ties that suffered a temporary blow last December, when Ukraine—along with thirteen other countries—voted to support a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Groisman is the first Jewish prime minister in Ukrainian history. He […]

Israel Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 10, 2017

Q&A: Will We Ever Get to the Bottom of Russian Hacking in the US Election?

By Melinda Haring

President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey on May 9. Comey had been leading a criminal investigation into whether Trump’s advisers colluded with the Russian government to influence the results of the 2016 presidential election. Trump justified the firing by pointing to the way Comey handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

May 10, 2017

Ukraine Needs Tough Love and IMF Conditionality, Leshchenko Urges

By Diane Francis

“The IMF should not give one more dollar to Ukraine until the Anti-Corruption Court is in operation,” said Sergii Leshchenko in a May 9 telephone interview. Leshchenko is a hero of the Revolution of Dignity, a lanky and serious journalist-turned-politician who has risked his life and career for years to fight corruption in Ukraine. He’s […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 10, 2017

Russia Deploys Banned Missile and Brags about It

By Semen Kabakaev

Thirty years ago, on December 8, 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which entered into force on June 1, 1988. The parties pledged not to produce, test or deploy ballistic and cruise land-based missiles of medium range (from 1,000 to 5,500 kilometers). Elimination of all declared missiles and […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 9, 2017

How to Win Friends and Influence People on a Global Scale

By Alexandra Hall Hall

Dale Carnegie’s famous self-help book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, centers on investing in personal relationships in order to achieve success. President Donald Trump has demonstrated an instinctive understanding of this principle in the way he has interacted with a succession of world leaders, whether over a round of golf at Mar-a-Lago or […]

The Caucasus

UkraineAlert

May 8, 2017

How Trump Can Fix US-Russia Ties

By Alexander Vershbow

US President Donald Trump will have his first high-level meeting with a Russian representative this week, when Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov comes to the White House following a scheduled meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The stakes are high: about the only thing on which Moscow and Washington agree is that relations are at […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 5, 2017

How Not to Become a War Criminal: A Guide for Russian Soldiers

By Valentyn Badrak, Lada Roslycky, Mykhailo Samus, and Volodymyr Kopchak

Few Russian citizens view the Kremlin’s invasion into Ukraine as unlawful. Not many Russian servicemen realize that when they are fighting there, they fight as unnamed, faceless soldiers who lack the protection of international pacts, including the Geneva Conventions. They not only risk death, injury, or abandonment by the state that sent them there; they […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 4, 2017

Why Is the Kremlin So Fixated on Phantom Fascists?

By Peter Dickinson

In April, reports emerged of Kremlin plans to launch a major smear campaign against Russian opposition figurehead Alexey Navalny. Within days, an expensive-looking attack video had appeared anonymously on YouTube, comparing Navalny to Adolf Hitler. The Russian authorities denied any connection to the video, but few believed them. After all, branding opponents as fascists is […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 3, 2017

Will Ukrainians Ever Trust the Press?

By Adam Tismaneanu

Journalism has changed since the Euromaidan, but most Ukrainians still don’t trust the media. Oligarchs continue to own a majority of the major outlets. Since 2014, reformers have established a public broadcasting service and are in the process of privatizing several hundred state-owned newspapers. Those steps may not be enough. The media suffers from a […]

Ukraine