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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.


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Latest analysis


UkraineAlert

Apr 24, 2018

What Europe’s Forgotten War Actually Feels Like

By
Ruslan Minich

“We were moving through flashing fields. And I realized history was evolving right in front of my very eyes. I had yellow goggles on; everything was yellow with them. I took the goggles off, and then the wind started blowing in my eyes. I couldn’t see anything,” says volunteer soldier Bizhan Sharopov, who fought against […]


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Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 24, 2018

Ukraine May Be Getting Its Own Church, but Not as Fast as Poroshenko Thinks

By
James J. Coyle

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced on April 17 that Ukraine might have an independent, unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church as early as July 28—the anniversary of Kyivan Rus’ adoption of Christianity. He made this prediction after the Ukrainian parliament voted to support the president’s efforts to convince Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to grant autocephalous status to the […]


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UkraineAlert

Apr 24, 2018

As Some Bail, Denis Gursky Sees Ukraine as Land of Opportunity, and Thinks You Should Too

By
Melinda Haring

It’s Easter Monday in Kyiv, a holiday, and no one is working except Denis Gursky. The affable Mariupol native has an anxiety-inducing to-do list, but you wouldn’t know it from his easy laugh and wide smile. We meet at Gursky’s stunning new 500-square meter co-working space in Kyiv’s tallest commercial building to discuss Ukraine’s unique […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 19, 2018

How to Build a Real Political Party in Ukraine

By
Viola Gienger

Oleksandr Solontay is trying to accomplish the political equivalent of pushing Ukraine’s winter snow uphill. In a country that still struggles to shake its addiction to oligarchs and other figureheads despite multiple attempts at revolution, the thirty-seven-year old is aiming to construct a political party from the ground up. Solontay, an educator and former city […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 19, 2018

Why Ukraine’s Radical Parties Are Sitting Pretty for Upcoming Elections

By
Mykola Vorobiov

Ukrainian nationalism is growing quickly, but radical parties have never done well in elections. This may change in 2019, when Ukraine will hold both presidential and parliamentary elections, which are the first national elections after the Euromaidan revolution and the Russian military invasion in 2014. While Ukraine has committed to joining Euro-Atlantic institutions and embarked […]


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Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 19, 2018

Why Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Drive Is Failing

By
Tetyana Ogarkova

After the victory of the Euromaidan, the demand for combating corruption drastically increased, and new institutions were established to fight high-level corruption. However, there is an ongoing conflict between two of the newly established agencies that greatly diminishes their ability to fight corruption. Below we explain the fight in ten question and answers.


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 16, 2018

Russian Americans Say Keep It Up, President Trump

By
Dmitry Valuev

The Congress of Russian Americans, a group claiming to represent five million Russian-speaking Americans, recently wrote to US President Donald Trump deploring the state of Russian-American relations, denouncing the expulsion of sixty Russian diplomats from the United States, and denying Russia’s involvement in the recent poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England. […]


Russia


UkraineAlert

Apr 13, 2018

Presidential Administration Says Law Requiring Activists to Disclose Assets Is Invalid and Unenforceable, but Ukraine’s Activists Aren’t Buying It

By
Melinda Haring

For more than a year, Ukraine’s government and activists have been at odds over a March 2017 law that requires activists to disclose their assets online in the same way that public officials do. The law was roundly criticized by Ukrainian civil society as well as by the international community. But now, the Presidential Administration […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 12, 2018

Why Isn’t Ukraine Doing More to Free its Hostages?

By
Josh Cohen

Last December the Ukrainian government and Russia’s separatist proxies in eastern Ukraine exchanged nearly 400 prisoners. European leaders rightly applauded. Lost amidst the congratulations was the fact that Moscow still holds sixty-six Ukrainian citizens as de facto hostages on Russian territory, and they more than meet the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s definition of political prisoners. […]


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UkraineAlert

Apr 12, 2018

The Remarkable Resurgence of Yulia Tymoshenko

By
Vitalii Rybak

Yulia Tymoshenko tops Ukraine’s polls and may be the next president. But her status as the frontrunner was not a foregone conclusion. A veteran of Ukrainian politics, Tymoshenko has been active since 1997 and her fortunes have waxed and waned. Over the years, she has assumed numerous roles: member of parliament, deputy prime minister, a […]


Ukraine

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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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UkraineAlert

Jun 15, 2017

When Winning the War Isn’t Enough

By Andriy Kobolyev

Since Russia’s military aggression began in 2014, I have been asking myself what Ukraine must do to win. There is no simple answer, but we cannot defeat Ukraine’s external enemy until we have overcome the enemy within, which is corruption. And Ukraine is losing this internal battle. I am convinced that a zero-tolerance approach at […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 14, 2017

Miracle of 2014 Was Ukraine’s Dunkirk

By Peter Dickinson

One of the biggest blockbuster movies of summer 2017 looks likely to be “Dunkirk,” a WWII drama set on the beaches of northern France in summer 1940 as Adolf Hitler’s panzer armies closed in on pockets of trapped and surrounded allied forces. The film will introduce global audiences to one of the most celebrated events […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 14, 2017

The Senate Just Passed a Monumental New Russia Sanctions Bill—Here’s What’s In It

By Edward Fishman

Today, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that would fortify existing sanctions on Russia and add new restrictions. If the bill becomes law, it would mark the most significant step taken by Congress on Russia policy in recent history. Though not perfect, the bill would substantially strengthen the West’s negotiating position vis-à-vis Russia on the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 13, 2017

Three Years After Euromaidan, Kyiv Struggles with Vision

By Sergiy Gusovsky

Late May marked three years since Kyiv’s new authorities headed by Mayor Vitali Klitschko assumed responsibility for the capital. I would like to report that people’s expectations have been met and the city has undertaken systemic change. I would like to write that Kyiv is on a path toward sustainable development and serves as an […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 13, 2017

How to Putin-Proof Your Elections

By Jakub Janda and Veronika Víchová

Russia has been meddling in Western democracies and their internal affairs since at least 2014, but the issue came to the fore only after the 2016 US presidential election. And the problem may be more acute than previously thought: Russian hackers attacked election systems in thirty-nine of the fifty states. Since then, several countries have […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 12, 2017

Why Populism Isn’t Ukraine’s Number One Enemy

By Hlib Vyshlinsky

Ukrainians are starting to show greater confidence in the economy, while public trust in the country’s leaders has reached new lows, according to a recent poll from the International Republican Institute. Only 18 percent of those surveyed has a favorable opinion of President Petro Poroshenko, while 76 percent holds an unfavorable opinion. Approval figures for […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 12, 2017

Ukrainians Resolute in Desire to Keep Country United, New Poll Reveals

By Katie LaRoque

On May 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin separately met with President Donald J. Trump, who later tweeted his desire for the two countries to make peace. Most would like to see this war come to a close—with more than 10,000 lives lost and over 1.7 million internally displaced […]

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UkraineAlert

Jun 8, 2017

The Truth of Being an IDP Is Painfully Clear in “Women’s Voices”

By Amanda Abrams

“In July, armed men came to their house and searched it for three hours looking for Ukrainian flags. The next day, Olena fled her hometown.” So began the odyssey of Olena, an internally displaced person from Donetsk who was driven from her home by the conflict in 2014. Like Ukraine’s other 1.7 million IDPs, her […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 8, 2017

Just How Much Influence Does the Kremlin Have in Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic?

By Roman Shutov

In a handful of Central and Eastern European countries, governments and the media have been slow and ineffective in countering the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation. The best defense? An active, engaged civil society. Those were some of the findings of the Kremlin Influence Index (KII), a report released in mid-May that analyzed the Russian government’s ability […]

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UkraineAlert

Jun 8, 2017

It Was a Very Good Spring for Ukraine

By Diane Francis

Ukrainians are finally starting to see that “spring has arrived” following a string of positive developments. “It’s the Ukrainian national habit to complain, but there has been a lot of good news lately,” said Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Trade Nataliya Mykolska in an interview while on a trade mission to Canada. “Naftogaz won the Stockholm […]

Ukraine