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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

Oct 28, 2021

Strong Ukraine-Turkey partnership holds the key to Black Sea security

By
Dmytro Kuleba

The strengthening strategic partnership between Ukraine and Turkey is vital for Black Sea security and offers a model for greater NATO engagement in the region, writes Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba.


Conflict


Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Oct 28, 2021

Gas price caps would be a disaster for the Ukrainian economy

By
Willem Buiter

Ukraine's proposed price cap on private company natural gas sales is symptomatic of what is wrong with the country’s broader approach to the market economy and must be avoided at all costs, writes Willem Buiter.


Energy & Environment


Energy Markets & Governance


UkraineAlert

Oct 27, 2021

Europe must defend itself against Vladimir Putin’s energy weapon

By
Diane Francis

Moscow’s role in Europe’s escalating gas crisis should be a wake-up call for European policymakers who prefer to downplay the threat posed by weaponized Russian energy supplies and Vladimir Putin’s revisionist regime.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 26, 2021

Ukraine seeks role in German certification of Putin’s pipeline

By
Myron Wasylyk

Ukraine's Naftogaz has applied to the German authorities to participate in the certification process of Vladimir Putin's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is viewed in Kyiv as a geopolitical weapon aimed at Ukrainian statehood.


Energy Markets & Governance


European Union


UkraineAlert

Oct 25, 2021

Europe must face up to the chilling reality of Putin’s energy blackmail

By
Aura Sabadus

Recent developments in Moldova and the EU leave little doubt that Vladimir Putin is intent on using energy supplies as a geopolitical weapon and demonstrate the urgent need to diversify away from reliance on Russia.


European Union


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Oct 22, 2021

US and EU must react to escalating global energy crisis

By
Anders Åslund

Recent mistakes by Germany, the EU, and the United States on gas policy are potentially disastrous and will have major costs unless all three parties urgently rethink their positions and address the growing energy crisis.


China


European Union


UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2021

Ukraine’s classical music superstar Oksana Lyniv makes history again

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine's superstar classical music conductor Oksana Lyniv made history yet again in October 2021 when she was named as the first ever female musical director of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in Italy.


Resilience & Society


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2021

Now is the moment to transform Ukraine

By
Kristina Kvien, Matti Maasikas, Melinda Simmons

Ukraine is on the verge of achieving a breakthrough towards judicial reform and transforming the rule of law situation in the country but President Zelenskyy must demonstrate the political will to overcome opposition.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2021

Ukraine strengthens independence of key anti-corruption agency

By
Anastasia Radina

Ukrainian MPs adopted a landmark law on October 19 that will safeguard the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the key agency in the country’s struggle against corruption.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2021

Putin’s Ukraine war is world’s worst-kept secret but he remains in denial

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian President Vladimir Putin's refusal to acknowledge his country's involvement in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine makes progress towards peace virtually impossible.


Conflict


Russia

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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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Apr 19, 2017

The Right Land Reform Could Transform Ukraine Now

By Aivaras Abromavičius and Alexey Mushak

Largely in response to the IMF’s condition for further aid, Ukraine is on the verge of launching land reform, possibly its most dramatic and important reform to date. The land reform concept that Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman has proposed, however, is unlikely to gain support from either the agricultural sector or from parliament. Due to […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 18, 2017

Why We Continue to Misunderstand Putin’s War in Ukraine

By Taras Kuzio

The Euromaidan and Russia’s annexation of Crimea have turned Ukraine into a popular media topic. But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine has also led to a giant surge in academic and think tank publications about Ukraine, with more than three hundred published since 2014. These scholarly and expert analyses have taken five main […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 17, 2017

Meet Ulana Suprun: Ukraine’s Top Doctor Takes on Tax Chief and Corrupt System

By Diane Francis

In March, Ukraine’s reformers applauded when the National Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested Roman Nasirov, the country’s chief tax and customs official, on embezzlement charges. But he claimed he was having a heart attack, called an ambulance, and was diagnosed as too ill to be taken to court. Such tricks might have worked before, but this time […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 17, 2017

Why Investors Are Giving Ukraine a Second Chance

By Daniel Bilak

Ukraine today is open and transparent, but foreign investors are often taken aback by its challenges. While corruption and property rights are issues, any objective assessment must recognize the monumental strides the country has taken on these issues. After three years of reforms, society is fatigued, and the mood is pessimistic. The current media narrative—that […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 17, 2017

New Poll Shows Ukrainians Hungry for Change

By Oksana Bedratenko and Katie LaRoque

A new poll shows that Ukrainians are hungry for change and finally seeing it at the local level. On April 10, the International Republican Institute (IRI) released its annual municipal survey, tracking the views of more than 19,000 Ukrainians in twenty-four cities. Three years since IRI’s first survey, residents in fifteen of the twenty-four cities […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 12, 2017

Secretary Tillerson, Here’s Why Taxpayers Should Care about Ukraine

By Melinda Haring

At the Group of Seven meeting in Lucca, Italy, on April 11, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked the other foreign ministers, “Why should US taxpayers be interested in Ukraine?” US Senator Rob Portman and several other panelists answered that question at an April 5 conference on Ukraine in Washington, DC, sponsored by the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 11, 2017

Is Belarus coming unglued too?

By Francišak Viačorka

The Russian crackdown showed that the country’s internal problems are getting sharper, and the Kremlin will likely not have enough resources to continue its financial support of Lukashenka’s regime.

Belarus Russia

UkraineAlert

Apr 11, 2017

Why Does the IMF Keep Funding Ukraine?

By Anders Åslund

When the International Monetary Fund’s board convened on April 3, it found that the Ukrainian government had fulfilled only five out of fourteen structural reform conditions it had outlined. Nevertheless, Ukraine received a $1 billion installment of its $17.5 billion financial support for the government’s reform program. Was it pure politics that Ukraine got a […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 10, 2017

Why Did Putin Get Stuck in Eastern Ukraine?

By Peter Dickinson

Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine is now entering its fourth year, but there was a time when few expected it to last even four weeks. The virtually bloodless seizure of Crimea, which fell to Russian troops in early 2014 without a fight, led most observers to conclude that Ukraine was effectively defenseless and at Moscow’s […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 10, 2017

Is Russia Winning in Serbia? Maybe, But Not for the Reasons You Think

By Dimitar Bechev

One year ago, in April 2016 when Serbia held snap polls, the BBC ran the headline “Pro-EU Prime Minister Vučić Claims Victory.” One year later, after Aleksandar Vučić’s resounding win in the presidential election on April 2, the international media has styled him “Putin’s Serb ally.” Who’s right and where is Serbian foreign policy heading? […]

European Union International Organizations