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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

Jul 8, 2019

Will Zelenskyy succeed?

By
Mykola Vorobiov

In many ways, Zelenskyy’s presidency embodies the “Ukrainian dream,” when a new politician and self-made showman can be elected president and slay the many bad forces that hold Ukraine back.


Democratic Transitions


Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Jul 5, 2019

Zelenskyy shines in Toronto, but his plans need right people and right priorities

By
Anders Åslund

The mentality of the people has to change, and the government has to listen to its citizens and reject corruption.


Political Reform


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Jul 2, 2019

Five reasons why investors are giving Ukraine another look

By
Daniel Bilak

The ambitions of Ukraine House Toronto arise from what UkraineInvest has witnessed over the last year: a renewed confidence in and interest among investors for exposure to the Ukrainian market.


Democratic Transitions


Fiscal and Structural Reform


UkraineAlert

Jun 28, 2019

Finally a new window of investment opportunity in Ukraine?

By
Basil Kalymon

The fight against corruption, linked to a continued commitment to EU integration and general system reform, could greatly boost Ukraine’s economic strength.


Conflict


Corruption


UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2019

Everything you know about the Donbas is wrong

By
Melinda Haring

Many Western experts avoid the Donbas because it’s a knotty problem without an easy solution, and there’s plenty in Kyiv to keep one busy. I was one of those experts until a few weeks ago, when I finally jumped into a car and sped to Kramatorsk.


Civil Society


Inclusive Growth


UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2019

Putin finally tells Russians the truth (sort of)

By
Anders Åslund

In his annual television marathon “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin” on June 20, the Russian president did something unusual. To my knowledge, this is the first time he specified the impact of Western sanctions on Russia, which he usually presents as having a positive effect on the Russian economy because of import substitution. “Look, according […]


Conflict


Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion


UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2019

PACE sells out for 33 Million euros

By
Andrej Lushnycky

On June 25, Russia was allowed back into the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) as a full voting member, after being expelled five years ago for its aggression in Ukraine. Through an innocuous sounding measure that pledged to strengthen the assembly’s decision-making processes on credentials and voting, 118 parliamentarians agreed to let […]


Conflict


Human Rights


UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2019

Five predictions for Ukraine’s parliamentary elections

By
Brian Mefford

With the Constitutional Court of Ukraine affirming the dismissal of parliament last week, new elections are moving ahead for July 21. Here are five predictions on what to expect. First, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People has a legitimate chance to form a one-party majority in the parliament. This would mark the first time since […]


Elections


Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Jun 25, 2019

How the US got rich, and Ukraine can too

By
Diane Francis

The United States invented many things, but anti-trust laws and competition policy was arguably the most profound. These laws establish fair rules for the marketplace, and are why the country became the richest and most powerful on the planet. Without these, the United States would look like Russia or Ukraine: An impoverished populace and a […]


Central Europe


Financial Regulation


UkraineAlert

Jun 25, 2019

Hard talk

By
Melinda Haring

“Some of the greatest Ukrainian patriots aren’t even Ukrainian,” the eminently quotable public intellectual Yevhen Hlibovotsky is fond of saying. While he didn’t have John Sung Kim in mind, he might have. Kim, forty-five, is a wealthy Korean-American entrepreneur who built and sold two companies (one IPO, one all cash sale) in Silicon Valley before […]


Entrepreneurship


Inclusive Growth

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

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