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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

Memo to Ukrainian Government: Privatization Can Succeed if You Get Out of the Way

UkraineAlert
Sep 30, 2025

Putin’s dream of demilitarizing Ukraine has turned into his worst nightmare

By
Peter Dickinson

Putin had hoped to demilitarize and decapitate the Ukrainian state, but his self-defeating invasion has inadvertently created the militarily powerful and fiercely independent Ukraine he feared most of all, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

Memo to Ukrainian Government: Privatization Can Succeed if You Get Out of the Way

UkraineAlert
Oct 2, 2025

Drone superpower Ukraine is teaching NATO how to defend against Russia

By
David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s unrivaled experience of drone warfare makes it a key partner for NATO and an indispensable ally in the defense of Europe as the continent faces up to the mounting threat posed by an expansionist Russia, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

Memo to Ukrainian Government: Privatization Can Succeed if You Get Out of the Way

UkraineAlert
Oct 14, 2025

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are a European problem

By
Aura Sabadus

Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure are no longer just a Ukrainian problem. Moscow’s bombing campaign will become a wider European issue unless more support is offered to Kyiv, writes Aura Sabadus.

Conflict
Drones

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Sep 5, 2018

Mass detention of journalists exposes emerging shifts in Belarus

By
Maxim Eristavi

The crackdown is the product of a transitioning Belarus, in which the forces of modernization are clashing with efforts to slow down or even halt the changes.

Belarus


UkraineAlert

Aug 27, 2018

Why John McCain Scared Putin

By
Stephen B. Nix

Many accolades will be written about Senator John McCain this week and deservedly so. He was a consistent champion for democracy and human rights throughout the world, and a man who always stood by his principles. In his role as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), McCain was considered a champion, particularly in the […]

Russia
Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 20, 2018

Ukraine’s Political Season Is about to Begin. Here’s What You Need to Know.

By
Taras Berezovets

The hot summer of 2018 has been unusually calm in Ukraine, where in the absence of other news, a scandal or a crisis catches the media spotlight. This is a stark contrast to 2009, when the Ukrainian presidential campaign was in full swing, which on February 7, 2010, ended in victory for Viktor Yanukovych. In […]

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 16, 2018

How One Family Is Reviving Ukraine’s Pre-Soviet Tradition of Philanthropy

By
Lauren Van Metre

Since the Euromaidan, we have seen extraordinary acts of volunteerism by Ukrainians. In the initial days of Russia’s invasion, citizen volunteers fought on the Donbas front to shore up the Ukrainian Army, which was on the verge of collapse. These citizen soldiers experienced high casualty rates. Volunteers organized supplies for the war and served as […]

Russia
Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 15, 2018

How Corruption Actually Works in Ukraine

By
Melinda Haring

It’s standard fare in any article about Ukraine to mention the country’s enormous, overwhelming, and everlasting corruption problem. It’s also incredibly boring, because hardly anyone has examples or knows how it actually works. In April, I sat down over coffee and sweets in Kyiv with investigative journalist Oleksa Shalayskiy, editor-in-chief of Nashi Groshi (Our Money), who […]

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 15, 2018

The Last Missing Piece to Make Ukraine Truly Independent

By
Kateryna Kruk

One of the biggest differences between Eastern and Western Europe is the role of the church. On paper, they are separate, but in Eastern Europe, tradition trumps the law and the influence of the church is immense. In Ukraine, the church is the most trusted institution, which is a good thing, but the fact that […]

Europe & Eurasia
Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 15, 2018

Good News: IMF to Return to Kyiv in September

By
Timothy Ash

Last week Ukraine’s finances didn’t look so promising and a fall fiscal crisis was entirely possible. Many worried that Ukraine wouldn’t satisfy the International Monetary Fund’s three main demands in time to receive a $1.9 billion tranche before annual budget debates begin. The IMF had been demanding an Anticorruption Court, market prices on gas for […]

Europe & Eurasia
Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2018

Ukraine Passes Anticorruption Court Law. What’s Next?

By
Maksym Kostetskyi

Ukraine finally got an Anticorruption Court on June 26. That day, President Petro Poroshenko signed the law which establishes the court. Importantly, the shortcomings of the original law the Rada had passed in June were later corrected. All appeals cases under the jurisdiction of the Anticorruption Court will be reviewed only in the Anticorruption Court, […]

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2018

Why Peace in Ukraine Cannot Wait

By
Andreas Umland

The war in eastern Ukraine grinds on, forgotten by many. There’s no obvious way out. The ceasefire agreements have been continuously broken, high-level dialogue between Russia and the United States stopped months ago, and the unarmed OSCE monitors in conflict zone are continuously harassed. Some analysts suspect that Moscow is waiting until March when Ukraine […]

Europe & Eurasia
Russia


UkraineAlert

Aug 13, 2018

How Rejection and Time Abroad Changed One Kyiv Activist’s Life

By
Mary Trichka

The Atlantic Council has been profiling some of Ukraine’s toughest but lesser-known female activists this summer. When I spoke with Iryna Shyba, a leader with the DEJURE Foundation in Kyiv, Ukraine, she almost rejected the premise of the piece. “I don’t feel like I am doing more than any other civil society activist,” Shyba said. […]

Ukraine

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spotlight

Resilience in the face of adversity

Ukraine’s transformation

Ukraine has moved tentatively toward an open society and market economy since independence. The country has held several democratic elections and made halting progress in addressing corruption and state control in its economy. Since the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Ukraine has undertaken significant governance and economic reform and moved decisively toward a Europe-Atlantic foreign policy. Since 2022, Ukraine has resiliently continued to advance some reforms despite fighting for its very existence against the full-scale Russian invasion.

Learn more about Ukraine

Memo to Ukrainian Government: Privatization Can Succeed if You Get Out of the Way

UkraineAlert
Dec 5, 2024

Ukraine’s entrepreneurial class can drive the country’s economic recovery

The Ukrainian SME sector has demonstrated remarkable wartime resilience and is poised to be at the forefront of efforts to create a modern, innovative, postwar economy, writes Anton Waschuk.

Read More

Memo to Ukrainian Government: Privatization Can Succeed if You Get Out of the Way

UkraineAlert
Oct 1, 2024

Ukraine needs international investors to maintain defense tech momentum

By
Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s rapidly expanding defense tech sector can play a game-changing role in the war against Russia but Ukrainian companies need international investment, writes Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

Memo to Ukrainian Government: Privatization Can Succeed if You Get Out of the Way

UkraineAlert
Jun 13, 2024

Ukraine officially embraces English as historic westward pivot continues

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

By officially embracing English, Ukrainians aim to support their country’s historic pivot away from Moscow and return to the European community of nations, writes Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Civil Society
Conflict

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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Content

UkraineAlert

Aug 9, 2016

Memo to Ukrainian Government: Privatization Can Succeed if You Get Out of the Way

By Basil Kalymon

On July 18, Ukraine’s most recent attempt at privatization came to a disappointing conclusion. Odesa’s petrochemical plant, OPZ, was placed up for auction, but after the government set a minimum price of $520 million, no qualified bidders came forward. As a consequence, the state still owns the enterprise, which continues to impose losses on the […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 9, 2016

In Ukraine, Two Steps Forward and One Step Back: Procurement Reform Advances, Slowly

By Josh Cohen

Many changes have occurred in Ukraine since the Euromaidan, but the country still struggles mightily with corruption. Those efforts are symbolized in the ongoing fight to reform Ukraine’s corrupt procurement practices. For years, links between government officials and Ukraine’s “pharma mafia” resulted in the theft of approximately $100 million of the Ministry of Health’s $250 […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2016

Saakashvili in Odesa: When Making Waves is Not Enough

By Kateryna Smagliy

A year after my Atlantic Council blog post on Mikheil Saakashvili’s first fifty days as Odesa oblast governor, it’s time to reexamine his record. The results are mixed: his brisk and spectacular first wins soon hit the skids. The Presidential Administration’s promised support evaporated in late 2015 and Saakashvili’s many initiatives were skillfully torpedoed at […]

The Caucasus
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2016

Trump’s Dangerous Bromance with Putin Is a National Security Threat

By Stephen Blank

Russia’s recent hacking attacks on the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the party’s fundraising committee for candidates for the US House of Representatives reflect Moscow’s view that it is in a state of political war with the United States, if not the West. Efforts to take down Western political institutions are hardly a […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2016

How the International Media Enables Russian Aggression in Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

If anyone had attempted to report on “German-backed forces” in Nazi-occupied France or “pro-Soviet forces” during the Prague Spring, they would have been dismissed as either hopelessly misinformed or deeply disingenuous. While local collaborators and convenient euphemisms were plentiful in both instances, there was never any doubt as to who was really in control. This […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 2, 2016

Sloppy Thinking about War Helps No One

By Alexander J. Motyl

How likely is a war between the United States and Russia? According to Matthew Rojansky, director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute, in a recent World Politics Review article, “a war between Russia and the United States is more likely today than at any time since the worst years of the Cold War.” That’s strong […]

NATO
Russia

UkraineAlert

Aug 2, 2016

What Trade Policy Does Ukraine Need Now?

By Anders Åslund

At the informal ministerial meeting of the Eastern Partnership in Kyiv on July 11-12, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin proposed that the six members of the Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine) form a single economic space or free trade area. This is implausible. Ukraine does need to open its economy to […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 1, 2016

Trump Embraces Putin and Alienates Rust Belt Voters with Eastern European Roots

By Diane Francis

Hillary Clinton’s campaign bus rattles over potholes and bumps in the US Rust Belt while Donald Trump flits around on his private jet. Such optics never seem to hurt Trump or, conversely, to help Hillary, but much depends on voters in the Rust Belt, notably in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Trump may be a master of […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 27, 2016

Ukraine’s Deadly Profession: Three Journalists Attacked in July

By Melinda Haring

On July 20, investigative journalist Pavel Sheremet was assassinated in Kyiv. Sheremet hosted a morning show at Radio Vesti and was a top reporter at Ukrainska Pravda. A crusading journalist and native of Minsk, Belarus, he had already been expelled from both Belarus and Russia. He was killed by a car bomb. It would be […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 26, 2016

Intrigue, Outrage, and Relatively Free Elections in Ukraine

By Vladislav Davidzon

On the eve of Ukraine’s special elections on July 17, Nadiya Savchenko walked into the crowded Stansiya Lughansk district commission offices in eastern Ukraine. She was there to campaign for Fatherland’s Iryna Verihina, who had been Luhansk’s governor for about six months before being replaced. Catching sight of Serhiy Shakhov, a candidate for Nash Krai […]

Ukraine
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