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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

Putin’s Balkan Insecurities

UkraineAlert
Jan 20, 2026

Ukraine’s best security guarantee is the ability to strike back inside Russia

By
Serhii Kuzan

With Kyiv’s Western allies unlikely to risk war with Russia, Ukraine’s most realistic security guarantee remains a strong military coupled with the ability to strike targets deep inside Russia, writes Serhii Kuzan.

Conflict
Defense Policy

Putin’s Balkan Insecurities

UkraineAlert
Jan 15, 2026

Veterans can shape the future of Ukrainian democracy

By
Vasyl Sehin

The participation of military veterans in Ukraine’s political life has the potential to dramatically strengthen Ukrainian democracy and safeguard the country’s historic transition from centuries of Russian autocracy, writes Vasyl Sehin.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

Putin’s Balkan Insecurities

UkraineAlert
Jan 8, 2026

Ukraine’s robot army will be crucial in 2026 but drones can’t replace infantry

By
David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s growing robot army of land drones will play a vital role in the country’s defense during 2026, but they are not wonder weapons and cannot serve as a miracle cure for Kyiv’s manpower shortages, writes David Kirichenko.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2024

Ukraine’s expanding drone fleet is flying straight through Putin’s red lines

By
Giorgi Revishvili

Ukraine's rapidly expanding campaign of long-range drone strikes is flying straight through Vladimir Putin's red lines and could help persuade Kyiv's Western partners to lift restrictions on attacks inside Russia, writes Giorgi Revishvili.


Conflict

Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2024

Compromising with the Kremlin in Ukraine will only embolden Putin

By
Kateryna Odarchenko, Elena Davlikanova

JD Vance recently claimed a Trump peace plan would include letting Russia retain occupied areas of Ukraine. But any concessions to the Kremlin will only embolden Putin and invite more war, write Kateryna Odarchenko and Elena Davlikanova.


Conflict

European Union


UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2024

Ukraine’s innovative defense industry can play a key role in Western security

By
Pavlo Verkhniatskyi

Ukraine's innovative defense industry has emerged as the country's secret weapon in the war with Russia and can a play a key role in strengthening the West, writes Pavlo Verkhniatskyi.


Conflict

Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2024

Putin is becoming entangled in his own discredited red lines

By
Peter Dickinson

Putin is attempting to impose a new red line over the use of Western long-range missiles inside Russia, but Ukraine has already been using these weapons in occupied regions claimed by Russia for more than a year, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict

Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2024

Countering Russia’s campaign to erase Ukrainian cultural identity

By
Mercedes Sapuppo

International initiatives by Google and others are helping to preserve Ukraine's national heritage amid a Russian campaign to erase Ukrainian cultural identity and destroy heritage sites across the country, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.


Civil Society

Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2024

Time to make Russia worry about the West’s red lines in Ukraine

By
Mykola Bielieskov

Even talking about Western red lines in Ukraine will no doubt be seen as too provocative by some, but it is now obvious that allowing Russia uncontested escalation dominance has been a costly blunder, writes Mykola Bielieskov.


Conflict

Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Sep 12, 2024

Concerns grow over possible Russian sabotage of undersea cables

By
Aleksander Cwalina

The United States has recently detected indications of increased Russian military activity around key undersea cables, fueling concerns over a possible escalation in the Kremlin's hybrid war against the west, writes Aleksander Cwalina.


Conflict

Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Sep 12, 2024

Why Ukraine will remain central to the future of European security

By
Silvester Nosenko

Although it is currently common to talk about the West as a unitary actor in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian War, the stakes actually differ significantly on the two opposite sides of the Atlantic, writes Silvester Nosenko.


Conflict

European Union


UkraineAlert

Sep 10, 2024

Ukraine’s biggest wartime government shakeup prompts muted reaction in Kyiv

By
Andrew D’Anieri

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presided over his government’s largest wartime reshuffle in early September, with nine ministries getting new permanent leadership, writes Andrew D’Anieri.


Conflict

Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Sep 10, 2024

Escalation management is the appeasement of the 21st century

By
Peter Dickinson

The West's emphasis on avoiding escalation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the modern equivalent of the appeasement policies that emboldened Hitler and set the stage for WWII, writes Peter Dickinson.


Defense Policy

Defense Technologies

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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

Putin’s Balkan Insecurities

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

Putin’s Balkan Insecurities

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

Putin’s Balkan Insecurities

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

Sep 28, 2016

Putin’s Balkan Insecurities

By Stephen Blank

Two and a half years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, too many public figures in the United States and Europe still seem unable to decipher Russia’s motives. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently told a Bosnian newspaper that NATO’s readiness to extend membership to Montenegro and welcome Bosnia and Macedonia was not only a […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2016

The Audacity of Nadiya Savchenko

By Melinda Haring

“Russian propaganda made the mistake of using me as an example, and I just became too expensive for them. I am a person who never gives up,” said Nadiya Savchenko, a former prisoner of war, current member of Ukraine’s parliament, and one of the country’s most popular politicians, on September 22. Three days earlier, the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2016

Can Vladimir Putin Make the Twenty-First Century a Russian Century?

By Anders Åslund

The role Russia is playing in Donald Trump’s election campaign is quite extraordinary. The candidate’s son has acknowledged that Trump’s companies have received large Russian investments. His former campaign manager Paul Manafort worked for Ukraine’s disgraced pro-Moscow authoritarian president for almost a decade. Two of his foreign policy advisers, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Carter […]

European Union International Organizations

UkraineAlert

Sep 23, 2016

How Ukraine Can Signal It’s Serious about Reform

By Oksana Bedratenko

Thirteen months since the last tranche, the IMF has finally allocated the third tranche of its program to Ukraine, bringing the total disbursement to $7.6 billion. Although it is less than the originally planned $1.7 billion and came with substantial delays, the receipt of the $1 billion tranche was celebrated by the Ukrainian government as […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2016

Crimean Residents Vote in Russian Elections, Reluctantly

By Eleanor Knott

For the first time since Russia annexed Crimea, Russian elections were held on the territory of the disputed peninsula. That elections were held in Crimea has been a source of contention between Russia and the international community. OSCE election observers refused to monitor the polls in Crimea, and the US and EU condemned the September […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2016

Meet Maxim Nefyodov: How Ukrainian Geeks Tackled Corruption in Public Procurement

By Anastasiya Ringis

One day in September 2013, when Maxim Nefyodov, a managing partner at the investment firm Icon Private Equity, was leaving his office on Rylskiy Lane, he witnessed a funny scene. Accompanied by eight bodyguards, President Viktor Yanukovych’s odious ally, Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, was walking from an office building to his luxury SUV. To Nefyodov this spectacle […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2016

Does Putin Have 35 Million Secret Weapons?

By Lukas Trakimavičius

“Russia is back.” These were the recent words of General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe—and he was correct. Thanks to a rapidly growing arms budget and a worrisome frequency of snap military drills near NATO’s borders, Russia is indeed back to the game of power politics after a twenty-five year hiatus. The implications […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2016

Putin’s Illusions about Crimea

By Olesya Yakhno

In the recent plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum [on September 3 in Vladivostok], Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the issue of Crimea’s ownership is historically closed. Despite the adamant tone, such statements do not show Russia’s confidence but instead reveal the Kremlin’s vulnerability on this issue. The concept Krym nash (Crimea is […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2016

Memo to the West: Reject Russia’s Illegal Duma Elections

By Hanna Hopko

On September 18, Russians went to the polls to elect 450 members of parliament. The big news is that Vladimir Putin’s United Russia performed surprisingly well, taking approximately 54 percent of the vote. But the underreported news is this: Russians elected four MPs from occupied Ukrainian Crimea, which is illegal and grossly violates international law. […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2016

Ten Things the New US Ambassador to Ukraine Should Do

By Melinda Haring and Kateryna Smagliy

On August 18, Marie L. Yovanovitch became the US Ambassador to Ukraine. Yovanovitch is not new to the country; she served as the deputy chief of mission in Kyiv—the second in command—under Ambassadors Carlos Pascual and John Herbst months before the Orange Revolution erupted. She spent the bulk of her career working in the Eurasia […]

Ukraine
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