Stay Updated

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

Aug 28, 2014

Russia Secretively Buries its Soldiers Killed in the Ukraine War

By
Irena Chalupa

Russian military officials stood at a cemetery surrounded by forest in far northwestern Russia, early Tuesday morning, and carefully vetted the army officers, soldiers and family members arriving for a funeral to be held in secrecy. Two paratroopers from Russia’s 76th Airborne Division were to be buried. They died last week – no one would […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2014

Russian Troops in Ukraine: It’s Really an Invasion After All

By
James Rupert

As Media Harden Their Accounts of Russia’s Assault, Will the West Harden Its Response? Russia’s attacks into Ukraine this week (exactly six months after its troops began their invasion of Crimea) are bringing the actual word ”invasion” into media headlines. Atlantic Council analysts and others say the key question now is how hard a response […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 25, 2014

Ukraine’s Independence Day: Opposed Observances

By
Irena Chalupa

Rebels Parade Prisoners to Declare That Ukraine Is Nazi-Inspired Ukraine’s government marked the country’s twenty-third anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union yesterday with a military parade and a vow by President Petro Poroshenko to sustain Ukraine’s war against Russian-sponsored separatists in the southeast. In Donetsk, the separatists paraded bruised and dirty Ukrainian soldiers, their […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2014

Watching For Putin’s Plan ‘B’ in Ukraine

By
James Rupert

With Kremlin’s Proxy War Stumbling, Kyiv and West Guard Against ‘Humanitarian Intervention’ As Russia’s government moves its proposed convoy of humanitarian aid toward the war zone in Ukraine that it has created with its support of separatist militias, Ukraine and Western governments are warning it not to try using Russian military forces on the border […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2014

New Ukraine Orthodox Leader Signals Continued Church Divide

By
Irena Chalupa

Ukrainians’ Traditional Loyalty to Moscow Patriarch is Strained by His Close Tie to Kremlin  The longstanding divide between Ukraine’s two main Orthodox churches will continue with little change following the election yesterday of a new leader, or metropolitan, by the Moscow-aligned faction. Metropolitan Onufriy is a religious conservative loyal to his church’s formal subordination to […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 11, 2014

Russian-Backed Rebels Put a Local Man Out Front, But Still Look Divided

By
Irena Chalupa

Separatists Show No Unity Under New Donetsk ‘Prime Minister,’ Kremlin Paper Says The Kremlin and its proxy rebellion in southeastern Ukraine seemed to recognize last week that as a supposedly Ukrainian uprising, it should have a titular Ukrainian leader, rather than a Moscow-based Russian ultra-nationalist with ties to the Kremlin. So after three months as […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 7, 2014

Putin Will Decide Captured Ukrainian Pilot’s Fate, Her Lawyer Says

By
Irena Chalupa

Nadiya Savchenko’s Trial is Political, Not Legal, Says Human Rights Attorney Mark Feygin Although a Russian court is preparing to try Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko on war-related charges, it is Russian President Vladimir Putin who will decide her fate, said Savchenko’s defense attorney, Russian human rights lawyer Mark Feygin.


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 7, 2014

Kremlin Silences Crimea’s Last Pro-Ukraine TV Station

By
Irena Chalupa

Shutdown Virtually Completes Muffling of Crimean Media On August 1, police in Crimea entered the headquarters of the Chornomorska Television Company to shut it down, virtually completing Russia’s silencing of all Ukrainian and independent media on the peninsula five months after its invasion. The Moscow-backed authorities had already halted other Ukrainian broadcasts and have progressively been constricting Chornomorska […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 4, 2014

‪‪Why The EU Finally Decided on Strong Sanctions

By
John E. Herbst

Russian Fighters’ Thuggishness Eroded Germany’s Putin-Verstehen ‪Last week was a good one for both the transatlantic relationship and the cause of freedom in Ukraine. It followed weeks in which Moscow had escalated its war in southeast Ukraine, sending advanced weaponry and more fighters, and directly shelling Ukrainian forces. On Tuesday, after a month of dawdling, […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jul 31, 2014

From Lugansk to Las Vegas: The Corrupt Empire of Oleksander Yefremov

By
Irena Chalupa

How a Ukrainian Boss and His Political Machine Have Helped Russia’s Attack on Ukraine Oleksander Yefremov, a boyish-looking sixty-year-old, is one of eastern Ukraine’s most prominent politicians and businessmen. For over a decade, he has been the corrupt strongman of Lugansk, one of the two provinces where Russia’s government and military have been sponsoring the […]


Russia


Ukraine

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.

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.

Follow us on social media
and support our work

Content

UkraineAlert

Apr 3, 2017

Three Ways the West Can Get Tougher on Russia for Crimea Land Grab

By Taras Kuzio

Russia’s occupation of Crimea has reached its third anniversary, and there is no evidence in sight that President Vladimir Putin will withdraw his occupation forces. Both the United States and Canada have reiterated their support for continued sanctions against Russia as long as Crimea continues to be occupied. Still, ending Russia’s illegal occupation could take […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 31, 2017

Is Russia Getting Ready to Invade Ukraine Again?

By Stephen Blank

Recent Russian actions suggest a new stage of the Russian threat to Ukraine—and potentially to the Caucasus, Belarus, or the Baltic States as well—that could presage a new large-scale military operation. First, in 2016, Russia created twenty-five division formations and fifteen brigades, while raising manpower by only 10,000 men. This suggests the possibility that Russia […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 30, 2017

Why Putin’s Flirtation with the French Far Right May Backfire

By Péter Krekó and Alina Polyakova

On March 24, Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front (FN) party and a contender for the French presidency, flew to Moscow for a surprise visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Le Pen’s photo op of a one-on-one meeting with Russia’s president certainly made her look presidential, but it’s an image that may […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

Mar 30, 2017

One Small Step for Georgia, One Giant Leap for the EU

By Alexandra Hall Hall

At a time when doors across the West are closing to migrants, one small country has managed to buck the trend: the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia. On March 28, the country secured visa-free travel to the Schengen area of the EU, which includes all member states except Ireland, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, and […]

European Union International Organizations

UkraineAlert

Mar 29, 2017

Ukraine Is in the Middle of a Counterrevolution Again. Is Anyone Paying Attention?

By Maxim Eristavi

While the world is distracted by multiple crises, Ukraine’s ruling elites are trying to undo the modest progress the country has achieved since the Maidan Revolution. Despite the mainstream narrative, when it comes to reforms in post-revolutionary Ukraine, the record has been anything but black and white. But if you need a consensus on the […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 29, 2017

Watching the Watchdogs: Why Ukraine’s NGOs Should Disclose Assets, Too

By Adrian Karatnycky

A huge kerfuffle has erupted in Ukraine over amendments to a law on income and asset transparency that will require employees of some nongovernmental organizations and investigative journalists who focus on corruption to post detailed income declarations publicly in electronic form. A strong majority in Ukraine’s parliament (266 of 423 legislators) passed the controversial legislation […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 28, 2017

Putin Is a Prisoner of His Own Hybrid War

By Peter Dickinson

April will mark the third anniversary of Russia’s hybrid war in eastern Ukraine, with no end in sight to a tragedy that has already claimed over 10,000 Ukrainian lives. The conflict has devastated and transformed Ukraine in ways that will not be fully apparent for decades. Crucially, it has also brought little of value to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 28, 2017

Why Sunday’s Massive Protests Will Change Russia

By Natalia Arno

The poem and song, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” became a rallying cry for social injustice in America in the 1970s. It weaved its way through many cultural eras around the world and found its way to the streets of Russia on Sunday, March 26. Nearly 100,000 people went to the streets in more […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 27, 2017

What the Manafort-Yanukovych Axis of Corruption Means for Trump and Ukraine

By Sergii Leshchenko

For several months American journalists have been competing to expose agents of Russian influence inside the new White House. This is a result of the conflict that began during the US presidential election campaign when a majority of the mainstream media rallied against Trump while he, without any evidence, criticized them for being biased. One […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 23, 2017

How Vulnerable Is Putin? The Answer Rests on Oil

By Diane Francis

The Kremlin’s dirty tricks are dominating the headlines and have plunged the United States into political disarray. Behind these attacks, however, is a Russia that is increasingly weak and vulnerable. What this means for the stability of Vladimir Putin’s regime, however, is anyone’s guess. Russia’s future depends on the price of oil and gas. This […]

Russia Ukraine