UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine’s politics, economy, civil society, and culture. UkraineAlert sources analysis and commentary from a wide-array of thought-leaders, politicians, experts, and activists from Ukraine and the global community. UkraineAlert has become a major publication in Ukraine’s news landscape and has established itself not only through its quality of content but also significant partnerships with English, Ukrainian, and Russian-language media through the country.

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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

Ukraine’s Got Less Than a Month to Clean Up Highest Court

UkraineAlert
Sep 3, 2026

Putin cannot defeat NATO but he could divide and discredit the alliance

By
Peter Dickinson

If Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to attack NATO, his goal will be to divide and discredit the alliance rather than actually defeating it, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy

Ukraine’s Got Less Than a Month to Clean Up Highest Court

UkraineAlert
Aug 27, 2026

Ukrainians are not superheroes with endless powers of resilience

By
Lauren Van Metre, Elena Davlikanova

By celebrating Ukrainian resilience as an almost superhuman quality, the international community risks obscuring the much less glamorous reality that Ukrainians are actually ordinary people who have endured extraordinary violence for far too long, write Lauren Van Metre and Elena Davlikanova.

Civil Society
Conflict

Ukraine’s Got Less Than a Month to Clean Up Highest Court

UkraineAlert
Aug 25, 2026

A cultural renaissance is reshaping national identity in wartime Ukraine

By
Davis Richardson

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is fueling a defiant cultural outpouring that is redefining and strengthening Ukrainian national identity in ways that challenge centuries of Kremlin imperialism, writes Davis Richardson.

Civil Society
Conflict

Latest analysis

BelarusAlert

May 27, 2021

Putin sides with Belarus dictator over air piracy as Ukraine rejects Minsk talks

By
Peter Dickinson

Former Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk has confirmed that Ukraine will seek to move peace talks with Russia away from Minsk as the international fallout from Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s recent act of air piracy continued to make waves throughout the region.


Belarus

International Norms


UkraineAlert

May 27, 2021

Decarbonization in Ukraine

By
Nataliya Katser-Buchkovska

More and more countries are pledging to become carbon neutral. This is creating opportunities for Ukraine to diversify its energy sources while becoming increasingly integrated with the country’s European neighbors.


Energy Transitions

Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

May 27, 2021

Russian cyber threat: US can learn from Ukraine

By
Mark Temnycky

The US has recently been hit by a number of cyberattacks linked to Russia. These incidents echoed similar attacks carried out against Ukraine since the outbreak of hostilities with Russia in 2014.


Cybersecurity

Digital Policy


UkraineAlert

May 25, 2021

US diplomatic signals go unheard in Ukraine

By
Oleksiy Honcharuk

President Zelenskyy’s recent press conference marking his second year in office reinforced the impression that Kyiv is still struggling to interpret the diplomatic signals it is receiving from Washington.


Corruption

Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

May 20, 2021

Putin’s passport ploy in Ukraine may pave way for Russia’s next annexation

By
Peter Dickinson

As Vladimir Putin’s hybrid war against Ukraine grinds into its eighth year, Russian passports are emerging as Moscow’s most effective weapon in its struggle to limit Ukrainian sovereignty.


Conflict

Non-Traditional Threats


UkraineAlert

May 20, 2021

Biden softens sanctions on Putin’s pipeline

By
Diane Francis

The Biden administration has this week announced a mixed bag of sanctions and waivers concerning the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, leaving opponents of Putin’s pet energy project confused and alarmed.


Geopolitics & Energy Security

Germany


UkraineAlert

May 18, 2021

President Zelenskyy: Deoligarchization is the key to Ukraine’s future success

By
Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the recent measures imposed against Viktor Medvedchuk are just the beginning and argues that deoligarchization holds the key to Ukraine's future success.


Corruption

Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

May 18, 2021

Ukraine’s EU Association Agreement obliges Kyiv to pursue rule of law reforms

By
Willem Aldershoff

Ukraine's landmark 2014 EU Association Agreement contains a number of often overlooked commitments that oblige Kyiv to remain firmly on the path towards reform and the rule of law.


Corruption

European Union


UkraineAlert

May 18, 2021

Naftogaz drama highlights Ukraine’s politics of personal destruction

By
Adrian Karatnycky

In Ukraine, it seems, no public leader leaves office without being subjected to a wave of invective, criticism, and scorn. This negative culture was on display recently during a turbulent leadership change at Naftogaz.


Energy Markets & Governance

Political Reform


UkraineAlert

May 13, 2021

Putin’s key Ukraine ally charged with treason

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s leading pro-Kremlin politician, Viktor Medvedchuk, has been charged with treason this week as the Zelenskyy administration escalates its efforts to counter Russian influence in the country.


Conflict

Democratic Transitions

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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

Ukraine’s Got Less Than a Month to Clean Up Highest Court

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

Ukraine’s Got Less Than a Month to Clean Up Highest Court

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

Ukraine’s Got Less Than a Month to Clean Up Highest Court

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

Mar 8, 2017

Ukraine’s Got Less Than a Month to Clean Up Highest Court

By Halya Coynash

By the end of Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency in February 2014, virtually all vestiges of judicial independence had been eroded in Ukraine, together with any public confidence in the justice system. Three years later, only a small number of the most corrupt judges have lost their posts. It is rightly difficult to dismiss judges, but it […]

Europe & Eurasia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 7, 2017

Ukraine’s Rails, Roads, and Ports Throttle Economic Recovery

By Oksana Bedratenko

Ukraine’s favorable location gives the country immense potential as a regional transit hub. The country’s infrastructure, however, is in such a bad shape that it is not only unable to service international traffic, but has difficulties meeting the economy’s everyday needs. Following two years of GDP decline, Ukraine finally demonstrated signs of economic recovery in […]

Europe & Eurasia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 2, 2017

Ukraine Is Sliding Back, Sergii Leshchenko Warns

By Melinda Haring

Anticorruption reform in Ukraine appeared far more promising just a year ago, said Sergii Leshchenko in a March 1 telephone interview from Kyiv. “We are sliding back,” he said definitively. The thirty-six-year old member of parliament, a former deputy editor at Ukrayinska Pravda and one of President Petro Poroshenko’s most outspoken critics, wants the West to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 2, 2017

Why Ukraine Needs Another Court System Now

By Josh Cohen

Since the Euromaidan, Ukraine has achieved some notable anticorruption successes. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), established in 2015 to target high level crimes committed by Ukraine’s corrupt political class, has demonstrated a high level of independence and has not hesitated to target the senior officials, judges, and state enterprise managers who previously possessed de facto […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 1, 2017

Not the Right Way to Bring Yanukovych to Trial

By Halya Coynash

The Kremlin is well known for pulling former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych out of hiding for its own purposes. Now Ukraine’s leaders have been accused of using Yanukovych as an excuse to push legislation that may have dangerous repercussions for Ukraine’s justice system—while not necessarily bringing Yanukovych and his cronies any closer to justice. Yury […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 28, 2017

Putin Learns the Hard Way that Crimean Crime Does Not Pay

By Peter Dickinson

Ever since the stunning Russian takeover of Crimea in early 2014, it has become popular to regard Russian President Vladimir Putin as some kind of geopolitical genius. The international media regularly depicts him as a James Bond-style supervillain, always a few steps ahead of his hapless Western opponents as he determines the fate of the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 27, 2017

Trump and Putin: The Shortest Honeymoon Ever Is Over

By Ariel Cohen

As Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster takes over President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, conducting a bottom-up review and developing a Russia policy at the NSC, Pentagon, and State Department should be a top priority for the administration. Russia has resumed a quasi-Cold War posture. In the last few weeks, Russia escalated fighting in the occupied […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 27, 2017

What Pence Should Have Said: Russia, Not Terrorism, Is the Most Urgent Security Threat

By Stephen Blank

Whatever else occurred at the annual Munich Security Conference on February 17-19, reassurances were not part of it. None of the statements made by high-ranking American officials allayed European fears about President Donald Trump’s administration because, simultaneously, the White House was busy undermining them. Moreover, Vice President Mike Pence’s “unwavering” support of NATO was balanced […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 23, 2017

The West Needs to Call Russia’s Bluff in the Balkans

By Dimitar Bechev

For all the uncertainties about the Balkans, one thing stays the same. Every few years, the headline “We Are Heading for War Again” crops up in the Western media. The last time this happened, the 2014 centennial of the First World War inspired pundits to ask whether the world is on the cusp of another […]

Russia The Balkans

UkraineAlert

Feb 21, 2017

Ukraine’s Bitter Struggle: The Prequel

By Diane Francis

Ukraine is a nation interrupted, its identity and promise stolen by predators for centuries. The predation continues today as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s creeping invasion of Ukraine grinds on, resulting in the murder of 10,000 Ukrainians, destruction of two major cities and its industrial base, seizure of nine percent of its land, and flight of […]

Russia Ukraine
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