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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

Mar 21, 2022

Fear of provoking Putin is leading the Western world toward disaster

By
Ilya Timtchenko

Western policy toward Russia has long been shaped by fear of provoking Vladimir Putin but this caution has only served to encourage further acts of Russian aggression culminating in the current war in Ukraine.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Mar 20, 2022

Bold Ukrainians defy Putin’s invasion and join European electricity grid

By
Aura Sabadus

Despite the existential challenges posed by Russia's full-scale invasion of the country, Ukraine has managed in recent weeks to complete the country's connection to the European electricity grid.


Conflict


Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Mar 19, 2022

Putin drank the Kremlin Kool-Aid

By
Taras Kuzio

Russian President Vladimir Putin drank the Kremlin Kool-Aid and seems to have sincerely believed his disastrous Ukraine war would be an imperial triumph with minimal costs on the domestic and international fronts.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 18, 2022

Why Russia’s anti-war movement matters

By
Dylan Myles-Primakoff

While opinion polls consistently indicate strong Russian public support for Putin's Ukraine War, the country's anti-war movement also matters and may actually be larger than it at first appears.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 17, 2022

Vladimir Putin’s war to crush Ukraine is part of a long Kremlin tradition

By
Kristina Hook

Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine has stunned the world with its criminal brutality but the Russian invasion is actually very much in line with a long tradition of Kremlin policies aimed at crushing Ukraine.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 17, 2022

The EU needs Ukraine

By
Paul Grod

The European Union needs to embrace Ukraine's membership aspirations in order to demonstrate its own commitment to European values and its opposition to Vladimir Putin's authoritarian alternative.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 16, 2022

Vladimir Putin has almost no chance of successfully occupying Ukraine

By
Ben Connable

Vladimir Putin is throwing Russia's full military might into the invasion of Ukraine but any attempt to occupy large parts of the country is almost certainly doomed to fail.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Mar 15, 2022

Vladimir Putin has nothing but bad options in Ukraine

By
Doug Klain

After three weeks of military setbacks Putin now faces the choice of escalating his Ukraine war further and risking his own downfall or seeking a face-saving exit from a conflict that has united the world against Russia.


Conflict


Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion


UkraineAlert

Mar 15, 2022

Ukraine’s exodus escalates as millions more prepare to flee Putin’s invasion

By
Andrew D’Anieri

As Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine continues to escalate, millions more Ukrainians are expected to flee the country in the coming days to escape Russian war crimes and the horrors of occupation.


Conflict


Human Rights


UkraineAlert

Mar 15, 2022

Russia’s veto makes a mockery of the United Nations Security Council

By
Shelby Magid, Yulia Shalomov

Putin’s Ukraine War has fundamentally transformed the geopolitical landscape. This new reality must be reflected in the way the United Nations Security Council functions. If not now, when?


Conflict


International Organizations

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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

Dec 1, 2016

Yatsenyuk at the European Parliament: It’s Time for Europe to Do Its Part

By Amanda Abrams

With respect to Ukraine and Russia’s aggression in the eastern part of the country, Europe needs to step up its game. That was the consensus at “The War in Ukraine’s East: The Military Conflict, Diplomacy, and the Humanitarian Crisis,” a discussion co-hosted by the Atlantic Council and Members of the European Parliament Anna Maria Corazza […]

Europe & Eurasia European Union

UkraineAlert

Nov 30, 2016

Why Russia Can’t Get Over the West—Or Steven Seagal

By Andrew Kornbluth

It seemed like the international affairs version of clickbait: the president of the world’s leading nuclear state awarding citizenship to a foreign actor most famous for playing an ex-commando who must rescue an exotic dancer while foiling a plot to start World War III on the high seas. For most onlookers, Vladimir Putin’s gift of […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 30, 2016

Here’s Why Ukraine Failed to Get More IMF Funding

By Anders Åslund

A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited Ukraine November 3-17. The Ukrainian government had hoped that it would decide to give Ukraine another tranche of its four-year $17.5 billion loan package of March 2015, of which Ukraine has received $7.7 billion, but the answer was a resounding no. The IMF is normally very […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 29, 2016

Is It Prudent or Paranoid to Worry about Russia’s Influence in the Baltics?

By Jakub Janda

Russia has been busy spreading its influence in Europe and Eurasia. Alexander J. Motyl worries that the Baltic states are “the most vulnerable to a complete [Russian] takeover,” and security expert Paul D. Miller predicts that World War III could break out in Latvia. Last month Lithuania issued a manual on what to do if […]

Northern Europe Russia

UkraineAlert

Nov 28, 2016

Has Putin Finally Stepped on His Own Rake in Syria?

By Stephen Blank

In October 2016 the Russian government made a significant announcement about its Syria policy that Western sources overlooked. Moscow announced that it supported the restoration of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s power throughout the country, something it had not stressed previously. This statement and its consequences merit serious scrutiny by the West because its implications are […]

Russia Turkey

UkraineAlert

Nov 22, 2016

Will Trump’s Foreign Policy Make Any Sense?

By Diane Francis

The election of Donald Trump marks a turning point in the world of international relations. Speculation abounds as to what he’s going to do, but his policies remain unknown, possibly unformed. Still, this doesn’t discourage us from speculating as well as poring over the resumes of his appointments to date. But the only certainty is […]

Mexico Russia

UkraineAlert

Nov 22, 2016

Eastern Europe Must Prepare for the Worst about Trump

By Alexander J. Motyl

President Barack Obama’s advice to the world that it shouldn’t “assume the worst” about Donald Trump may apply to countries whose existential interests cannot be threatened by the president-elect’s policies, but those that face a possible Russian invasion must assume and prepare for the worst. They cannot, as Obama recommended, “wait until the administration is […]

Belarus Northern Europe

UkraineAlert

Nov 22, 2016

In Time of Trump, Advice to Friends of Ukraine (And Democracy)

By Jeffrey Gedmin

Friends of Ukraine, brace yourself. There’s no way to sugar-coat this for the democracy crowd either. Donald Trump has suggested that Ukraine is not our business (it “affects Europe a lot more than it affects us”). Our president-elect admires Russia’s authoritarian leader (he’s “brilliant,” a “strong leader”), and wants Vladimir Putin as an ally (“Russia […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 21, 2016

Holodomor Remembrance Day: Why the Past Matters for the Future

By Victor Rud

As Americans sit down to their Thanksgiving meals on the last Thursday in November, Ukrainians will be commemorating the memory of millions who were murdered in 1932-33. The last Saturday in November is Holodomor Remembrance Day in Ukraine, a time to mark the anniversary of Joseph Stalin’s engineered starvation of the nation. In the West, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 21, 2016

How Ukraine Can Use E-Declarations to Target the Most Corrupt

By Basil A. Kalymon and Oleh Havrylyshyn

This year, thousands of Ukrainian members of parliament, government officials, and civil servants were required by law to declare their incomes and assets in a publicly available database by October 30. Although the introduction of the e-declaration system was initially blocked numerous times, today the public can view the vast amount of wealth owned by […]

Ukraine