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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

Oct 22, 2024

Axis of Autocrats: North Korea’s escalating role in Russia’s Ukraine War

By
Olena Tregub

North Korean troops are reportedly set to join the Russian invasion of Ukraine. If confirmed, this would represent the latest escalation in North Korea’s support for Vladimir Putin’s imperial aggression, writes Olena Tregub.

Conflict
Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2024

Russia is indoctrinating schoolchildren throughout occupied Ukraine

By
Tetiana Kotelnykova

The Kremlin is conducting a massive indoctrination campaign throughout schools in Russian-occupied Ukraine that underlines Moscow’s intention to erase Ukrainian national identity, writes Tetiana Kotelnykova.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 15, 2024

Ukraine may allow drone exports in bid to support domestic producers

By
Marcel Plichta

Ukraine may allow the export of drones in a bid to boost domestic production amid limited state procurement budgets and to prevent Ukrainian drone manufacturers from relocating abroad, writes Marcel Plichta.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Oct 15, 2024

As the US election nears, anxiety is mounting in Ukraine

By
Katherine Spencer

Few countries have more at stake in the coming US presidential election than Ukraine, which is heavily dependent on US aid to sustain its fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion, writes Kate Spencer.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Oct 10, 2024

Putin doesn’t have enough troops to defeat Ukraine and defend Russia

By
Peter Dickinson

The Ukrainian invasion of Russia’s Kursk region has proved that Putin’s attempt to conquer Ukraine has left his army dangerously overstretched and unable to defend Russia itself, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Oct 8, 2024

The West must learn defense tech lessons on the Ukrainian battlefield

By
Edward Verona

The Russia-Ukraine War is the most technologically advanced war in history but Western military strategists and weapons developers risk missing out on key lessons due to excessive caution, writes Edward Verona.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Oct 8, 2024

Ending Russian impunity: Why Ukraine needs justice as well as security

By
Kateryna Odarchenko, Lesia Zaburanna

Failing to hold Russia accountable for war crimes committed in Ukraine would set a disastrous precedent for the future of international security and would create the conditions for more war, write Kateryna Odarchenko and Lesia Zaburanna.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2024

Ukraine is slowly but steadily weakening Russia’s grip on Crimea

By
Serhii Kuzan

With international attention firmly fixed on the Russian army’s advances in eastern Ukraine and the Ukrainian invasion of Russia’s Kursk region, Ukraine is also making progress toward weakening Russia’s grip on Crimea, writes Serhii Kuzan.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2024

Kyiv’s allies should boost Ukraine’s ability to strike deep inside Russia

By
David Kirichenko

With Kyiv’s partners still reluctant to lift restrictions on attacks inside Russia using Western weapons, one obvious solution would be to enhance Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian targets using domestically-produced Ukrainian weapons, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Industry


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

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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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Mar 23, 2016

Memo to Secretary Kerry: Russia Is Weaker Than You Think

By Ariel Cohen

When US Secretary of State John Kerry goes to Moscow this week, he should keep in mind that Russia’s recent military engagements in Ukraine and Syria represent an attempt to manipulate perceptions. The Kremlin wants to position itself as a peer of America, open to cooperation against ISIS, but capable of military threats against US […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 22, 2016

Russian Court Finds Ukraine’s Defiant Pilot Savchenko Guilty

By Irena Chalupa

Nothing in the Nadiya Savchenko case has been easy or fast. The famed Ukrainian pilot whom Russia has charged with complicity in the deaths of two Russian journalists can’t even get a quick verdict at the end of a trial that has lasted nine months. On March 22, the court found Savchenko guilty of all […]

Europe & Eurasia Russia

UkraineAlert

Mar 22, 2016

Don’t Mess With Kyiv’s Activists

By Josh Cohen

Ukrainians may soon be granted visa-free travel within the European Union, thanks to Kyiv’s watchful activists. But that status was in jeopardy after parliament weakened a key anti-corruption law on February 16. Visa-free travel was linked to a series of reforms, including a law that discloses the income of Ukrainian officials.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 22, 2016

Can Minsk Deliver a Sustainable Peace?

By Melinda Haring

Is the Minsk process salvageable? Twelve experts gathered at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, on March 17 to debate whether the Minsk ceasefire can deliver a sustainable peace in Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has claimed over 10,000 lives and displaced more than 1.6 million people. The Minsk accords, signed in 2014 and 2015, […]

Europe & Eurasia Russia

UkraineAlert

Mar 18, 2016

Fighting Back: New Bill Aims to Counter Russian Disinformation

By Amanda Abrams

Russia’s attempts to win over hearts and minds in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and beyond are succeeding—in large part because of the United States’ disengagement in the information arena, say experts. In response, Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced a bill on March 16 that would significantly beef up the United States’ counter-propaganda […]

Europe & Eurasia Russia

UkraineAlert

Mar 17, 2016

Why the Kremlin Fears Savchenko

By Aaron Korewa

When Timothy Snyder, professor of central European history at Yale and vocal supporter of the Euromaidan movement, was asked why he has chosen to become such a strong defender of Ukraine, his response was “I don’t like when there is too much lying.” That is an excellent reason. Judging by Nadiya Savchenko’s gesture to the […]

Europe & Eurasia Russia

UkraineAlert

Mar 17, 2016

Yes, Putin Really Believes His Own Propaganda

By Ben Nimmo

Russia’s worldview is conditioned by a conspiracy theory: the United States is out to get her. The trouble with this delusion is that Russia’s actions and policy decisions appear to be built on it. To understand and predict Russia’s behavior, Western policymakers need to grasp the fact that this delusion is real for Russia’s leadership.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 16, 2016

Putin’s Crimea Is No Vacation

By Melinda Haring and Alina Polyakova

Two years ago on March 16, Crimeans voted in a sham referendum for Russia to annex Crimea. Has life improved for the approximately two million people who live there?  Not at all. On every measure, from the economy to its treatment of minorities, the beautiful peninsula has become a shell of what it once was. […]

Russia Ukraine

Testimony

Mar 15, 2016

Six Ways the US Can Defeat Putin and Bolster Ukraine

By Ian Brzezinski

The transatlantic community has a significant stake in assuring Ukraine’s trajectory as a modern, democratic, and prosperous European state. A strategy to assist Ukraine in accomplishing that objective must impose greater economic and geopolitical costs on Russia for its aggression, enhance Ukraine’s capacity for self-defense, assist Kyiv’s efforts to reform its political and economic institutions, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 15, 2016

The World According to Sergei Lavrov (and Putin)

By Alexei Sobchenko

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently blamed Vladimir Lenin for planting ideas that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was a telling statement in view of the upcoming centennial anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, which had an enormous impact on world history. We still don’t know how the Kremlin will commemorate this […]

Russia