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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.


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Latest analysis


UkraineAlert

Jan 27, 2015

DIRECT TRANSLATION: Nadiya Savchenko’s Lawyer Warns Putin She May Die in Moscow Prison

By
Irena Chalupa

Ukrainian Officer-Pilot Reaches 45 Days on Hunger Strike Against Her Abduction and Politicized Trial Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian army officer and pilot who was captured in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and spirited to prison in Moscow, may die in captivity there on the hunger strike she has pursued for 45 days, her lawyer wrote yesterday. […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 27, 2015

When Putin’s Brittle Regime Implodes, Our Protection Will Be a Stable Ukraine

By
Alexander J. Motyl

Backing Kyiv’s Independence Will Contain Russian Expansionism—And Damage From the Next Russian Revolution Although “regime change” has become a dirty phrase, the best thing that could happen to Russia, its neighbors, and the world would be a change from Vladimir Putin’s brand of strongman authoritarianism to some form of democracy.


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 23, 2015

Two Months After Elections, Moldovan Political Gridlock Deepens the Country’s Risks

By
New Atlanticist

Pro-Europe Parties Won a Narrow Victory at the Polls, But Can’t Agree on a Government Eight weeks after voters in Moldova gave a narrow victory to the three main parties inclined toward greater democracy and ties with Europe, those groups are locked in a political battle that has prevented the formation of a government. The […]


Moldova


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 23, 2015

Russian Troops Lead Moscow’s Biggest Direct Offensive in Ukraine Since August

By
James Rupert

As Kremlin Escalates, the War Costs Ukraine $6 Million-Plus Daily, Atlantic Council’s Herbst Says A “substantial number” of Russian Federation special forces troops led this week’s capture of the Donetsk airport amid what appears to be Russia’s biggest direct military offensive in Ukraine since last summer. The offensive, by thousands of Russian troops, appears aimed […]


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UkraineAlert

Jan 20, 2015

Russian Militia in Ukraine Says It’s Building an Air Force: Is that Quixotic or Dangerous?

By
New Atlanticist

The Kremlin-loyalist Russian TV station LifeNews told the story January 17 that the Lugansk People’s Republic, the mini-state propped up by Russia in Ukraine’s Lugansk province, is establishing an air force. The station played just a minute of video showing men in winter military uniforms rolling a 1960s-era two-seat jet trainer—marked with the red star […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 20, 2015

Russia Sends New Army Troops Into Ukraine War, Kyiv Says

By
James Rupert

Intensified Combat and a Wave of Bombings May Be Kremlin Pushing Ukraine to Accept New Talks Russia reportedly has sent two battalions of troops into Ukraine’s Donbas region to strengthen its forces there amid a week-long spike in combat. At a minimum, Russia’s injection of new regular troops, tanks and rockets is a warning to […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2015

Four Months after Ukraine-Russia Truce, Putin Can’t Risk Implementing It

By
James Rupert

The War at Donetsk’s Airport is On—And Peace Talks Planned for This Week Are Off The intensified battle between Ukraine and Russia for the airport in Donetsk seems likely to be a fight over this month’s military message in the Donbas war. Russia’s army veterans, fighting as mercenaries, form the bulk of the anti-Ukraine force […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2015

Ukraine’s Dignified Warrior: Nadiya Savchenko Confronts the Kremlin

By
Irena Chalupa

Paratrooper, Pilot, Parliamentarian, She Pressures Moscow with Hunger Strike in Prison In seven months since a Russian-backed militia in southeastern Ukraine captured Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian paratrooper and pilot has become one of her country’s biggest icons in its war against the Russian invasion. Her captors spirited her illegally into Russia, held her in isolation, […]


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Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 13, 2015

Rajan Menon: For Security, Ukraine Needs an Army, the West—and China

Author of New Book on Ukraine Conflict Urges Careful Priorities for Kyiv Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Rajan Menon, chairman of political science at the City College of New York, has just co-authored a new book, Conflict in Ukraine, with Eugene Rumer of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The book, to be published in March […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 13, 2015

As Ukraine Sinks Below ‘Life Support,’ the West Gropes for Loan Money

By
James Rupert

Slowly Dribbling Out Help May Cost More in the End, George Soros and Economist Tim Ash Say Ukraine’s finances are now “beyond life support,” says economist Tim Ash as its foreign reserves plunged to $7.5 billion last month, less than half of what the International Monetary Fund considers critical to a country’s financial health. The […]


Eastern Europe


Ukraine

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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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UkraineAlert

Feb 6, 2017

Why Trump Will Soon Put Putin on Notice

By Diane Francis

On February 1, military tough guy Mike Flynn, President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor, put Iran “officially on notice” for testing a missile in violation of a UN resolution. By contrast, on January 31 the State Department issued a tepid statement condemning a murderous military assault on a Ukrainian town in the east without condemning […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 6, 2017

Changes in Washington, Brussels, and Berlin: What Do They Mean for Kyiv?

By Andreas Umland

As US President Donald Trump introduces a new leadership style, political and economic crises play out in the EU, and tensions in Russia’s foreign and domestic affairs increase, the effects will be astutely felt in Ukraine—a country that has become a key battleground state in the confrontation between the world’s pro- and anti-Western forces. The […]

European Union Germany

UkraineAlert

Feb 6, 2017

The End of the Rose for Saakashvili

By Luis Navarro

Dynamic, revolutionary, modernizer, narcissist, opportunist: all of these are terms that have been used to describe Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia and would-be Ukrainian leader. Over the course of a storied political career, all have been true to varying degrees. But what is true now is that Saakashvili has exceeded his expiration date […]

The Caucasus Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 2, 2017

Why Trump Cannot Ignore Ukraine

By Adrian Karatnycky

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s telephone conversation on January 28 occurred amid widespread speculation that Trump would lift sanctions on Russia. While no such announcements were even hinted at, the contours of the emerging US-Russia dialogue will have momentous consequences for European security and for Ukraine. The official White House readout […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2017

Four Easy Ways the EU Can Support Ukraine

By Josh Cohen

Europe’s leadership seems to realize the challenge US President Donald Trump poses to the transatlantic alliance: German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently reminded Europe that “our fate is in our own hands,” while Guy Verhofstadt, president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, argues, “Europe must take its destiny and security in its own […]

European Union Germany

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2017

From Fake News to Fake Opinion

By Brian Mefford

A few weeks ago, a colleague asked why I was a part of an organization called the Center for Global Strategic Monitoring (also known as the CGS Monitor). Despite working in foreign policy for seventeen years, I had never heard of this organization. Imagine my surprise when I discovered my photograph and biography listed on […]

Europe & Eurasia Russia

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2017

Are the Baltic States Really Indefensible?

By Stephen Blank

One of the great canards of our time is that the Baltic states are indefensible. Although the reasons for making this argument are rarely spelled out, they revolve around the presumption that Russia not only enjoys local conventional superiority, but also that NATO cannot and often implicitly should not defend them and thereby make a […]

NATO Northern Europe

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2017

Ukraine Needs Investment, Not Just Solidarity: Time for International Donors to Pony Up

By Anders Åslund

After three years of heroic reforms following the Euromaidan, Ukraine has restored macroeconomic stability. The economy is growing again, but far too slowly. The expected growth is 2.5 percent in 2017. But it should swing up to six to eight percent, as it was for eight years in the early 2000s. The key now is […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 25, 2017

How to Trump-Proof Sanctions on Russia

By Alina Polyakova

US President Donald J. Trump has said he is open to ending sanctions on Russia in exchange for a nuclear arms reduction deal with the Kremlin. “[L]et’s see if we can get some good deals with Russia,” he said. Trump has the authority to reverse sanctions because the Obama administration used executive orders to mandate […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 23, 2017

Beat Back Russia and Stand with Ukraine, Biden Urges at Davos

By Diane Francis

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s last official speech was delivered January 18 in Davos at the World Economic Forum. It was a tour de force summoning leaders to protect the “liberal international order” against China, Iran, Russia, and others bent on destroying it. “This movement is principally led by Russia, working with every tool to […]

Russia Ukraine