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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

Nov 2, 2017

Pragmatism Prevails over Populism in Ukraine

By
Brian Mefford

Successful politics is about getting things done. By that standard, October was a successful month. Not only did the government pass sweeping healthcare reform, pension reform, and judiciary reform, it also staved off populist protests. In short, pragmatism prevailed over populism. Each of the reforms passed was significant, but healthcare reform was the most far-reaching. […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2017

Groisman Tells Investors that Shakedowns and Harassment Will End

By
Diane Francis

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman welcomes the creation of an independent anticorruption court in Ukraine and says it will be operating in 2018. “The debate was whether this court should be independent or a chamber. This was a waste of time,” he said in an extensive interview in Toronto. “From day one, I was in support […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2017

In Lviv, World-Class Learning Center Opens Where Soviets Wanted Drab Building

By
Melinda Haring

On September 10, Ukrainian Catholic University opened a 64,874 square foot world-class library and educational center in Lviv, Ukraine. Ukrainian Catholic University, the first Catholic university in the former Soviet Union, strives to provide an open, progressive, and democratic learning environment for its students and the community. Canadian businessman and philanthropist James Temerty was the […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2017

What Manafort’s Indictment Means for the US and Ukraine

By
Anders Åslund

The most surprising thing about the thirty-one-page indictment of Paul J. Manafort, Jr. and his business partner Richard W. Gates III by Special Counsel Robert Mueller is that it hardly contains anything that was not known to people who have observed Ukraine. Manafort was the all-dominant political advisor to former President Viktor Yanukovych from the […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Oct 30, 2017

How to End the War in Eastern Ukraine

By
Alexander Vershbow

The recent US debate about Russia has focused mainly on Moscow’s disinformation, propaganda, and interference in our elections. But Russia’s aggression against Ukraine remains the original sin and the biggest threat. It’s not just Ukraine’s survival as an independent, democratic state that is on the line, but the future of an international order based on […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Oct 26, 2017

The High Stakes of Ukraine’s Reform Struggle

By
Stephen Blank

It is easy to despair about Ukraine ever reforming and becoming a normal European state. Nevertheless, such despair would be a mistaken response to the flood of stories depicting obstructions to reform—even if they are true. While anyone who has dealt with Ukraine in the last twenty-five years has experienced the frustrations of trying to […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Oct 26, 2017

Ukraine Is Really Changing: A Business Can Register in Twenty Minutes or Less

By
Victor Liakh and Olexiy Zelivyanskyi

It now takes only twenty minutes to register a business in Ukraine. Since March 2017, entrepreneurs have been able to open and close businesses through a new online portal that the Ministry of Justice and the State Agency for E-Governance are behind. The new service proved popular: in its first six months, it was used […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2017

Why Ukraine’s Next Revolution Won’t Be on the Streets

By
Diane Francis

Deposed President Viktor Yanukovych and the Kremlin continue to create mayhem inside Ukraine but have lost the hearts and minds of most Ukrainians, said security expert Andriy Levus. “Confiscation of assets in the Donbas finances the military war for Yanukovych and Russia, and it’s a cover for smuggling, but only for another year or so,” […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Oct 23, 2017

Will Austria’s New Government End Sanctions on Russia?

By
Péter Krekó, Berhard Weidinger, Fabian Schmid, and Lóránt Győri

The far-right Austrian Freedom Party will likely become part of the next Austrian federal government following the October 15 parliamentary elections. For the first time since the introduction of sanctions on Russia in 2014, a member of a vehemently pro-Russian and anti-sanctions party would become a governmental force. Will this mean the end of the […]


Russia


UkraineAlert

Oct 23, 2017

Why Ukraine’s Week of Protests Quickly Fizzled

By
Adrian Karatnycky

A week of protests on behalf of needed reforms in Ukraine have rapidly fizzled having made limited headway in pressing for legislative action while discrediting a segment of liberal reformers with its populist rhetoric and aggressive tactics. The protest outside parliament, which some organizers had expected would bring at least 10,000 to the streets, peaked […]


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.

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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

UkraineAlert

Nov 21, 2016

Kremlin Power Struggle Intensified: Liberals Under Attack

By Anders Åslund

The Kremlin power struggle intensifies. On November 15, Russia’s Investigative Committee arrested Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev, the first time since 1991 that a sitting minister has been arrested. Ulyukaev is accused of corruption, but nothing seems to be as originally stated. Rather, this is a high-level political struggle between President Vladimir Putin’s confidant, […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

Nov 21, 2016

The Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Then and Now

By Amanda Abrams

Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk still believes deeply in the power of international norms to maintain peace. “Today’s world is based on great principles: sovereignty, territorial integrity, and untouchable borders. And as far as I understand the situation, the United States is the guardian of these principles,” said Kravchuk at an event on November 18, […]

Belarus Russia

UkraineAlert

Nov 17, 2016

The Russian Plot against Europe

By Alina Polyakova

Russia’s influence reaches deep into Western Europe. France has a major far-right, Eurosceptic, and openly pro-Russian party that receives funding from the Kremlin. In London, Brexit provides an opportunity for Moscow to gain a toehold in British politics. Germany’s former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder serves as chairman of the Russian-German pipeline Nord Stream. But these examples […]

European Union France

UkraineAlert

Nov 15, 2016

Ukraine’s Reforms Are Pointless without Resolving Security Issues

By Andreas Umland

Making Western assistance to Kyiv more effective is crucial to Ukraine’s future. Yet the West’s current approach is plagued by a strategic defect. When Western aid and Kyiv’s reforms reach a tipping point, they will trigger increasingly aggressive counter-reactions from Moscow for domestic political reasons in Russia. Until Ukraine’s fundamental security challenges are met, Western […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 14, 2016

Watch Out, Silicon Valley. Here Comes Ukraine

By Yuliia Horovetska

Ukraine has the potential to become Europe’s top hub for information technology and other innovation-based industries. Some major private sector businesses have already chosen Ukraine as the site of their research and development centers; among them are Aricent, Boeing, Ericsson, Oracle, and Siemens. Private business initiatives in Ukraine have given birth to well-known startups like […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 14, 2016

We Are Building the New Ukraine, Three Years after Euromaidan

By Yuriy Didula

The need for reconciliation between eastern and western Ukraine is often emphasized in Ukrainian and international media, and has been the subject of dozens of roundtables in the past couple of years. Though originally from western Ukraine, I have lived and worked in the east for nearly two years, and I have come to realize […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 9, 2016

Here’s Why Nord Stream 2 Isn’t the Only Game in Town

By Olga Bielkova

Most Russia watchers, including those at the Atlantic Council, recognize that in this age of hybrid warfare, energy trade is a potent weapon. What has changed with Nord Stream 2 is that the weapon is now pointed directly at the EU rather than Ukraine, and it is masquerading as a commercial project. But who could […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 9, 2016

Does Saakashvili’s Resignation Mark the End of Reform in Ukraine?

By Diane Francis

Mikheil Saakashvili’s resignation this week does not mark the failure of reform efforts in Ukraine. It opens a new chapter. “Odesa can only develop once Kyiv will be freed from these bribe takers, who directly patronize organized crime and lawlessness,” he bluntly told journalists when he announced he was quitting on November 7. This opinion […]

Ukraine