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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 3, 2022

Will Putin send mobilized Russians to Belarus for a new Kyiv offensive?

By
Alesia Rudnik

Vladimir Putin’s decision to order Russia’s first mobilization since World War II has revived fears in neighboring Belarus that the country could be dragged into the invasion of Ukraine and a new march on Kyiv.


Belarus


Civil Society


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

European unity is essential as Putin prepares to weaponize winter

By
Kira Rudik

European unity will be vital in the coming months as Russia attempts to weaponize winter in order to convince EU leaders to abandon their support for Ukraine and end their opposition to Vladimir Putin's ongoing invasion.


Conflict


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Sep 30, 2022

Putin denounces imperialism while annexing large swathes of Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially annexed four regions of Ukraine while denouncing Western imperialism and proclaiming Russia as the leader of a global "anti-colonialism movement."


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2022

Referendum coverage proves media is still vulnerable to Russian disinformation

By
Peter Dickinson

International coverage of Russia's sham referendums in occupied regions of Ukraine has served to highlight the continued influence of Kremlin disinformation at some of the world's leading media outlets, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Sep 27, 2022

Putin threatens to increase attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure

By
Victor Kevluk

Vladimir Putin has threatened to destroy Ukrainian civilian infrastructure in a targeted campaign designed to crush the country's will to resist the ongoing Russian invasion.


Conflict


Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2022

The West should not fear the prospect of a post-Putin Russia

By
Richard D. Hooker, Jr.

Many in the West believe the fall of Vladimir Putin would pave the way for an even more extreme successor in Moscow but post-Putin Russia may actually reject the anti-Western policies of today's Kremlin.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2022

From the UN to The Late Show, Ukraine’s diplomats are winning

By
Pete Shmigel

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba recently quipped at the UN that "Russian diplomats flee almost as aptly as Russian soldiers.” This one-liner was typical of the creative diplomacy that is bolstering Ukraine's war effort.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2022

Ukrainian priest recounts escape from Russian siege of Mariupol

By
Melinda Haring, Vladislav Davidzon

The Siege of Mariupol was the deadliest engagement so far in Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian priest Father Pavel Kostel recounts his harrowing experience of escaping from the encircled city.


Conflict


Freedom and Prosperity


UkraineAlert

Sep 22, 2022

Will Ukraine invasion condemn Putin to place among Russia’s worst rulers?

By
Anders Åslund

Vladimir Putin has long dreamed of securing his place among the titans of Russian history but his disastrous Ukraine invasion now leaves him destined to be remembered as one of the country’s worst rulers.


Conflict


Corruption


UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2022

Putin’s nuclear ultimatum is a desperate bid to freeze a losing war

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine is a sign of the Russian dictator's mounting desperation as his invasion continues to unravel and his country's geopolitical isolation deepens.


Central Asia


Conflict

spotlight

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

Sep 26, 2016

The Audacity of Nadiya Savchenko

By Melinda Haring

“Russian propaganda made the mistake of using me as an example, and I just became too expensive for them. I am a person who never gives up,” said Nadiya Savchenko, a former prisoner of war, current member of Ukraine’s parliament, and one of the country’s most popular politicians, on September 22. Three days earlier, the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2016

Can Vladimir Putin Make the Twenty-First Century a Russian Century?

By Anders Åslund

The role Russia is playing in Donald Trump’s election campaign is quite extraordinary. The candidate’s son has acknowledged that Trump’s companies have received large Russian investments. His former campaign manager Paul Manafort worked for Ukraine’s disgraced pro-Moscow authoritarian president for almost a decade. Two of his foreign policy advisers, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Carter […]

European Union International Organizations

UkraineAlert

Sep 23, 2016

How Ukraine Can Signal It’s Serious about Reform

By Oksana Bedratenko

Thirteen months since the last tranche, the IMF has finally allocated the third tranche of its program to Ukraine, bringing the total disbursement to $7.6 billion. Although it is less than the originally planned $1.7 billion and came with substantial delays, the receipt of the $1 billion tranche was celebrated by the Ukrainian government as […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2016

Crimean Residents Vote in Russian Elections, Reluctantly

By Eleanor Knott

For the first time since Russia annexed Crimea, Russian elections were held on the territory of the disputed peninsula. That elections were held in Crimea has been a source of contention between Russia and the international community. OSCE election observers refused to monitor the polls in Crimea, and the US and EU condemned the September […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2016

Meet Maxim Nefyodov: How Ukrainian Geeks Tackled Corruption in Public Procurement

By Anastasiya Ringis

One day in September 2013, when Maxim Nefyodov, a managing partner at the investment firm Icon Private Equity, was leaving his office on Rylskiy Lane, he witnessed a funny scene. Accompanied by eight bodyguards, President Viktor Yanukovych’s odious ally, Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, was walking from an office building to his luxury SUV. To Nefyodov this spectacle […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2016

Does Putin Have 35 Million Secret Weapons?

By Lukas Trakimavičius

“Russia is back.” These were the recent words of General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe—and he was correct. Thanks to a rapidly growing arms budget and a worrisome frequency of snap military drills near NATO’s borders, Russia is indeed back to the game of power politics after a twenty-five year hiatus. The implications […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2016

Putin’s Illusions about Crimea

By Olesya Yakhno

In the recent plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum [on September 3 in Vladivostok], Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the issue of Crimea’s ownership is historically closed. Despite the adamant tone, such statements do not show Russia’s confidence but instead reveal the Kremlin’s vulnerability on this issue. The concept Krym nash (Crimea is […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2016

Memo to the West: Reject Russia’s Illegal Duma Elections

By Hanna Hopko

On September 18, Russians went to the polls to elect 450 members of parliament. The big news is that Vladimir Putin’s United Russia performed surprisingly well, taking approximately 54 percent of the vote. But the underreported news is this: Russians elected four MPs from occupied Ukrainian Crimea, which is illegal and grossly violates international law. […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2016

Ten Things the New US Ambassador to Ukraine Should Do

By Melinda Haring and Kateryna Smagliy

On August 18, Marie L. Yovanovitch became the US Ambassador to Ukraine. Yovanovitch is not new to the country; she served as the deputy chief of mission in Kyiv—the second in command—under Ambassadors Carlos Pascual and John Herbst months before the Orange Revolution erupted. She spent the bulk of her career working in the Eurasia […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 14, 2016

Why the West Ignores Russia’s Wars

By Andrew Kornbluth

This month will mark one year since the beginning of Russia’s intervention in Syria and two and a half years since its invasion of Ukraine’s Donbas region. In Syria, Russia has indiscriminately bombed inhabited areas using virtually every type of conventional munition in its arsenal—thermobaric, cluster, and incendiary—killing around 3,000 civilians so far. These deaths […]

Russia Ukraine