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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 20, 2022

Classical concert captures Ukraine’s defiant response to Russian invasion

By
Jacob Heilbrunn

Ukraine's defiant spirit was on display on October 18 at a Kennedy Center concert organized by the Chopivsky Family Foundation and featuring the New Era Orchestra of Kyiv together with celebrated violinist Joshua Bell.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2022

Winning the peace through democratic progress in post-war Ukraine

By
Peter Erben, Gio Kobakhidze

As Ukraine’s army continues to liberate the country from Russian occupation, it is critical that Ukraine’s military success is buttressed by continued democratic progress. Ukraine must not only win the war, but also win the peace.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 18, 2022

Bowing to Putin’s nuclear blackmail will make nuclear war more likely

By
Andriy Zagorodnyuk

Giving in to Putin’s nuclear blackmail would not end the war in Ukraine. What it would do is set a disastrous precedent that makes a future nuclear war far more likely while encouraging uncontrolled nuclear proliferation.


Arms Control


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2022

Ukraine has a Russia problem not a Putin problem

By
Taras Kuzio

Ukraine appears poised to defeat Putin's invasion but Russia will continue to pose an existential threat to Ukrainian statehood until Russians learn to accept that Ukraine is a sovereign and independent nation.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2022

Putin’s blackout blitz: Russia aims to freeze Ukrainians into surrender

By
Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Russia is seeking to plunge Ukraine into darkness ahead of the winter heating season by destroying the country's energy infrastructure. Ukraine's partners must step in to make sure Ukrainians are not frozen into surrender.


Conflict


Energy Markets & Governance


UkraineAlert

Oct 13, 2022

Meet the Ukrainian TV star fundraising millions for the country’s war effort

By
Oleksii Antoniuk, Andrew D’Anieri

TV host Serhiy Prytula is being tipped by many as a rising star of Ukrainian politics but for now he is fully occupied in his current role leading crowdfunding efforts for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2022

No, Russia’s airstrike escalation is not retaliation for the Crimean Bridge

By
Razom Advocacy Team

International media coverage depicting Russia's recent airstrike escalation as retaliation for the alleged Ukrainian attack on the Crimean Bridge risks creating false equivalency over Vladimir Putin's war of aggression.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 11, 2022

Russia’s terror tactics: Putin escalates attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin has launched a new phase of his Ukraine invasion and ordered the destruction of the country's civilian infrastructure. Ukraine's Western partners must urgently provide air defense systems to avert disaster.


Conflict


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Oct 11, 2022

Six things you (yes, you!) can do now to help Ukraine

By
Melinda Haring

With the winter season fast approaching and Vladimir Putin launching a campaign against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, it is more important than ever to maintain support for Ukraine. Melinda Haring has some ideas.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 9, 2022

Ukraine and Moldova move to disarm Vladimir Putin’s energy weapon

By
Aura Sabadus

With the winter heating season now underway, Ukraine and neighboring Moldova both continue to make progress toward reducing dependence on Russian gas and disarming Vladimir Putin's energy weapon.


Conflict


European Union

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Content

UkraineAlert

Jul 26, 2016

Established Political Parties Benefit from Ukraine’s New Reform

By Miriam Kosmehl and Andreas Umland

This month, Ukraine introduced state financing of political parties in the hopes that it will create a more transparent, equal, and democratic playing field for politicians and their organizations. But the process will not be as beneficial to Ukraine’s reform efforts as it could have been. In October 2015, the Ukrainian parliament adopted Law No. […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 20, 2016

How the GOP Abandons Ukraine

By Jeffrey Gedmin

When asked recently why he turned up in Moscow last December to help celebrate the tenth anniversary of RT, Michael Flynn rambled about wanting to deliver stern lectures to the Russians. The retired US Lt. Gen.—who now serves as foreign policy adviser to Republican nominee Donald J. Trump—was seated at a gala dinner next to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 20, 2016

Remembering the Former Soviet Union’s Top Investigative Journalist

By Anders Åslund

Car Bomb Kills Prominent Journalist Pavel Sheremet in Kyiv  It is hard to believe that Pavel Sheremet is dead because he was so full of life. He was an exuberant man who loved life and everything in it. A dinner with Pavel was always a wonderful and lively affair, and he enjoyed the food and […]

Belarus Russia

UkraineAlert

Jul 20, 2016

Turkey: Another US Intelligence Failure

By Stephen Blank

A less-well known but vital outcome of NATO’s Warsaw summit was the Alliance’s decision to create an intelligence and security division from among its existing organizations. This move is long overdue. There is a plethora of threats facing Europe and the United States, and yet the West has a record of intelligence failures that has […]

Russia Syria

UkraineAlert

Jul 19, 2016

How to Avoid Becoming Ukraine’s Most Unpopular Politician

By Mykhailo Kukhar and Alexei Sobchenko

Ukraine is a relatively young country. Its political traditions are still developing and its electorate can still be easily beguiled by every new leader who promises to bring the nation out of the economic misery it was immersed in after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ukraine is still desperately poor, ranked among the poorest […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 19, 2016

Russia Faces a Darkening Future. Is There Any Way Out?

By David Satter

Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from Satter’s new book, The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep: Russia’s Road to Terrorism and Dictatorship Under Yeltsin and Putin. Satter will give a book reading at Politics & Prose in Washington on July 24 at 5 pm. The best future for Russia would be the […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

Jul 19, 2016

Tymoshenko and Kolomoyskyi Score Wins in Ukraine’s Special Elections

By Brian Mefford

Populism is on the rise in Ukraine, so it’s little surprise that Fatherland party leader Yulia Tymoshenko and oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi gained the most seats in Ukraine’s special parliamentary elections on July 17. Elections were held in seven districts across the country. Fatherland candidates won in Kherson and Poltava, while Kolomoyskyi’s candidate won in Volyn […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 18, 2016

Ukraine Needs to Abandon its Soviet Thinking Once and for All

By Basil A. Kalymon

Ukraine’s reform efforts continue to sputter on without any transformative results more than two years after former President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Moscow. The economy’s basic problems have not yet been addressed. It is still bogged down in its Soviet past, with populist forces making illusory promises that appeal to many voters’ Soviet-era mentality. The […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 18, 2016

How Ukraine Can Win the Information War in a Fact Free World

By Peter Dickinson

What media outlets do you trust? From the Brexit referendum and the US presidential race to Russia’s information war on Ukraine, it is becoming increasingly clear that we now live in a fact-free world where emotions reign supreme and truth is in the eye of the beholder. This trend first became apparent around the time […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 13, 2016

New Generation of Digital Detectives Fight to Keep Russia Honest

By Eliot Higgins

Almost two years ago on July 17, 2014, a Buk missile downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine, killing 298 passengers and their crew. The Russian government pushed evidence implying that a Ukrainian plane had shot down MH17, while the Dutch Safety Board concluded that a Buk missile caused the plane to break up […]

Russia Syria