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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

Aug 1, 2023

Ukraine is finally freeing itself from centuries of Russian imperialism

By
Taras Kuzio

Vladimir Putin hoped his full-scale invasion of Ukraine would mark the dawn of a new Russian Empire. Instead, it has strengthened Ukraine's resolve to free itself from centuries of Russian imperialism, writes Taras Kuzio.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jul 31, 2023

Zelenskyy advisor: Defeat in Ukraine will spark collapse of Putin regime

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak says the Wagner mutiny has exposed Russia's internal weakness and predicts battlefield defeats in Ukraine will spark the collapse of the Putin regime, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Jul 27, 2023

Ukraine must not forget fight against corruption while battling Russia

By
Brian Mefford

The Ukrainian fightback against Russia's invasion has won the admiration of the watching world, but corruption continues to threaten the country from within and could undo any battlefield success, warns Brian Mefford.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jul 27, 2023

Russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children may qualify as genocide

By
Vladyslav Havrylov

Vladimir Putin has already been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court over the mass abduction of Ukrainian children. Many believe the deportations quality as genocide, writes Vladyslav Havrylov.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jul 27, 2023

Ukraine’s digital revolution is proving vital for the country’s war effort

By
Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine's remarkable resilience amid the biggest European war since World War II owes much to the country's ongoing digital revolution, writes Ukrainian Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.


Conflict


Cybersecurity


UkraineAlert

Jul 25, 2023

Rebuilding efforts should prioritize the key pillars of Ukraine’s democracy

By
Oleksii Antoniuk

International attention is currently focused on the physical reconstruction of postwar Ukraine's devastated infrastructure, but rebuilding the country's democratic institutions will be just as important, writes Oleksii Antoniuk.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jul 25, 2023

Ukraine’s gas storage facilities can play a key role in European energy security

By
Sergiy Makogon

Ukraine's underground gas storage facilities are the largest in Europe and offer considerable untapped opportunities to enhance the continent's energy security, writes Sergiy Makogon.


Conflict


Energy Markets & Governance


UkraineAlert

Jul 20, 2023

“Pariah” Putin forced to cancel travel plans over fears of war crimes arrest

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin's pariah status has been confirmed after he was forced to cancel plans to attend a summit of BRICS leaders in South Africa over fears that he may be arrested for war crimes, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Human Rights


UkraineAlert

Jul 20, 2023

Ukraine’s tech sector is playing vital wartime economic and defense roles

By
David Kirichenko

The Ukrainian tech industry has been the standout performer of the country’s hard-hit economy following Russia’s full-scale invasion and continues to play vital economic and defense sector roles, writes David Kirichenko.


Conflict


Cybersecurity


UkraineAlert

Jul 18, 2023

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was never about NATO

By
Peter Dickinson

Putin's relaxed response to the NATO accession of Finland and Sweden proves that he knows NATO enlargement poses no security threat to Russia but has used the issue as a smokescreen for the invasion of Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Defense Policy

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