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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

Mar 12, 2024

Mood darkens in Odesa amid Russian bombardment and Western hesitancy

By
Michael Bociurkiw

The mood in Ukrainian Black Sea port city Odesa has darkened in recent weeks amid a surge in Russian bombing attacks and growing doubts over the future of Western military aid, writes Michael Bociurkiw.


Conflict


Drones


UkraineAlert

Mar 11, 2024

Ukraine’s Oscar win puts Russia’s war crimes back in international spotlight

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine's historic Oscar win for the documentary film "20 Days in Mariupol" puts Russia's war crimes firmly back into the international spotlight, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 7, 2024

Vladimir Putin is losing Russia’s long war against Ukrainian identity

By
Danylo Lubkivsky

Vladimir Putin is the latest in a long line of Russian rulers who have attempted to erase Ukrainian national identity and force Ukrainians to identify as Russians, writes Danylo Lubkivsky.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2024

Putin is on an historic mission and will not stop until he is finally defeated

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin believes he is on an historic mission to reclaim "Russian lands" and will inevitably go further if he is not stopped in Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 4, 2024

“Ukraine is Russia”: Medvedev reveals imperial ambitions fueling invasion

By
Taras Kuzio

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has underlined the imperialism fueling the invasion of Ukraine by rejecting Ukrainian statehood and declaring "Ukraine is definitely Russia," writes Taras Kuzio.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Mar 2, 2024

Ukraine needs enhanced air defenses as Russia expands missile arsenal

By
Olivia Yanchik

With Russia now reportedly receiving missiles from both Iran and North Korea, it is time for Ukraine’s partners to step up their own deliveries of air defense systems, writes Olivia Yanchik.


Conflict


Drones


UkraineAlert

Feb 29, 2024

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

By
Peter Dickinson

By allowing themselves to be intimidated by Putin’s nuclear threats, Western leaders risk plunging the world into a dark new era of insecurity and aggression, writes Peter Dickinson.


Arms Control


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Feb 29, 2024

Gulf region markets offer huge growth potential for Ukraine’s IT sector

By
Anatoly Motkin

The Gulf region offers opportunities for Ukraine's war-ravaged but vibrant tech sector to reduce its dependence on Western markets and return to growth, writes Anatoly Motkin.


Artificial Intelligence


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Feb 27, 2024

No opposition candidates allowed in Belarus dictator’s “sham” elections

By
Hanna Liubakova

Sunday’s parliamentary and local elections in Belarus were among the most flawed in the thirty-year reign of the country’s authoritarian ruler, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, writes Hanna Liubakova.


Belarus


Civil Society


UkraineAlert

Feb 23, 2024

Making Russia pay for the invasion of Ukraine

By
Paul Grod

Using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine's resistance and recovery is morally justified and would also ease the financial burden on Western economies, writes Paul Grod.


Conflict


Economy & Business

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Content

UkraineAlert

Jul 5, 2016

Could Ukraine’s New Civil Service Law Be Undermined?

By Josh Cohen

In a major achievement for reformers, Ukraine’s parliament passed a revolutionary new civil service law last year that included key provisions related to the appointment of heads of local state administrations (LSAs). But if some members of parliament and perhaps even the presidential administration have their way, those elements of the law could soon be […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2016

Worried About Brexit? No, Scared, Says Ukraine’s Former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk

By Melinda Haring

“I’m not worried [about Brexit]. I’m scared,” said Arseniy Yatsenyuk at the Atlantic Council on June 30. In one of his first public appearances in Washington since stepping down as Ukraine’s prime minister on April 14, Yatsenyuk urged Europe to get its act together. Brexit, he said, is a “huge geopolitical crisis”: the United Kingdom’s […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 29, 2016

Now Is Not the Time to Scrap the Minsk Agreement

By John E. Herbst

A Reply to David J. Kramer Editor’s Note: On June 22, Ambassador John Herbst and David J. Kramer debated whether we should bury the Minsk agreement, the troubled ceasefire agreement in Ukraine, at an Atlantic Council event in Washington, DC. Their remarks have been adapted from the debate. Ukraine’s discussion of the war with Russia […]

Germany OSCE

UkraineAlert

Jun 28, 2016

Memo to NATO: Wake Up Before Putin Turns the Black Sea into a Russian Lake

By Stephen Blank

By invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin has transformed the security situation in the Black Sea. Upon capturing those territories, Moscow lost no time in seizing Ukrainian energy facilities in the Black Sea and accelerating its ongoing military modernization there. As a result, Moscow has built a combined arms force of land, […]

NATO Russia

UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2016

What Brexit Means for Ukraine

By Andreas Umland

After British voters approved a referendum to leave the EU on June 23, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister for European Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said: “We respect the British citizens’ decision, but Ukraine feels sorry for these events. To my mind this will weaken the EU and it will have to concentrate on its own problems.”  The […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2016

The Dangerous Perspective of Theo Sommer

By Alexander J. Motyl

This time, Theo Sommer has outdone himself. After closing his eyes to the mass murders of the Soviet regime in an article published on May 31, the editor-at-large of Germany’s prestigious Die Zeit newspaper has now demonstrated in a just-published piece an alarming ignorance not just of Ukraine but of elementary strategic logic. The former […]

Germany Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 22, 2016

Thanks to Russia, Ukrainians Swell Ranks of Kyiv Patriarchate

By James J. Coyle

Russia’s continued meddling in Ukraine is driving Ukrainian citizens out of the Russian Orthodox Church. Instead, they are swelling the ranks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate. Traditionally, Ukraine has been home to the vast majority of Russian Orthodox Church members. In 1990, of the almost twelve thousand Orthodox communities throughout the Soviet Union, more […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 22, 2016

Europe’s Short Memory and Ukraine’s Long Crisis

By Melinda Haring

“People have forgotten that there’s a real humanitarian situation and a real need in a European country,” said Jock Mendoza-Wilson, director of international and investor relations at System Capital Management, during a recent Atlantic Council panel examining the crisis in Ukraine. In fact, he said, six hundred thousand people on Ukraine’s contact line live in […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 22, 2016

Now’s the Time to Block Nord Stream 2 and Step Up Ukraine’s Energy Diplomacy

By Olga Bielkova

Ukraine—a country that rejected aggression and militarization when it broke away from the Soviet Union—is fighting three wars today: the front in the east against an expansionist power, the battle within to defeat cronyism and corruption, and an economic war to reorient trade flows and modernize its economy. The world’s attention, as well as that […]

European Union Germany

UkraineAlert

Jun 22, 2016

EU Renews Sanctions on Crimea but Overlooks Plight of Crimean Tatars

By Eleanor Knott

In April 2016, Crimea’s de facto authorities banned the Crimean Tatar Mejlis—the organ of political representation for Crimean Tatars on the peninsula—under the pretext of “extremism.” Increasingly, Crimean Tatars seem to be framed as “extremist” just for being themselves. A historically nonviolent community, Crimean Tatars were the most visible and vociferous opponents of the region’s […]

Ukraine