Stay Updated

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, 2020

Russian assassinations send chilling message of impunity

By
Doug Klain

Kremlin-linked assassinations are being exposed on a regular basis across Europe. Is this a sign of Russian sloppiness, or does Moscow want the world to now that it acts with impunity on the global stage?


Non-Traditional Threats


Russia


UkraineAlert

Mar 10, 2020

Coronavirus crisis: Ukraine needs IMF support not political purges

By
Anders Åslund

President Zelenskyy's sudden purge of his reformist cabinet has shaken confidence in the Ukrainian economy at a time when global markets are facing a mounting coronavirus crisis – could an IMF deal be the solution?


Coronavirus


International Financial Institutions


UkraineAlert

Mar 10, 2020

Water for peace: Ukraine tests public opinion on a very dangerous deal

By
Mykola Vorobiov

A number of politicians from President Zelenskyy's ruling party have recently spoken out in support of renewing water supplies to Russian-occupied Crimea. Is Zelenskyy preparing public opinion for a grand bargain to secure peace in eastern Ukraine?


Conflict


Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Mar 9, 2020

MH17 court case: Putin’s Ukraine war goes on trial

By
Yaroslav Dovgopol

This week a court in the Netherlands begins hearing the case against three Russians and one Ukrainian charged with involvement in the 2014 downing of flight MH17. In reality, Putin's entire Ukraine war is on trial.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2020

Ukraine’s new government must act fast or face failure

By
Oleh Havrylyshyn and Basil Kalymon

The window of opportunity for reform may already be closing in today's Ukraine and President Zelenskyy's newly appointed cabinet of ministers will have to move fast in order to avoid missing their historic chance.


Democratic Transitions


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2020

Ukraine’s novice president is in serious trouble already

By
Alexander J. Motyl

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has just replaced most of his cabinet, including his prime minister. His office will spin this as a sign of renewal. In fact, it’s an indication that Zelenskyy is in serious trouble.


Democratic Transitions


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2020

Zelenskyy changes course with government reshuffle

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has launched a radical shake-up of his government just six months after it started work. New faces are out and experienced figures are in. What will this mean for the country's future trajectory and hopes for change?


Democratic Transitions


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Mar 4, 2020

Ze end?

By
Melinda Haring

What’s even clearer is that the tragedy of Ukraine’s politics goes on. And on. Everyone knows how to fix Ukraine, but no one actually does it.


Democratic Transitions


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Mar 3, 2020

Post-Merkel Germany: What can Ukraine expect?

By
Mattia Nelles

The race is on to succeed Angela Merkel as Germany's political leader, with three candidates competing in a CDU party leadership contest. What could the outcome mean for German policy towards Ukraine and Russia?


Germany


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Mar 3, 2020

Germany and Poland compete for Ukrainian migrant workers

By
Alexander Khrebet

New German labor laws introduced in March 2020 make it easier for Ukrainians to be employed in the country. This is sparking fears in Ukraine—and Poland—that we may soon see a new wave of Ukrainian economic migration.


Germany


Migration

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.

Follow us on social media
and support our work

Content

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2016

The Lessons of Babyn Yar: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

By Kateryna Smagliy

“No gravestone stands on Babyn Yar,” wrote the Soviet poet Yevgeniy Yevtushenko in 1961. He was condemning the Soviet regime’s failure to acknowledge the Babyn Yar tragedy twenty-five years after World War II had ended. When a monument was finally erected in 1974 to commemorate the deaths of 100,000 people generically characterized as “Soviet citizens,” […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 28, 2016

Putin’s Balkan Insecurities

By Stephen Blank

Two and a half years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, too many public figures in the United States and Europe still seem unable to decipher Russia’s motives. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently told a Bosnian newspaper that NATO’s readiness to extend membership to Montenegro and welcome Bosnia and Macedonia was not only a […]

Russia Ukraine

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