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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

Jan 25, 2017

How to Trump-Proof Sanctions on Russia

By
Alina Polyakova

US President Donald J. Trump has said he is open to ending sanctions on Russia in exchange for a nuclear arms reduction deal with the Kremlin. “[L]et’s see if we can get some good deals with Russia,” he said. Trump has the authority to reverse sanctions because the Obama administration used executive orders to mandate […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 23, 2017

Beat Back Russia and Stand with Ukraine, Biden Urges at Davos

By
Diane Francis

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s last official speech was delivered January 18 in Davos at the World Economic Forum. It was a tour de force summoning leaders to protect the “liberal international order” against China, Iran, Russia, and others bent on destroying it. “This movement is principally led by Russia, working with every tool to […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 23, 2017

American-Born Doctor Takes on Ukraine’s Health Care System

By
Melinda Haring

Ulana Suprun is a woman on a mission. The 53-year-old radiologist from New York who was appointed Ukraine’s Acting Minister of Health in July is determined to shake up Ukraine’s sclerotic health care system. “The changes that we are making in Ukraine’s health care sector are breaking the old rules and establishing new standards,” Suprun […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 18, 2017

How Far Will Putin Dare to Go in 2017?

By
Peter Dickinson

From Brexit to Trump, 2016 was the year fake news became headline news. In Ukraine, however, it was old news. Ukrainians are living through the third winter of an ongoing hybrid war with Russia, a conflict driven to a remarkable degree by fake news. But fake news is only one of the many hybrid war […]


Central Europe


Germany


UkraineAlert

Jan 18, 2017

Break the Caucasian Chalk Circle

By
Alexandra Hall Hall

As hopes fade that President-elect Donald Trump will take a stronger line on Russia than candidate Trump, and worries grow about his commitment to key Euro-Atlantic institutions such as the EU and NATO, it is not just small countries on the fringe of Europe, like Georgia, whose future is at stake. It is time for […]


Russia


The Caucasus


UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2017

Ukraine Versus China: The Fight for Europe’s Market

By
James Brooke

In this week of pre-Trump nervousness, three expats—one American and two Brits—are doing what may seem counterintuitive: launching the Ukraine Business Journal in Kyiv. The goal is simple: provide a clear, factual, English-language window on the business opportunities and obstacles in Ukraine. We believe the time is right. Ukraine has a highly educated workforce of […]


China


Russia


UkraineAlert

Jan 13, 2017

US Should Require Russia’s RT to Register as Foreign Agent

By
Elena Postnikova

Russia used RT, its TV channel, to influence the recent US elections. This was the finding of the recently declassified US intelligence report; it concluded that Russia implemented a multifaceted campaign involving disclosures of data obtained through hacking, intrusions into state and local electoral boards, and propaganda. While the American elite is debating an appropriate […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 11, 2017

Ten Things You Should Know about Russian Involvement in Ukraine

By
Vitalii Rybak

Russian President Vladimir Putin denies involvement in the conflict in Ukraine’s east. Despite his continued denials of Russia’s involvement in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), a growing body of evidence casts doubts on his claims. Here are ten things everyone needs to know about Russian involvement in Ukraine. 1. […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 11, 2017

The Fight for Ukraine Is Still Not Over

By
Ilya Yashin

Russian President Vladimir Putin uses a broad array of tools to keep Ukraine in Russia’s sphere of influence and destabilize Ukraine’s current government. These tools include propaganda, financial support of loyal parties and journalists, corruption, economic pressure, political blackmail, and direct military intervention. Others have documented these tools well. I see four ways Putin is […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 10, 2017

Russia’s Crimea Bridge Could Collapse Anytime

By
Halya Coynash

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called construction of a bridge between Russia and occupied Crimea a “historic mission.” He should pay better attention to history. This mission is doomed to failure, and not only because of sanctions. Experts warn that even if the bridge now under construction can be finished, its chances of standing for […]


Russia


Ukraine

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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 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

UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2016

An Important Reform Milestone: An Independent Energy Regulator in Ukraine

By Olena Halushka

It is hard to find anything that unites the Ukrainian parliament as efficiently as the body’s regular and purposeful failure to adopt the bill on the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities. Neither the demands of the expert community, nor the bill’s connection with Ukraine’s international commitments, nor even the threat […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2016

Here’s What Ukrainian-Americans Are Doing For Ukraine

By Alina Polyakova

Ukraine’s Maidan revolution united Ukraine as a nation like never before, and it reinvigorated Ukrainian-American communities across the United States. While Ukrainian-Americans are well organized nationally through such organizations as the Ukrainian Congress Committee of Ukraine and in metropolitan areas with large Ukrainian communities, such as Chicago and New York, Ukrainian-Americans in smaller towns have […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2016

Ukraine’s Signature Transparency Initiative Comes Under Fire Again

By Josh Cohen

In October 2014, Ukraine’s parliament passed a law requiring all public officials to file an electronic declaration disclosing their assets. The law requires the identification of assets directly held by officials, as well as those held by family members, which means officials can no longer hide illegally obtained assets in the names of family members. […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 9, 2016

What Poroshenko Said and Didn’t Say

By Kateryna Kruk

Unsurprisingly Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko kicked off his annual televised address to parliament on September 6 with words of unity. “At a time when Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is still ongoing, when the military threat from the east is the most difficult strategic challenge, the issue of national unity and political consolidation is a matter […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 7, 2016

The Russian Balance Sheet at Hangzhou

By Stephen Blank

The recent G-20 meetings in Hangzhou, China provide a useful balance sheet for assessing Russia’s status in Europe. While Russian President Vladimir Putin showed that Russia is not as isolated as many in the West think it should be, Putin failed to convince France and Germany to pressure Ukraine to implement the Minsk II ceasefire […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 6, 2016

The German-Russian Relationship: It’s Complicated

By Andreas Umland

There’s a growing perception in Germany that the Minsk ceasefire agreements may never be implemented and the conflict in Ukraine will continue to grind on. To examine the origins and nature of the conflict as well as its possible solution and the role Bavaria may play in these affairs, the German-Ukrainian NGO Kyiv Dialogue held […]

Germany Russia

UkraineAlert

Sep 6, 2016

How Xi and Putin Humiliated Obama at the G-20

By Anders Åslund

On September 4-5, the G-20 held its annual summit in Hangzhou, China, President Xi Jinping’s home. G-20 summits tend to be meaningless, but this one appears to have been outright harmful. The signature event was when President Barack Obama’s Air Force One was not met with a staircase, and it went downhill from there. During […]

China Russia

UkraineAlert

Sep 6, 2016

The Top Ten Things Ukraine’s Parliament Needs to Do This Fall

By Olena Halushka

Over the last two and a half years, Ukraine has channeled the energy of the Euromaidan protests into building a new state, and has achieved a number of major accomplishments. However, much more remains be done. The delay in implementing crucial reforms is equivalent to stopping halfway, while the slow rate of change is already […]

Ukraine