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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

Feb 24, 2022

Ukraine desperately needs help

By
Andrey Stavnitser

As Russia declares war, Ukraine calls on the global community not to sit on the sidelines and to urgently stand with Ukrainians.


Conflict


Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion


UkraineAlert

Feb 23, 2022

Time to go after the Kremlin’s wallets

By
Doug Klain

Going after the Kremlin’s oligarchs who stash their illicit wealth in the West is an essential move that should happen now before Putin goes further in his campaign to end Ukrainian independence and revise Europe as we know it today.


Conflict


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Feb 21, 2022

Putin escalates his Ukraine war with recognition of separatist republics

By
Peter Dickinson

Eight years since the invasion of Crimea, Putin struck another blow in his war against Ukrainian statehood on February 21 by recognizing the two separatist republics of east Ukraine as independent states.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Feb 20, 2022

Putin’s self-defeating war has succeeded in uniting Ukrainians

By
Lucy Minicozzi-Wheeland

Vladimir Putin’s eight-year war against Ukraine has had a profound impact on Ukrainian identity and done more for national unity than any other single factor since Ukraine regained independence three decades ago.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Feb 19, 2022

NATO must seize the current strategic opportunity in the Black Sea

By
Harlan Ullman

The Ukraine crisis has underlined the need for NATO to develop a coherent Black Sea Strategy that will allow the alliance to counter the growing regional threat posed by Vladimir Putin's resurgent Russia.


Conflict


Maritime Security


UkraineAlert

Feb 19, 2022

Will there be a “Munich Moment” in the Russia-Ukraine crisis?

By
Thomas S. Warrick

A full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine could yet be prevented via a "Munich moment" bringing together Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden to strike a last-minute geopolitical deal, writes Thomas Warrick.


Conflict


Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion


UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2022

Putin’s absurd genocide claims cannot hide his war crimes in Ukraine

By
Olexander Scherba

Russian President Vladimir Putin likes to claim that an anti-Russian genocide is underway in Ukraine but in reality he is upset by the historical loss of influence suffered by representatives of the Russian state.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Feb 17, 2022

What would constitute victory for Putin in his war with Ukraine?

By
David Batashvili

In order to achieve his long-term foreign policy goal of subjugating a hostile Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin must militarily seize and occupy a large portion of what is the largest country wholly in Europe.


Conflict


National Security


UkraineAlert

Feb 16, 2022

Putin has seriously wounded Ukraine’s economy without firing a single shot

By
Anders Åslund

Even without physically invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is already causing the country great economic losses. The West cannot stand by and watch this happen, explains Anders Åslund.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Feb 15, 2022

The view from Ukraine: What happens if war breaks out tomorrow?

By
Vitaliy Deynega

Vitaliy Deynega says Ukraine has never been more united or able to defend itself and argues that Putin's threatened invasion is a gesture of despair by an enemy who cannot accept he has already lost.


Civil Society


Conflict

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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Jun 6, 2016

Ten Reasons to Invest in Ukraine

By Anders Åslund

Those who have invested in Ukraine so far have not been very happy with their return. At present, Ukraine’s gross domestic product is about $85 billion, approximately one-eighth of Poland’s GDP. The return on investment has been in proportion to that. Will things change? You can never be sure, but like before, Ukraine holds great […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 2, 2016

Don’t Celebrate Ukraine’s New Judicial Changes Yet

By Halya Coynash

Ukraine’s parliament has ignored warnings from human rights organizations and the Reanimation Package of Reforms and passed constitutional amendments and a bill on the judicial system which retain the old ways of exerting influence on judges. There was enormous pressure for judicial reform, and many of the changes are needed. The warnings, however, highlight real […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 1, 2016

Ukraine Needs to Stop Dragging its Feet on Privatization

By Aivaras Abromavičius

State-owned enterprises remain Ukraine’s Achilles’ heel. They are where political corruption spirals out of control with cronyism and backroom deals, and it is time to put an end to it. Privatization is the only real solution. No one has ever been popular by selling state assets and the timing is never right. Yet these companies […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 31, 2016

A Saakashvili Party Comeback? Not in Georgia but Maybe in Ukraine

By Brian Mefford

Odesa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili is preparing for the launch of his political party later this year in Ukraine, but this has not prevented him from pondering a return to politics in his native Georgia. Georgian voters go to the polls on October 8 to elect a new parliament in a contest viewed as a […]

The Caucasus Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 31, 2016

Exposing Russia’s False NATO Narrative

By Stephen Blank

A staple of Russian, pro-Russian, and so-called realist narratives is that NATO not only reneged on its promises to not enlarge after German reunification, it also rebuffed all Russian efforts to integrate with the organization. To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, it is pretty to think so—but that is not the truth. As Mikhail Gorbachev himself said, […]

NATO Russia

UkraineAlert

May 31, 2016

Europe Still in Denial as Russia Ushers in the Age of Hybrid Hostilities

By Peter Dickinson

European leaders will gather in June to discuss whether to extend sanctions against Russia over the Kremlin’s hybrid war in Ukraine. The current sanctions regime will likely remain in place, but the mere fact the subject is up for debate is evidence of Europe’s alarming refusal to acknowledge the new security reality facing the continent. […]

European Union International Organizations

UkraineAlert

May 26, 2016

Europe’s Humanitarian Fatigue Threatens to Engulf Ukraine

By Andrew Kornbluth

Earlier this month, Jean-Claude Juncker and Martin Schulz, presidents of the European Commission and Parliament, respectively, published an appeal for continental solidarity in which they criticized “anyone who believes that the time of the nation-state has come” as “out of touch with reality.” The inaccuracy of Juncker and Schulz’s statement is reflected in the comparative […]

Europe & Eurasia European Union

UkraineAlert

May 26, 2016

The Many Hopes of Nadiya Savchenko

By Irena Chalupa

“I’ve been in a prison cell for two years, I’m not used to people, so I am sorry if I sound harsh,” said Nadiya Savchenko as throngs of journalists and well-wishers crowded around her at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport on May 25. Captured in Ukraine, transferred secretly to Russia where she was tried and sentenced to […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 25, 2016

Savchenko’s Return May Unleash Political Earthquake in Ukraine

By Kateryna Kruk

It has finally happened. Nadiya Savchenko is back in Ukraine. The female pilot, who was captured in Ukraine and illegally brought to Russia on falsified charges, became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance against Russian efforts to destabilize the country. A Russian court sentenced Savchenko to twenty-two years for killing two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 23, 2016

Why Ukraine’s Gutsy, Bright, and Articulate Reformers Are Optimistic

By Diane Francis

“A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. . . . We must have patience till luck turns,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1798. Jefferson wrote this observation to a friend thirteen years after […]

Ukraine