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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 30, 2020

Two historic votes for Ukraine

By
Iuliia Mendel

In an emergency session as the country grapples with the coronavirus crisis, Ukraine's parliament has voted for two bills that will open the way to new financing from the IMF and other international partners.


Democratic Transitions


International Financial Institutions


UkraineAlert

Mar 30, 2020

Coronavirus must not distract the world from Russia’s war in Ukraine

By
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze

The coronavirus crisis is creating unprecedented challenges for the international community, but existing security threats like the Russian attack on Ukraine must not disappear from the diplomatic agenda, argues Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.


Conflict


Coronavirus


UkraineAlert

Mar 28, 2020

Time for Ukraine to exit Russia’s energy empire

By
Bohdan Klid

Energy supplies have helped Russia exert political influence over Ukraine. With Russia's energy sector hit by short-term coronavirus woes and facing long-term decline, now is a good time for Ukraine to reduce dependency.


Geopolitics & Energy Security


Russia


UkraineAlert

Mar 26, 2020

Russo-Ukrainian War: Putin must be held accountable

By
Olena Zerkal

Russia is seeking to legitimize the Kremlin-created separatist republics in eastern Ukraine as a way of distancing itself from the ongoing conflict, but if Putin is not held accountable, other countries may share Ukraine's fate.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Mar 25, 2020

After coronavirus: how to get Ukraine working again

By
Ilya Timtchenko

Ukraine is bracing for a major coronavirus economic downturn, but the country must also look to the post-pandemic future. Ilya Timtchenko offers some tips on how to get the Ukrainian economy working once again.


Coronavirus


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Mar 24, 2020

Could coronavirus become Putin’s Chernobyl?

By
Peter Dickinson

Official Russian coronavirus infection rates far lower than elsewhere in Europe, sparking accusations of a Kremlin cover-up. Could the pandemic become a new Chernobyl for Vladimir Putin?


Coronavirus


Russia


UkraineAlert

Mar 23, 2020

Why Ukraine cannot risk recognizing Putin’s proxies

By
Lisa Yasko

Many Ukrainians are alarmed by plans to create an Advisory Council together with representatives from Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Critics say the move will allow Russia to distance itself from the war.


Conflict


Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding


UkraineAlert

Mar 23, 2020

Mr. and Mrs. Zelenskyy trip up on gender roles again

By
Melinda Haring

Why does everything in the private sphere depend on Ukraine’s amazing women yet again?


Democratic Transitions


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Mar 22, 2020

Ukraine urgently needs a new IMF agreement

By
Anders Åslund

Ukraine is facing major economic turmoil as a result of poor political decisions in the midst of an unfolding global crisis sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. The country now urgently needs to secure a new IMF agreement, argues Anders Åslund.


Economy & Business


International Financial Institutions


UkraineAlert

Mar 19, 2020

Saving Ukraine’s economy from the coronavirus crash

By
Yuriy Gorodnichenko

The Ukrainian economy is facing a perfect storm of coronavirus pressures as exports plummet and the domestic economy grinds to a halt. How can Ukraine mitigate the worst of the unfolding global crisis?


Coronavirus


Economy & Business

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

Oct 12, 2016

What Ukraine Can Learn from Romania’s Fight against Graft

By Michael Druckman

In 2015, Romania got serious about its corruption problem. DNA, its aggressive anticorruption body, indicted 1,250 public officials, including the sitting prime minister. Five other ministers, twenty-one members of parliament, and Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu were indicted. The agency ordered the seizure of nearly half a billion euros. Romania is now perceived as less corrupt. […]

Central Europe Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 11, 2016

The Other Victims of the War in Ukraine

By Laura A. Dean

Ukraine has long been a country associated with human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women, but recent reports of human trafficking as a consequence of the war in eastern Ukraine have brought a new urgency to this ongoing crisis. News articles tell chilling stories about slave labor camps, children’s brothels, drug couriers, drug couriers, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 10, 2016

How Ukraine Can Make Its Diplomacy Smarter

By Victoria Khaladzhy

Public diplomacy has been singled out as a far-reaching mechanism for promoting Ukraine’s interests in the world. Diplomats have taken first steps in utilizing instruments from the country’s existing foreign policy tools. These include increasing person-to-person engagement, promoting economic interactions, intensifying exchange programs, and upgrading cultural centers abroad. Like other governments, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 10, 2016

Washington’s Patience with Kyiv Runs Thin

By Sergii Leshchenko

Last week my colleagues Mustafa Nayyem, Svitlana Zalishchuk, and I had dozens of meetings in the United States. Our impression was disappointing. Since the resignation of Arseniy Yatsenyuk (Washington’s favorite Ukrainian politician), reports of further corruption, and the lack of progress in resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the United States has grown weary of […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2016

Berlin or Bust: Germany Key to Maintaining Sanctions on Russia

By Oksana Bedratenko

When Russia illegally annexed Crimea and armed separatists in eastern Ukraine, the United States and the European Union jointly condemned it. Together they introduced sanctions on Russia in July 2014 that limited access to finance for key companies in Russia’s energy, defense, and financial sectors; froze assets and banned travel for officials directly involved in […]

Germany Russia

UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2016

Q&A: Is Ukraine Still Changing?

By Melinda Haring

Three Atlantic Council experts answer questions about Ukraine’s ongoing reforms. 1. It’s been nearly three years since the Euromaidan protests began. How would you grade the pace and extent of Ukraine’s reforms? Anders Åslund, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council: In 2014, Ukraine carried out two vital preconditions for economic reform, early presidential and parliamentary […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 4, 2016

Stop Mistaking Russia for Europe

By Andrew Kornbluth

Like a coin inserted into a broken candy machine, the most recent attempt by the United States to broker a ceasefire with the Russians in Syria has vanished with nothing to show for it. Instead, in a calculated gesture of contempt, Russian and Syrian government forces annihilated a humanitarian convoy before beginning an unprecedented round-the-clock […]

Russia Syria

UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2016

Kremlin Panics after Dutch Report, and It Should

By Alexei Sobchenko

The report of the Dutch-led investigation team on the shoot down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine offered a momentary glimpse into the true nature of the proverbial riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Instead of denying any Russian involvement in the death of 298 people in July 2014, a number […]

Russia Ukraine

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