UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine’s politics, economy, civil society, and culture. UkraineAlert sources analysis and commentary from a wide-array of thought-leaders, politicians, experts, and activists from Ukraine and the global community. UkraineAlert has become a major publication in Ukraine’s news landscape and has established itself not only through its quality of content but also significant partnerships with English, Ukrainian, and Russian-language media through the country.

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

Why Peace Is Impossible with Putin

UkraineAlert
Sep 3, 2026

Putin cannot defeat NATO but he could divide and discredit the alliance

By
Peter Dickinson

If Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to attack NATO, his goal will be to divide and discredit the alliance rather than actually defeating it, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy

Why Peace Is Impossible with Putin

UkraineAlert
Aug 27, 2026

Ukrainians are not superheroes with endless powers of resilience

By
Lauren Van Metre, Elena Davlikanova

By celebrating Ukrainian resilience as an almost superhuman quality, the international community risks obscuring the much less glamorous reality that Ukrainians are actually ordinary people who have endured extraordinary violence for far too long, write Lauren Van Metre and Elena Davlikanova.

Civil Society
Conflict

Why Peace Is Impossible with Putin

UkraineAlert
Aug 25, 2026

A cultural renaissance is reshaping national identity in wartime Ukraine

By
Davis Richardson

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is fueling a defiant cultural outpouring that is redefining and strengthening Ukrainian national identity in ways that challenge centuries of Kremlin imperialism, writes Davis Richardson.

Civil Society
Conflict

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2019

Ukraine’s Euromaidan Democrats Have No Shot at the Presidency, but What About Parliament?

By
Andreas Umland

Ukraine’s anti-oligarchic forces have finally started the process of forming a broad pro-reform coalition in advance of the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections. On January 11, a congress of various reformist groups announced its support for the presidential candidacy of former Minister of Defense Anatoliy Hrytsenko. While the meeting was largely an event of Hrytsenko’s […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2019

How Will Ukraine’s Next President View the World? A Look at the Top 5 Candidates

By
Mykola Vorobiov

Ukraine’s presidential election season is in full-swing. After the holiday recess, the campaign is getting even more dynamic with about forty candidates who have already declared. While the ratings fluctuate almost daily, the top five remain steady, so it’s time to dig in and start evaluating their various views. Below we’ve analyzed their foreign policy […]


Russia

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2019

The Best Ukraine Can Hope for with Russia in 2019

By
Anders Åslund

Donald Trump has been president of the United States for two years, but it remains uncertain whether he has a Ukraine policy. His administration does, but Trump is famously superficial in his knowledge. Trump has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, hardly said anything negative about Russia, and insisted on the need to cut sanctions […]


Russia

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 11, 2019

Two More Ways to Make Ukraine Independent

By
Olga Bielkova

Ukraine’s Orthodox Church just broke with Moscow, and it’s time for us to move farther away from Russia in the energy sector as well. Even though it is an election year, Kyiv must deliver on the country’s two strategic priorities: increasing gas production in Ukraine and jointly operating Ukraine’s transmission system. After all, energy independence […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 10, 2019

Why a Comedian’s Bid for Ukraine’s Presidency Is No Laughing Matter

By
Andreas Umland

Most experts have reacted negatively to the announcement that Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy will stand in the presidential election in spring 2019. Indeed, Zelenskiy’s candidacy is problematic for at least three reasons. Still, for all the skepticism, Zelenskiy’s participation in the race may also have a bright side.


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 9, 2019

Ukraine’s 2019 elections may be completely unpredictable but five things are certain

By
Brian Mefford

2019 is election year in Ukraine. Ukrainians will select a new president this spring and a new parliament in the fall. Even though the outcome of the presidential race is unpredictable, there are five things about this political cycle that are not. First, no openly pro-Russian candidate can win and this is a major change […]


Russia

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 8, 2019

Dispatch from the road: Ukraine’s most impressive civil society project is where?

By
Melinda Haring

One could be forgiven for mistaking thirty-six-year-old Yuriy Fylyuk as just another of the bearded foodie entrepreneurs who dominate Ukraine’s culinary scene. But the soft spoken Fylyuk is far more.  


Civil Society

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 8, 2019

Even Out of Government, Former Finance Minister Danyliuk Has Big Plans for Ukraine

By
Melinda Haring

It was June 5 and Ukraine’s ebullient and energetic finance minister was under tremendous strain. The Economist had just reported that forty-three-year-old Oleksandr Danyliuk was about to be sacked after speaking out too many times about corruption at the highest levels. He’d made too many enemies, including the president and prime minister.   But Danyliuk is […]


Russia

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 8, 2019

How Ukraine’s Next President Can Turn the Country Around

By
Anders Åslund

On March 31, Ukraine will hold the first round of its presidential election. This is a tremendous opportunity to restart Ukraine’s reforms. The election debate needs to focus on the most important issue, namely the enforcement of property rights. Five years after the Revolution of Dignity and Russia’s invasion, Ukraine’s situation remains precarious. The rule […]


Russia

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 6, 2019

Ukraine’s new Orthodox Church free from Moscow but fight isn’t over

By
John E. Herbst

Even with limitations, the tomos is a very good thing for Ukraine and a victory for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has worked hard, along with Patriarch Filaret of the now-defunct Kyiv Patriarchate.


Ukraine

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spotlight

Resilience in the face of adversity

Ukraine’s transformation

Ukraine has moved tentatively toward an open society and market economy since independence. The country has held several democratic elections and made halting progress in addressing corruption and state control in its economy. Since the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Ukraine has undertaken significant governance and economic reform and moved decisively toward a Europe-Atlantic foreign policy. Since 2022, Ukraine has resiliently continued to advance some reforms despite fighting for its very existence against the full-scale Russian invasion.

Learn more about Ukraine

Why Peace Is Impossible with Putin

UkraineAlert
Dec 5, 2024

Ukraine’s entrepreneurial class can drive the country’s economic recovery

The Ukrainian SME sector has demonstrated remarkable wartime resilience and is poised to be at the forefront of efforts to create a modern, innovative, postwar economy, writes Anton Waschuk.

Read More

Why Peace Is Impossible with Putin

UkraineAlert
Oct 1, 2024

Ukraine needs international investors to maintain defense tech momentum

By
Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s rapidly expanding defense tech sector can play a game-changing role in the war against Russia but Ukrainian companies need international investment, writes Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

Why Peace Is Impossible with Putin

UkraineAlert
Jun 13, 2024

Ukraine officially embraces English as historic westward pivot continues

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

By officially embracing English, Ukrainians aim to support their country’s historic pivot away from Moscow and return to the European community of nations, writes Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Civil Society
Conflict

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

Aug 15, 2016

Why Peace Is Impossible with Putin

By Alexander J. Motyl

Peace in Europe is impossible as long as Vladimir Putin remains Russia’s leader. As both the biggest obstacle to peace and the key source of potential war, Putin has become the main threat to Russia’s neighbors and the West. But what, exactly, motivates him? Analysts are divided over the reasons for Putin’s foreign policy moves. […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 13, 2016

How Russian Propaganda Portrays European Leaders

By František Vrabel, Jakub Janda, and Veronika Víchová

Russia’s efforts to spread disinformation in other countries as part of a hybrid war against the West sometimes make us forget that the media networks inside Russia also greatly matter. Even though Russia’s domestic media targets the Russian-speaking population, its narratives and portrayals of the international scene can tell us a lot about Russia’s foreign […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 10, 2016

Is Putin Preparing a New Attack on Ukraine?

By Anders Åslund

Observers have greatly feared that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would start a small regional war this August. Russia has moved up its State Duma elections to September 18. Although only Putin’s parties are allowed to win, he has a predilection for “small and victorious wars” to mobilize his people. In 1999, the second war in […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 10, 2016

Kramatorsk, Two Years On

By Hannah Thoburn

Kramatorsk is one of the most American cities that I have encountered in Ukraine. It is not laid out in the walkable format that most Ukrainian towns and villages have. Rather, it has a wide, broad layout, with extensive blocks. It is a city in which a car is almost a necessity. And that is […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 10, 2016

What Business in Ukraine is Really Like

By Thomas Theiner

A Response to James Brooke James Brooke truly believes that investors should sink their money into Ukraine. He couldn’t be more wrong. Every roulette table in Las Vegas is more promising than Ukraine. I know from personal experience; I lived in Kyiv for five years and knew a few dozen foreigners who invested in Ukraine. […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 9, 2016

Memo to Ukrainian Government: Privatization Can Succeed if You Get Out of the Way

By Basil Kalymon

On July 18, Ukraine’s most recent attempt at privatization came to a disappointing conclusion. Odesa’s petrochemical plant, OPZ, was placed up for auction, but after the government set a minimum price of $520 million, no qualified bidders came forward. As a consequence, the state still owns the enterprise, which continues to impose losses on the […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 9, 2016

In Ukraine, Two Steps Forward and One Step Back: Procurement Reform Advances, Slowly

By Josh Cohen

Many changes have occurred in Ukraine since the Euromaidan, but the country still struggles mightily with corruption. Those efforts are symbolized in the ongoing fight to reform Ukraine’s corrupt procurement practices. For years, links between government officials and Ukraine’s “pharma mafia” resulted in the theft of approximately $100 million of the Ministry of Health’s $250 […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2016

Saakashvili in Odesa: When Making Waves is Not Enough

By Kateryna Smagliy

A year after my Atlantic Council blog post on Mikheil Saakashvili’s first fifty days as Odesa oblast governor, it’s time to reexamine his record. The results are mixed: his brisk and spectacular first wins soon hit the skids. The Presidential Administration’s promised support evaporated in late 2015 and Saakashvili’s many initiatives were skillfully torpedoed at […]

The Caucasus Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2016

Trump’s Dangerous Bromance with Putin Is a National Security Threat

By Stephen Blank

Russia’s recent hacking attacks on the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the party’s fundraising committee for candidates for the US House of Representatives reflect Moscow’s view that it is in a state of political war with the United States, if not the West. Efforts to take down Western political institutions are hardly a […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2016

How the International Media Enables Russian Aggression in Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

If anyone had attempted to report on “German-backed forces” in Nazi-occupied France or “pro-Soviet forces” during the Prague Spring, they would have been dismissed as either hopelessly misinformed or deeply disingenuous. While local collaborators and convenient euphemisms were plentiful in both instances, there was never any doubt as to who was really in control. This […]

Russia Ukraine
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