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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 1, 2024

Europe United: EU leaders agree on long-term support package for Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

The European Union confirmed a landmark $54 billion aid package for Ukraine on February 1 in Brussels, after EU leaders were able to overcome opposition from Hungary.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Jan 30, 2024

Big Tech must listen to the concerns of Russia’s pro-democracy voices

By
Joanna Nowakowska, Anna Kuznetsova, Marta Bilska

Big Tech companies offer a variety of opportunities for free expression in Putin’s Russia, write Joanna Nowakowska, Anna Kuznetsova, and Marta Bilska.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jan 25, 2024

Putin’s Achilles Heel: Ukraine targets Russia’s vital but vulnerable energy industry

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine has begun 2024 by opening a new front in the war against Putin’s Russia with a series of long-range drone strikes on Russia’s vital but vulnerable energy industry, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Jan 25, 2024

Putin accused of fast-tracking Russian citizenship for abducted Ukrainian kids

By
Vladyslav Havrylov

Ukrainian officials have condemned a new decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in early 2024 simplifying the process of conferring Russian citizenship on Ukrainian children abducted from wartime Ukraine.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jan 23, 2024

No European security without Ukrainian victory

By
Pavlo Zhovnirenko

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches the two-year mark, Western leaders increasingly acknowledge that there can be no European security without Ukrainian victory, writes Pavlo Zhovnirenko.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2024

Ukraine’s Black Sea success exposes folly of West’s “don’t escalate” mantra

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s remarkable success during 2023 in the Battle of the Black Sea can serve as a blueprint for victory over Putin’s Russia, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Jan 18, 2024

Ukraine seeks future role as EU’s eastern customs hub

By
Vladyslav Suvorov

The ongoing reform of Ukraine’s customs service and the implementation of EU standards are fundamental for the country’s further European integration, writes Vladyslav Suvorov.

Conflict
Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Jan 18, 2024

Europe steps up support for Ukraine in fight against Putin’s Russia

By
Diane Francis

There is now a growing realization across the continent that Putin is a European problem, and it is primarily up to Europe to stop him, writes Diane Francis.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2024

Confident Putin boasts of Russian “conquests” in Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin is now openly referring to “Russian conquests” in Ukraine as he grows visibly in confidence amid mounting signs of Western weakness, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2024

Russia faces fresh accusations of targeting journalists in Ukraine

By
Mercedes Sapuppo

A series of Russian attacks on hotels used by international journalists has sparked fresh accusations that Moscow is deliberately targeting the media in Ukraine, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Civil Society
Conflict

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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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UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2015

Evolution, Not Revolution, Is the Way to Save Ukraine, Says Leading Anti-Corruption Crusader

By Diane Francis

Russian President Vladimir Putin is pivoting and wants to withdraw from the Donbas but keep Crimea, according to Iegor Soboliev, the head of the Ukrainian parliament’s anti-corruption committee. “He wants to give it back to us right now. He doesn’t need the Donbas,” he said in an interview on October 5. “Unfortunately, he will try […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2015

The Donbas Black Hole

By Irena Chalupa

What Russia hoped would be a small, victorious war has turned into the “geostrategic disaster of a new cold war,” writes Volodymyr Horbulin, a respected foreign policy analyst currently advising Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. In an article in Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, Horbulin argues that the main participants in the war have exhausted themselves. The Donbas has […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 6, 2015

Don’t Blame the Oligarchs: Why Have Ukraine’s Cultural Reforms Gone Nowhere?

By Kateryna Smagliy

The demonizing of Ukrainian oligarchs as major impediments to democratization and reform has become a shared mantra of Western and domestic pundits alike. Whenever explaining the slow pace of Ukraine’s changes after the Euromaidan, analysts argue that oligarchs only gained influence and that by controlling whole chunks of the state apparatus, mass media, and economy, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2015

Testing Putin’s Intentions

By John E. Herbst

The October 2 Paris Summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and Russian President Vladimir Putin produced no breakthrough for peace in Ukraine. But it provided additional proof that, for the moment, Putin wants to lower tensions in the region. The parties spoke about three issues: the withdrawal […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2015

How to Fight Corruption in Ukraine

By Anders Åslund

We all agree: The greatest threat facing Ukraine, after its war with Russia, is corruption. But few agree how to do so, though it should not be that difficult. In 1998, Ukraine’s main gas importer, Ihor Bakai, stated that “all rich people in Ukraine made their money on Russian gas.” The technique was simple. A […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 30, 2015

Radars for Ukraine: Obama’s Strong Signal to Putin

By Adrian Karatnycky

A day after US President Barack Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the United States announced that it will ship long-range counter-battery radars to Ukraine. Obama authorized $20 million to provide the country with radars, bringing US security assistance to Ukraine up to $265 million. Obama’s message is clear: the United States will not […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2015

Ukraine Must Embrace Radical Reform Now

By Melinda Haring

If the Ukrainian government does not follow through with an ambitious reform agenda, public support will wane while dissatisfaction will increase, threatening political stability and the country’s future. “There is no time for slow evolutionary changes. Radical and revolutionary reforms are the only way to success,” warns a new report issued September 28.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2015

Halfway There on National Unity in Ukraine

By Colin Cleary

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has lost the battle for the hearts and minds of the predominantly Russian-speaking regions of eastern and southern Ukraine that remain under Kyiv’s control. Support for those he calls “compatriots” has been at the core of Putin’s stated rationale for intervention in Ukraine. Polls show, however, that a clear majority of […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2015

Will Assad Rescue Putin from the Ukrainian Quagmire?

By Aaron Korewa

For fifteen years, Gleb Pavlovsky worked as an adviser to Russian Presidents Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, and the one-term Dmitry Medvedev. He was one of the chief architects behind the “power vertical” concept— the need for a strong leader in order to create stability. Freedom and democracy were supposed to “come later.” Unfortunately for Pavlovsky, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2015

Ukraine’s Leaders Must Engage Disillusioned Citizens Now

By Joanna Rohozinska

In many respects, Ukraine is unrecognizable from the place it was a mere two years ago. Civic engagement has clearly increased, as seen by the remarkable mobilization of volunteers, flourishing of local civic groups, and generous donations for a variety of causes. A sense of vitality and energy pervades the country—unlike a few years ago, […]

Russia Ukraine