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

Latest analysis


UkraineAlert

Oct 27, 2021

Europe must defend itself against Vladimir Putin’s energy weapon

By
Diane Francis

Moscow’s role in Europe’s escalating gas crisis should be a wake-up call for European policymakers who prefer to downplay the threat posed by weaponized Russian energy supplies and Vladimir Putin’s revisionist regime.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 26, 2021

Ukraine seeks role in German certification of Putin’s pipeline

By
Myron Wasylyk

Ukraine's Naftogaz has applied to the German authorities to participate in the certification process of Vladimir Putin's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is viewed in Kyiv as a geopolitical weapon aimed at Ukrainian statehood.


Energy Markets & Governance


European Union


UkraineAlert

Oct 25, 2021

Europe must face up to the chilling reality of Putin’s energy blackmail

By
Aura Sabadus

Recent developments in Moldova and the EU leave little doubt that Vladimir Putin is intent on using energy supplies as a geopolitical weapon and demonstrate the urgent need to diversify away from reliance on Russia.


European Union


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Oct 22, 2021

US and EU must react to escalating global energy crisis

By
Anders Åslund

Recent mistakes by Germany, the EU, and the United States on gas policy are potentially disastrous and will have major costs unless all three parties urgently rethink their positions and address the growing energy crisis.


China


European Union


UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2021

Ukraine’s classical music superstar Oksana Lyniv makes history again

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine's superstar classical music conductor Oksana Lyniv made history yet again in October 2021 when she was named as the first ever female musical director of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in Italy.


Resilience & Society


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2021

Now is the moment to transform Ukraine

By
Kristina Kvien, Matti Maasikas, Melinda Simmons

Ukraine is on the verge of achieving a breakthrough towards judicial reform and transforming the rule of law situation in the country but President Zelenskyy must demonstrate the political will to overcome opposition.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2021

Ukraine strengthens independence of key anti-corruption agency

By
Anastasia Radina

Ukrainian MPs adopted a landmark law on October 19 that will safeguard the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the key agency in the country’s struggle against corruption.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2021

Putin’s Ukraine war is world’s worst-kept secret but he remains in denial

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian President Vladimir Putin's refusal to acknowledge his country's involvement in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine makes progress towards peace virtually impossible.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2021

Russia is the world’s leading exporter of instability

By
Iuliia Mendel

Vladimir Putin's Russia has emerged over the past two decades as the world's leading exporter of instability via tools ranging from digital disinformation and weaponized corruption to cyber attacks and military mercenaries.


Cybersecurity


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 15, 2021

Ukraine flirts with disastrous return to gas price caps

By
Anders Åslund

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party has proposed a potentially disastrous new law to “temporarily” prohibit private companies from selling gas at commercial market prices.


Energy Markets & Governance


Geopolitics & Energy Security

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.

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.

Follow us on social media
and support our work

Content

UkraineAlert

Jun 22, 2016

Europe’s Short Memory and Ukraine’s Long Crisis

By Melinda Haring

“People have forgotten that there’s a real humanitarian situation and a real need in a European country,” said Jock Mendoza-Wilson, director of international and investor relations at System Capital Management, during a recent Atlantic Council panel examining the crisis in Ukraine. In fact, he said, six hundred thousand people on Ukraine’s contact line live in […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 22, 2016

Now’s the Time to Block Nord Stream 2 and Step Up Ukraine’s Energy Diplomacy

By Olga Bielkova

Ukraine—a country that rejected aggression and militarization when it broke away from the Soviet Union—is fighting three wars today: the front in the east against an expansionist power, the battle within to defeat cronyism and corruption, and an economic war to reorient trade flows and modernize its economy. The world’s attention, as well as that […]

European Union Germany

UkraineAlert

Jun 22, 2016

EU Renews Sanctions on Crimea but Overlooks Plight of Crimean Tatars

By Eleanor Knott

In April 2016, Crimea’s de facto authorities banned the Crimean Tatar Mejlis—the organ of political representation for Crimean Tatars on the peninsula—under the pretext of “extremism.” Increasingly, Crimean Tatars seem to be framed as “extremist” just for being themselves. A historically nonviolent community, Crimean Tatars were the most visible and vociferous opponents of the region’s […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 21, 2016

The Painful Journeys of Ukraine’s IDPs

By Kateryna Moroz

Two years ago this past April, the words “internal displacement” first appeared in the Ukrainian media. The term was brought by UN agencies that, along with local nongovernmental organizations, worked on a legal framework to regulate the phenomenon, which was completely new to Ukraine. Before then, journalists, volunteers, and even government officials called those who […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 21, 2016

Germany’s Socialists, Russia’s Fascism, and Ukrainian Deaths

By Alexander J. Motyl

On June 15, Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Stepan Poltorak informed NATO that Ukraine had suffered 623 battle deaths in its war with Russia in 2016. This astoundingly large figure—which amounts to three to four deaths per day—demonstrates conclusively that Russia and its proxies have no intention whatsoever of adhering to the Minsk accords. The number […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 20, 2016

Why the West Was Wrong about Ukraine’s New Government

By John E. Herbst

It is too early to draw firm conclusions, but Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman’s and Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko’s early moves indicate that Ukraine is still on the reform path. There was understandable pessimism when Groisman assumed office in April with a new government that did not include the previous cabinet’s strongest reformers. Critics also cast […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 15, 2016

Ukraine’s New Reform Plan Is Better but Not Radical Enough

By Hlib Vyshlinsky

Two months ago, the Ukrainian parliament appointed Volodymyr Groisman as the country’s new prime minister. “I will show you how the country should be managed,” he said in his appointment speech. Groisman’s predecessor Arseniy Yatsenyuk was widely criticized for lacking a detailed action plan, so the new prime minister began managing the country from exactly […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 15, 2016

Ukraine’s Grassroots Transformation of Education

By Yuriy Didula and Nadiya Mykhalevych

In today’s globalized world, education is perhaps the greatest challenge in a developing country. To keep pace with new technology and innovation, young people must possess not only basic skills but also be proactive, creative, innovative, and able to adjust quickly. According to the New Vision for Education report compiled at the World Economic Forum in […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 14, 2016

Odious Film about Russian Whistle-Blower Screens at Newseum

By Natalia Arno and Melinda Haring

On June 13, the Newseum did what the European Parliament was too principled to do: it showed The Magnitsky Act, Russian filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov’s controversial new film about Sergei Magnitsky. Magnitsky was a Russian tax lawyer who investigated a tax fraud scheme on behalf of his client, British-American financier William Browder. In 2008, Magnitsky accused […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 13, 2016

Counting Sheep Is Courageous, Soulful, and Important: A Review

By Diane Francis

“Counting Sheep” is a “guerrilla folk opera” that guides audiences on an immersive and soulful journey through Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity. Its creators are Mark and Marichka Marczyk who met and fell in love in Kyiv during the protests of 2013 and 2014. Mark is a talented Canadian musician of Ukrainian heritage and Marichka Kudriavtseva […]

Ukraine