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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

Aug 21, 2025

Putin is facing a fuel crisis as Ukraine escalates attacks on Russian refineries

By
David Kirichenko

Historically, Russia’s sheer size has always been considered one of its main strengths. By launching waves of airstrikes across the country, Ukraine now intends to exploit this vastness and transform it into Russia’s greatest weakness, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Aug 21, 2025

Sorry, Trump, but Putin will not pursue peace until he is facing military defeat

By
Elena Davlikanova, Yevhen Malik

Following the recent Alaska and White House summits, it should now be abundantly clear that Russia will continue to reject Trump’s peace overtures until Putin faces significantly more pressure to end the war, write Elena Davlikanova and Yevhen Malik.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Aug 19, 2025

A strong Ukraine is the only realistic security guarantee against Russia

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s Western partners are preparing to offer security guarantees as part of efforts to prevent further Russian aggression, but it far from clear whether Western governments would actually fight Russia on behalf of Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Aug 16, 2025

Ukrainians left dismayed as Trump gives Putin the red carpet treatment

By
Peter Dickinson

US President Donald Trump’s warm welcome for Russian President Vladimir Putin was a major PR victory for the Kremlin dictator that made for particularly painful viewing in Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Freedom and Prosperity


UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2025

Alaska Summit: Trump wants a real estate deal. Putin wants an empire.

By
Peter Dickinson

US President Donald Trump appears to view peace negotiations with Vladimir Putin as a geopolitical real estate deal. But the Russian dictator is not fighting for land in Ukraine. He is fighting for Ukraine itself, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2025

Trump should insist on the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia

By
Mercedes Sapuppo

When US President Donald Trump sits down with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, he must demand the return of the thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Conflict
Human Rights


UkraineAlert

Aug 12, 2025

Sacrificing Ukraine will only increase the cost of stopping Putin’s Russia

By
Pavlo Zhovnirenko

Pressuring Ukraine to accept a Kremlin-friendly settlement may succeed in pausing the current war, but it will not bring peace. On the contrary, it will set the stage for international instability on a far larger scale, writes Pavlo Zhovnirenko.

China
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 11, 2025

Alaska Summit: Trump must press Putin over future Ukrainian security

By
John E. Herbst

Trump-Putin Alaska Summit: If Moscow insists on the acceptance of Russian control over Ukrainian land for a ceasefire, it must accept strong measures to bolster Ukrainian security as well, writes John E. Herbst.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Aug 7, 2025

Ukraine’s expanding robot army can help address manpower shortages

By
David Kirichenko

Robotic systems are in many ways an ideal battlefield solution for Ukraine as the country seeks ways to leverage its proven tech prowess in order to defend itself in a grueling war of attrition against a far larger enemy, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Aug 5, 2025

Digital democracy is the key to staging wartime elections in Ukraine

By
Brian Mefford

With no end in sight to Russia’s invasion, Ukraine cannot afford to postpone all elections indefinitely. With this in mind, it is time to start the process of digitalizing Ukraine’s democracy, writes Brian Mefford.

Civil Society
Democratic Transitions

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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Aug 31, 2015

Outflows of ‘Hot Money’ Exacerbate Europe’s Growing Refugee Crisis

By Diane Francis

The recent collapse in stock markets and the sudden flow of refugees into Europe led world headlines in August—in a convergence of phenomena that are closely linked. Unprecedented flows of hot, or illicit, money are damaging most economies, causing both investors and migrants to flee. Ironically, China has outperformed all other economies, even though it […]

UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2015

Lviv Welcomes Crimean Tatar Community With Open Arms

By Matthew Kupfer

The Russian annexation of Crimea in March 2014 is widely regarded as a tragedy for Crimean Tatars. But for Adile Namazova, it was also a professional catastrophe. A recent university graduate with near flawless English, Namazova, 22, had been working as a language tutor before annexation. But once Crimea changed hands, travelers stopped coming, food […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2015

Russian Narrative of Ukraine Conflict Fails to Sway Opinions in Odesa

By Ruben Gzirian

Eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region is strewn with remnants of Russian-made cartridges from AK-74U rifles, littered with the splintered, hollowed-out ruins of Russian-made BTR-80 armored personnel carriers, and scarred with the skeletons of Russian T-74B battle tanks. Yet the Kremlin’s incursion into Ukrainian territory is not isolated to the Donbas. Its influence has also permeated the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2015

Ukraine Must Privatize Failing State-Owned Enterprises Quickly

By Anders Åslund

Privatization has generated controversy in every post-communist country. Ministers of privatization are usually accused of heinous crimes, regardless of how impeccably they have performed their jobs. Yet privatization is vital for all such nations, not least for Ukraine. The goal must be to limit state-owned enterprises so that the private sector dominates. The aim isn’t […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2015

Exiled Russian Lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev: Current US Sanctions Won’t Work

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The United States must expand the scope of its sanctions well beyond Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle if this effort—a response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine—is to have any real impact, says a Russian lawmaker. “The [US] government machine is doing what it can do, but […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 27, 2015

To Prevent Global Catastrophe, Putin Must Go

By Leonid Gozman

The minority of Russians who have not been zombified by official propaganda and who still have any clue about what is really going on in the world—rather than just on television—already know Russia is hurtling toward full-blown catastrophe, though the details might be up for debate. Will the collapse come next month, or more like […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 27, 2015

Things Are Looking Up for Ukraine: Debt Deal Reached

By Anders Åslund

Today Ukraine received great news. Private owners of $19 billion of Ukraine’s Eurobonds have agreed to a substantial debt restructuring that will give Ukraine much-needed relief. The high bond yields have been sharply reduced, the bonds’ maturities have been prolonged, and the face value of the bonds has been reduced by 20 percent. According to […]

Eastern Europe Russia

UkraineAlert

Aug 25, 2015

How the West Can Stop Russia’s Escalating War in Ukraine

By Maksym Khylko

This month, Russia stepped up military pressure on Ukraine, concentrating about fifty thousand troops along its border with Ukraine, using its proxy militias to shell Ukrainian government positions in the Donbas, and threatening Kyiv with “a big war.” The current escalation indicates Russian discontent with Ukraine’s refusal to make unilateral concessions such as allowing the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 20, 2015

Russia, Not Ukraine, is the Questionable Partner

By Melinda Haring

In its August 12 editorial, “Shaky Ukraine: Economics and Corruption Complicate Its War,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette calls Ukraine a “questionable partner” because of “resistance to economic reform and use of Islamist Chechen forces.” Too bad neither charge is true.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 19, 2015

The Soviet Playbook in Ukraine

By Aaron Korwea

It appears that Russian President Vladimir Putin is losing the war in Ukraine. Gone are the talks about seizing so-called Novorossiya—the strip of land from Kharkiv to Odesa—and establishing a land bridge to occupied Crimea. Even though recent developments suggest a possible offensive to expand the territory Russia and its proxies now hold, perhaps with […]

Russia Ukraine