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

Mar 28, 2024

Putin has repeatedly used terror attacks to tighten his grip on Russia

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert">Olivia Yanchik</span>

The March 22 terror attack in Moscow has seriously damaged Putin’s carefully crafted public image as a strongman ruler who offers his subjects security in exchange for restrictions on their personal freedoms, writes Olivia Yanchik.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 28, 2024

Putin adds Islamist terror to the list of absurd excuses for Ukraine invasion

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert">Peter Dickinson</span>

In addition to imaginary NATO threats and phantom fascists, Putin has now added Islamist terrorism to the expanding list of absurd excuses for the invasion of Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 26, 2024

Is the US Congress finally poised to pass Ukraine aid?

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert">Doug Klain</span>

After almost eight months of deadlock, the US Congress may finally be moving toward a political solution that can unlock desperately needed US aid for Ukraine, writes Doug Klain.


Conflict


Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Mar 26, 2024

Ukraine paves way for green energy future amid Russia’s escalating attacks

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Aura Sabadus</span>

Ukraine has lifted restrictions on the export of biomethane in a move that could make the country one of Europe's biggest green energy suppliers, writes Aura Sabadus.


Energy Markets & Governance


Energy Transitions


UkraineAlert

Mar 25, 2024

The mood in wartime Ukraine: Weariness, resolve, and exasperation

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Steven Pifer, John Herbst</span>

Ukrainians are war-weary but remain resolved to continue the fight despite growing exasperation with the country's most important partner, the United States, write Steven Pifer and John Herbst.


Conflict


Drones


UkraineAlert

Mar 21, 2024

Russian victory in Ukraine would leave Europe at Putin’s mercy

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Mykola Bielieskov</span>

A Russian victory in Ukraine would reinvigorate Putin's war machine and leave much of Europe at the mercy of the Kremlin, writes Mykola Bielieskov.


Conflict


Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Mar 21, 2024

Putin fires navy chief as Ukrainians cheer success in Battle of Black Sea

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert">Peter Dickinson</span>

The chief of the Russian Navy has been dismissed by Vladimir Putin in the latest indication that Ukraine is winning the Battle of the Black Sea, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Mar 19, 2024

Vladimir Putin’s history obsession is a threat to world peace

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Nicholas Chkhaidze</span>

Putin has weaponized history to justify the genocidal invasion of Ukraine. Unless he is defeated, the Russian dictator will use the same bogus historical arguments to launch new imperial adventures, writes Nicholas Chkhaidze.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 19, 2024

Ukraine’s partners should link wartime aid to continued reform progress

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Mykhailo Zhernakov, Nestor Barchuk</span>

It is crucial for Ukraine’s international allies to link continued wartime financial assistance with the implementation of reforms, write Mykhailo Zhernakov and Nestor Barchuk.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 14, 2024

Peace is impossible until Ukraine is safe from future Russian aggression

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Mykola Bielieskov</span>

With Russia openly committed to destroying the Ukrainian state and nation, a durable peace will only prove possible once Ukraine's national security is guaranteed, writes Mykola Bielieskov.


Conflict


Disinformation

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

Nov 30, 2015

Ukraine Two Years After Euromaidan: What Has Been Accomplished?

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Anders Åslund</span>

Two years ago, popular protests erupted against Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych on Kyiv’s Maidan. Since then, Ukraine’s economy has deteriorated sharply, with a contraction of 18 percent in two years, but the Poroshenko Bloc was the biggest party by far in the October 25 local elections. One might say that the Ukrainian nation has […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 24, 2015

Russia Not a Reliable Partner in Fighting Terrorism

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Stephen Blank</span>

In the wake of recent terror attacks in Paris, President François Hollande has called for Russian and American cooperation against ISIS, joining many other policymakers who have voiced the need for cooperation between Russian and American intelligence agencies against Islamic terrorism. Indeed, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged his generals to treat French forces as “allies.” […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 24, 2015

Making Sense of Mariupol’s Messy Elections

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Vera Zimmerman </span>

As cities finished counting the votes from Ukraine’s second round of mayoral elections, Mariupol and Krasnoarmiisk in the Donetsk region still haven’t held elections. Mariupol, which over the last nineteen months has been a strategic target of pro-Russian separatists, has become a political battleground. Local elections that were supposed to take place on October 25 […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 23, 2015

Ukraine Is Not a Bargaining Chip for Putin’s Support Against ISIS

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Ihor Kozak</span>

A month and a half ago, while traveling along the frontlines of eastern Ukraine, I predicted that the Minsk II ceasefire agreements would not be respected by the Kremlin and its puppet Peoples’ Republics. It was clear to me—in spite of a tentative ceasefire put in place on October 2—that the situation in the Donbas […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 18, 2015

Making Sense of Ukraine’s Local Elections: Voters Put Multiple Parties in Office

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Brian Mefford</span>

As the ballots are counted in Ukraine’s November 15 runoff elections, the preliminary results show no national mandate or overarching themes. Instead, in a positive step for the country’s democratic development, voters dispersed power widely and put multiple political parties into office. Here’s a quick rundown of the big races and the big surprises: Kyiv: […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 17, 2015

Putin Transformed from Stubborn Holdout to Star at G20

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Anders Åslund</span>

At the G-20 meeting in Antalya, Turkey, on November 16, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin proposed that Russia could restructure the $3 billion Eurobond that he lent former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in December 2013. It comes due on December 20. This was a sudden change of policy. Until that moment, the Kremlin had insisted on […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 16, 2015

The Economics of Rebellion in Eastern Ukraine

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Yuri M. Zhukov</span>

New research demonstrates why the conflict has not spread beyond Donetsk and Luhansk In April 2014, angry mobs and armed men stormed administrative buildings and police stations in eastern Ukraine, waving Russian flags and proclaiming the establishment of “Peoples’ Republics” in Donetsk and Luhansk. At the time, some observers predicted that the “pro-Russian” uprising would […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 16, 2015

Winning Energy Battle Just as Important as Fight in Eastern Ukraine

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Andrian Prokip</span>

The West has focused on Ukraine’s two existential crises: the war in the east and Ukraine’s troubled economy. It’s understandable, but now is the time for Ukraine to press hard on energy reform because Russia uses energy to exert influence over Ukraine and the energy sector has been a black hole of corruption in the […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 16, 2015

Slowly But Surely Kyiv Comes Around

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Alexander Motyl</span>

How has Ukraine changed since the Euromaidan Revolution? In attempting to answer this question, I’ve used the governance-related categories in Freedom House’s Nations in Transit study, which tracks the reform record of post-Communist countries in Europe and Eurasia, and supplemented them with a few of my own. (Full disclosure: I’ve been involved in the Nations […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 11, 2015

Will Saakashvili’s Defeat in Odesa Be His Ukrainian Waterloo?

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Brian Mefford</span>

Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov trounced Solidarity Party’s Sasha Borovik by 53-26 percent in Ukraine’s local elections October 25. Observers reported carousel voting, multiple voting lists, exit poll workers agitating for candidates, and a suspiciously slow vote count. The race for Odesa mayor was a proxy war between Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili and oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, […]

Ukraine