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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

Apr 23, 2026

Shakhtar Donetsk gives Ukraine’s war-weary football fans reason to cheer

By
Mark Temnycky

Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk will face English team Crystal Palace next week in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League semifinal knowing that a win could provide a much-needed morale boost to millions of fans watching at home in war-torn Ukraine, writes Mark Temnycky.


Conflict


Freedom and Prosperity


UkraineAlert

Apr 23, 2026

Europe unites to unblock €90 billion Ukraine loan in major blow to Russia

By
Peter Dickinson

The European Union finally approved a long delayed €90 billion two-year loan to Kyiv on April 23, dealing a serious blow to Russia's hopes of outlasting the West in Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Corruption


UkraineAlert

Apr 20, 2026

Russia threatens Europe as Ukraine escalates strikes on Putin’s oil industry

By
Giorgi Revishvili

The Kremlin issued a thinly veiled threat to European leaders last week over their support for Ukraine's drone program as escalating Ukrainian strikes on Russia's energy infrastructure cause unprecedented damage, writes Giorgi Revishvili.


Conflict


Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Apr 18, 2026

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 long before the full-scale war of 2022

By
Paul Niland

International efforts to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine must reflect the fact that the Kremlin's attack on Ukraine began in 2014 and not with the full-scale war of 2022, writes Paul Niland.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Apr 16, 2026

Drone diplomacy: Ukraine strengthens security role in Europe and the Gulf

By
Maksym Beznosiuk, William Dixon

Ukraine has emerged since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 as a world leader in drone warfare. Kyiv is now using drone diplomacy to build security partnerships throughout Europe and the Middle East, write Maksym Beznosiuk and William Dixon.


Conflict


Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Apr 16, 2026

Could Bulgaria replace Hungary as Putin’s proxy inside the EU?

By
Jan Surotchak

Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán's recent election defeat was widely seen as a major setback for Russia, but victory for the pro-Kremlin candidate in this week's Bulgarian parliamentary elections could provide Putin with a new proxy inside the EU, writes Jan Surotchak.


Conflict


Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Apr 13, 2026

Orbán’s Hungarian election defeat: Good for Ukraine, bad for Russia

By
Peter Dickinson

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's historic election defeat has removed a major obstacle to Ukraine's EU integration while robbing Putin of his most important European ally, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Elections


UkraineAlert

Apr 13, 2026

Brussels and Kyiv should have realistic expectations about Magyar’s Hungary

By
James Batchik, Eva Mulholland

While Péter Magyar’s election victory provides ample reason for optimism, there is also good cause to temper any expectations of Hungary now playing a leading European role in support of Ukraine, write James Batchik and Eva Mulholland.


Conflict


Elections


UkraineAlert

Apr 9, 2026

Ukraine is winning the drone war with strike campaign behind Russian lines

By
Mykola Bielieskov

Ukraine has regained the initiative from Russia in the world's first full-scale drone war by launching a campaign of mid-range drone strikes aimed at undermining the logistics supporting Putin's invasion, writes Mykola Bielieskov.


Conflict


Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Apr 9, 2026

Recognizing the role of propaganda in Russia’s infrastructure of aggression

By
Anna Vyshniakova, Jais Adam-Troian, Kristina Hook 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrates that propaganda plays a more important part than ever in modern war. Recognizing propaganda as part of Russia’s infrastructure of military aggression is an essential step toward countering it effectively, write Anna Vyshniakova, Jais Adam-Troian, and Kristina Hook. 


Conflict


Defense Policy

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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Jan 5, 2016

Putin’s Next Potential Target: The Baltic States

By Stephen Blank

Although Russia’s economy is reeling and its military forces are increasingly engaged in Syria and Ukraine, NATO commanders, governments, and analysts are concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adventurism has not run its course. Most anxieties focus on the Baltic states as Russia’s next potential military target. Russia has many advantages in the Baltics. The […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 5, 2016

From Ordinary Business Trip to Russian Jail: Former Ukrainian Political Prisoner Exhorts West to Keep Pressure on Russia

By Yuriy Yatsenko

Editor’s Note: Yuriy Yatsenko testified before the US Helsinki Commission in Washington on December 11, 2015. His remarks have been shortened. I am a Ukrainian citizen who was illegally arrested and detained by the Russian Federation for over a year for political reasons. Nadiya Savchenko, Oleg Sentsov, and others who are less known have suffered and […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 4, 2016

Putin’s Fragile Popularity

By Andreas Umland

One of the mantras of today’s Kremlin apologists, as well as of some self-described political realists, is that current Russian President Vladimir Putin is unusually popular among Russians. In the interest of pragmatism, they say, the West should acknowledge this allegedly hard fact and adapt its policies accordingly—i.e., try to rebuild a partnership with Russia’s […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

Jan 4, 2016

What Will 2016 Mean for Ukraine?

By Aaron Korewa

In 2015, Ukraine proved it wasn’t a pushover. The country united in the face of Russian aggression and Russian President Vladimir Putin learned that if he wanted his Novorossiya project, it was going to cost him more than a few little green men. Notably, the war in Ukraine was completely absent from Putin’s December 2015 […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 4, 2016

New Russian Management of the Donbas Signifies Putin May Be Ready to Negotiate

By Anders Åslund

On December 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed one of his close, trusted aides, Boris Gryzlov, Russia’s representative in the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, which concluded the two Minsk agreements on the Donbas in September 2014 and February 2015. This appointment suggests an important change in Russia’s policy toward Ukraine. Gryzlov is a heavyweight […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 22, 2015

Civil Service Reform May Revolutionize Ukraine

By Josh Cohen

It took a staggering sixteen months and it wasn’t easy. The old guard resisted it every step of the way. Ukraine’s parliament passed civil service reform, one of the highest priorities of the Euromaidan’s young reformers, on December 10. The Reanimation Package of Reforms (RPR), a civic group, described the development as “a real miracle.” […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 21, 2015

An Alliance Deterred

By Patrick Stephenson

NATO leaders intended the Alliance’s Trident Juncture military exercises, in part, to send a message to Russia that they would not hesitate to defend allied territory. That intention was commendable. But one wonders how exercises in the western Mediterranean will deter Russian ambitions that lie 3,000 km away in Ukraine and on the borders of […]

NATO Russia

UkraineAlert

Dec 21, 2015

Nord Stream 2 Makes No Sense and Must Be Stopped

By Anders Åslund

Europe is saturated with energy and demand falls steadily, as Europe saves energy. From 2004 to 2014, the primary energy consumption in the European Union declined by 12 percent and its consumption of natural gas fell by 21 percent. Yet last June, Russia’s state-controlled natural gas corporation Gazprom announced its intention to build Nord Stream […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 21, 2015

The Kremlin’s Dangerous New Threat in Ukraine

By Ihor Kozak

Fighting continues to gradually intensify in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin-backed militants are now using heavy weapons, including tanks, artillery, and ferocious Grad rocket systems, sporadically. Moscow’s rationale behind this latest escalation is to achieve a frozen conflict by gradually sabotaging the execution of the Minsk II ceasefire agreement. Russian President Vladimir Putin likely realizes that […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 21, 2015

“From Russia with Cash”: Dirty Money Unchecked in London

By Amanda Abrams

The numbers are staggering. Annually, $1 trillion is stolen by corrupt officials from countries around the globe. That money needs to be spent, or laundered, and much of it goes into big anonymous real estate deals in the United Kingdom, which is seeing £1 billion in unrecorded capital inflows per month. The main source of […]

Russia Ukraine