UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine’s politics, economy, civil society, and culture. UkraineAlert sources analysis and commentary from a wide-array of thought-leaders, politicians, experts, and activists from Ukraine and the global community. UkraineAlert has become a major publication in Ukraine’s news landscape and has established itself not only through its quality of content but also significant partnerships with English, Ukrainian, and Russian-language media through the country.

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

Prime Minister Yatsenyuk Resigns. Why Now? What’s Next?

UkraineAlert
Sep 3, 2026

Putin cannot defeat NATO but he could divide and discredit the alliance

By
Peter Dickinson

If Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to attack NATO, his goal will be to divide and discredit the alliance rather than actually defeating it, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy

Prime Minister Yatsenyuk Resigns. Why Now? What’s Next?

UkraineAlert
Aug 27, 2026

Ukrainians are not superheroes with endless powers of resilience

By
Lauren Van Metre, Elena Davlikanova

By celebrating Ukrainian resilience as an almost superhuman quality, the international community risks obscuring the much less glamorous reality that Ukrainians are actually ordinary people who have endured extraordinary violence for far too long, write Lauren Van Metre and Elena Davlikanova.

Civil Society
Conflict

Prime Minister Yatsenyuk Resigns. Why Now? What’s Next?

UkraineAlert
Aug 25, 2026

A cultural renaissance is reshaping national identity in wartime Ukraine

By
Davis Richardson

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is fueling a defiant cultural outpouring that is redefining and strengthening Ukrainian national identity in ways that challenge centuries of Kremlin imperialism, writes Davis Richardson.

Civil Society
Conflict

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

May 22, 2018

Five Steps Ukraine Should Take Now to Free Their Hostages in Russia

By
Josh Cohen

Perhaps no one in Kyiv faces a more difficult task than First Vice-Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Herashchenko. Herashchenko is Ukraine’s lead negotiator tasked with freeing Ukrainians held captive in the Donbas. The Ukrainian government and Russia’s separatist proxies in eastern Ukraine exchanged nearly 400 prisoners in late 2017—a notable achievement for which Herashchenko […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

May 21, 2018

Former Defense Minister Hrytsenko Is Finally Having His Moment in the Sun

By
Vitalii Rybak

Anatoliy Hrytsenko, Ukraine’s defense minister from 2005 to 2007, is finally having his moment in the sun. The latest poll shows that 12.7 percent of Ukrainians who have made up their minds would vote for Hrytsenko in the first round of the 2019 presidential election. This is progress compared to his previous results. The 2019 […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

May 17, 2018

Ukraine’s New Populists: Who They Are and Why They’re Dangerous

By
Volodymyr Yermolenko

Populists are flourishing almost everywhere. The demand for simple solutions in a complicated world makes their messages resonate. Ukraine is no exception. The country’s situation with numerous security and economic hardships provides fertile ground for populists. Over the last four years, Ukraine has embraced a number of painful structural reforms that have been partially successful. […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

May 17, 2018

How to Make Sense of Japan’s Delicate Balance Between Russia and Ukraine

By
Maria Shagina

Showing solidarity with other G7 countries following Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine, Japan imposed sanctions on Russia—albeit reluctantly. The Ukraine crisis occurred amid Japan’s efforts to reinvigorate Japan-Russia relations in the hope of solving the long-standing territorial dispute over the Northern territories (the Kuril Islands in Russian). Subsequently, maintaining Japan’s balance between other G7 countries […]


China

Japan


UkraineAlert

May 16, 2018

Do Ukraine’s Reformers Have a Real Shot at the Presidency?

By
Melinda Haring

Ukraine’s opposition is a mess—but this is hardly news. Through Ukraine’s nearly three decades of independence, its opposition has never gotten its act together. Consequently, the same corrupt elite continues to govern the country of 45 million to its detriment. Ukraine managed to squander the gains of its street revolution in 2004, and as the […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

May 15, 2018

What Does Ukraine’s New Military Approach Toward the Donbas Mean?

By
Vera Zimmerman

Ukraine wants to reframe its approach to resolving the ongoing conflict with Russia. Beginning last month, the military is now in charge of ground operations. The launch of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) replaced the four-year Anti-Terrorism Operation (ATO) and marks Ukraine’s shift to a more active defense. President Petro Poroshenko thinks that the new […]


Russia

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

May 15, 2018

The Only Way to Improve Ukraine’s Courts

By
Mykhailo Zhernakov

No state can function without justice, and Ukraine is no exception.  For years, corruption and the absence of justice, together with Russian military aggression, have held back the country. After four years of struggle and numerous pieces of legislation, there has been little progress. Ukraine started out with a good idea: reformers wanted to create […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

May 14, 2018

Absurd Price Hikes and Epic Hospitality: Kyiv’s Champions League Showcases Best and Worst of Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Kyiv’s preparations to host the 2018 Champions League Final on May 26 have been something of a rollercoaster ride that has highlighted the very best and worst of Ukraine. The international media buildup to the big match began with a flurry of negative stories criticizing Ukrainian hoteliers and apartment rental services for inflating prices to […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

May 9, 2018

No Longer a Soldier: Ukraine’s Returned Volunteers Are Embracing Second and Third Careers

By
Ruslan Minich

“Finding myself in Kyiv now, I smell blood and diesel from time to time. These triggers will always be there,” says Alina Viatkina, a paramedic for the volunteer Hospitallers Medical Battalion. “But you can’t lose control for three days every time. You are learning how to calm yourself: OK, this is the smell of blood. […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

May 9, 2018

Ukraine’s Least Celebrated Oligarch-Free Institution That You Haven’t Heard Of

By
Oksana Bedratenko

As Ukraine’s economy begins to grow modestly, its Central Bank is striving to become an anchor of stability. The country needs to preserve the fragile macroeconomic stability it has achieved and use the upswing in the global economy to conduct reforms and stimulate economic growth. The task, however, still meets formidable obstacles; a number of […]


Ukraine

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spotlight

Resilience in the face of adversity

Ukraine’s transformation

Ukraine has moved tentatively toward an open society and market economy since independence. The country has held several democratic elections and made halting progress in addressing corruption and state control in its economy. Since the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Ukraine has undertaken significant governance and economic reform and moved decisively toward a Europe-Atlantic foreign policy. Since 2022, Ukraine has resiliently continued to advance some reforms despite fighting for its very existence against the full-scale Russian invasion.

Learn more about Ukraine

Prime Minister Yatsenyuk Resigns. Why Now? What’s Next?

UkraineAlert
Dec 5, 2024

Ukraine’s entrepreneurial class can drive the country’s economic recovery

The Ukrainian SME sector has demonstrated remarkable wartime resilience and is poised to be at the forefront of efforts to create a modern, innovative, postwar economy, writes Anton Waschuk.

Read More

Prime Minister Yatsenyuk Resigns. Why Now? What’s Next?

UkraineAlert
Oct 1, 2024

Ukraine needs international investors to maintain defense tech momentum

By
Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s rapidly expanding defense tech sector can play a game-changing role in the war against Russia but Ukrainian companies need international investment, writes Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

Prime Minister Yatsenyuk Resigns. Why Now? What’s Next?

UkraineAlert
Jun 13, 2024

Ukraine officially embraces English as historic westward pivot continues

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

By officially embracing English, Ukrainians aim to support their country’s historic pivot away from Moscow and return to the European community of nations, writes Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Civil Society
Conflict

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

Apr 11, 2016

Prime Minister Yatsenyuk Resigns. Why Now? What’s Next?

By Anders Åslund

On April 10, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk submitted his resignation, and on April 12 parliament is expected to approve Speaker of Parliament Volodymyr Groisman as prime minister. It is, of course, good that Ukraine’s two-month long government crisis is being resolved, but it is not evident that the new government will be able to […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 7, 2016

The Economics of Ukraine’s Political Crisis

By Anders Åslund

Ukraine’s current political crisis is easy to understand. It was unleashed by an offensive by the Poroshenko Bloc to get greater control over the government. It started on February 3, when Economy Minister Aivaras Abramovicius resigned in protest against Ihor Kononenko, the gray cardinal of the Poroshenko Bloc, and it was aggravated by the failed […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 7, 2016

You Wouldn’t Think It from the Headlines, but Ukraine Is Making Progress

By Michael Druckman and Katie LaRoque

It’s been a rough several weeks for Ukraine in the news. From the firing of prominent reformer Davit Sakvarelidze from the Prosecutor General’s Office to the recent release of the “Panama Papers,” which seemingly link President Petro Poroshenko to several offshore accounts and sparked accusations from members of the Verkhovna Rada of abuse of office […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 7, 2016

How Ukraine Can Contribute to NATO’s Forward Defense

By Ian J. Brzezinski and Markian Bilynskyj

NATO has decided to bolster its military operations in Central Europe to better deter and, if necessary, defend against Russian aggression. Toward that end, Alliance military authorities have been tasked to develop plans for the deployment of multinational units, possibly battalions or brigades, that will be deployed on a persistent basis along NATO’s eastern frontier. […]

NATO Russia

UkraineAlert

Apr 6, 2016

Obama Silent on Violence in Nagorno-Karabakh, While Putin Plans Shuttle Diplomacy

By Matthew J. Bryza

Absence of US Leadership May Have Consequences in Syria, Ukraine, and Beyond The United States has been conspicuously absent during the latest crisis over Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh (NK). The White House has not yet issued a statement on this unprecedented uptick in violence. US Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement released on April […]

Syria The Caucasus

UkraineAlert

Apr 6, 2016

New Schedule for Minsk Implementation Urgently Needed

By Maksym Khylko

For several months, the Minsk peace process has been in a stalemate. Meetings of the Trilateral Contact Group and the Normandy Four have failed to make progress on the issue of elections in the Russian-occupied areas of the Donbas. The fourth provision of the Minsk II agreement envisages that local elections should be discussed “in […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 5, 2016

Ukraine’s Got a Real Shot at NATO Membership

By Stephen Blank

A Reply to Andreas Umland Andreas Umland writes that it would be senseless for Ukraine to aspire to NATO membership though it is desirable. The main reasons he cites are the dawning realization of the danger and potent threat that Russia presents to both Eastern Europe and the West, coupled with a residual unwillingness to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 5, 2016

Ukraine’s Understandable But Senseless Hope for NATO Membership

By Andreas Umland

Moscow’s aggression against Kyiv has led to a marked growth in Ukrainians’ support for their country’s accession to NATO. During the last two years, Ukrainian public opinion has made a U-turn, from skepticism of the Atlantic alliance to an enthusiastic embrace. Until 2013, almost two-thirds of Ukrainians strongly opposed NATO membership. In a July 2015 […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 5, 2016

Now Is Not the Time to Bury Minsk

By Paul Niland

Is the Minsk peace process dead? Not yet. But it is not being respected, and a great deal of work is being done to undermine the process and essentially call it off. Sometimes this is even being done by well-meaning people who actually support Ukraine in one way or another. Comments and tweets from politicians […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 5, 2016

The New York Times Was Right about Ukraine’s Corruption Problem

By Halya Coynash

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko dismissed the recent New York Times editorial “Ukraine’s Unyielding Corruption” as “part of the hybrid war against Ukraine” at a press conference on April 1 in Washington, DC. The editorial’s tone and substance were certainly lightyears away from the President’s own rosy assessment given on March 31. So who’s right? While […]

Ukraine
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