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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

Jun 23, 2022

What Ukrainians need most

By
Melinda Haring

Aid efforts in support of Ukrainians are more necessary than ever but as the Russian invasion enters its fifth month there are worrying signs that international attention is now beginning to fade.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 21, 2022

“Historic victory for women’s rights”: Ukraine ratifies Istanbul Convention

By
Iryna Slavinska

Ukraine has this week ratified the Istanbul Convention in a major step toward greater protections against domestic and gender-based violence as the country seeks to make further progress in its European integration bid.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 21, 2022

What would EU candidate status mean for Ukraine?

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukrainians expect the country to be granted official EU candidate nation status at this week's summit of European leaders but what would this mean for Ukraine's broader ambitions for greater Euro-Atlantic integration?


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 20, 2022

Time for EU leaders to honor Ukraine’s long fight for a European future

By
Mark Temnycky

Ukraine hopes to receive official EU candidate nation status this week as the country's long struggle for a European future enters a new phase while Ukrainian forces continue to defend against Russian invasion.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jun 19, 2022

Croatia’s remarkable national journey is a source of hope for Ukraine

By
Vladyslav Rashkovan

Croatia's journey from war and partial occupation by a more powerful neighbor to membership of the European Union is a source of inspiration for Ukrainians as they fight against Russia's ongoing invasion.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jun 19, 2022

EU candidate status for Ukraine is the ideal response to Russian aggression

By
Diane Francis

European Union leaders must decide this week whether to grant Ukraine official EU candidate nation status. This is a critically important moment for Ukrainians that will also shape the future direction of the entire continent.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 17, 2022

Unholy War: UK sanctions Putin’s Patriarch for backing Ukraine invasion

By
Taras Kuzio

This week's UK decision to impose sanctions on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church highlights international alarm over Patriarch Kirill's enthusiastic support for Vladimir Putin's war of imperial aggression in Ukraine.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Jun 17, 2022

Why fear of provoking Putin is the most provocative policy of all

By
Alyona Getmanchuk

It is now abundantly clear that cautious policies toward Russia driven by a misguided fear of provoking Putin have in fact provoked Europe’s biggest war since the days of Hitler and Stalin, argues Alyona Getmanchuk.


Conflict


Corruption


UkraineAlert

Jun 15, 2022

Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion is the world’s first full-scale cyberwar

By
Yurii Shchyhol

The current Russo-Ukrainian War is a major milestone in our developing understanding of cyber security. It is now clear that the invasion unleashed by Vladimir Putin on February 24 is the world’s first full-scale cyberwar.


Conflict


Cybersecurity


UkraineAlert

Jun 14, 2022

The future of global security will be decided in Ukraine

By
Oleksii Reznikov

Western leaders must use the forthcoming NATO Summit in Madrid to regain the initiative from Putin's Russia and define Ukraine's role in the future of European security, writes Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.


Conflict


European Union

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Content

UkraineAlert

Feb 3, 2016

Only Presidential Leadership Can Avert Ukraine’s Perfect Storm

By Adrian Karatnycky

The February 3 resignation of Ukraine’s Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius is a signal that the country’s efforts to dramatically reduce corruption and rent-seeking are meeting with serious resistance. The resignation also exposes how Ukraine’s political system works. Just as in established democracies, technocrats and experts have to make common cause with politicians and ideologues. And […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 3, 2016

Russian Propaganda in Ukraine: Fighting Phantoms

By Roman Shutov

For Ukrainians, the war in eastern Ukraine has become an everyday reality. Only two years ago, though, no one in the country believed war was possible—and certainly no one expected that propaganda would be one of its main weapons. Since Ukraine’s independence in 1991, little attention was paid to building a system that would ensure […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 2, 2016

Thanks But No Thanks, Mr. Inozemtsev: A Response from Kyiv

By Olga Bielkova

What is wrong with Vladislav Inozemtsev’s recent opinion piece on how to help Ukraine? The problem with his article is not his advice itself, as flawed as it is, but the logic on which it is built. He uses the logic of imperialism, of an authoritarian state, of conspiracy theorists for whom the world is […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2016

The Future of Mykolayiv, the Future of Ukraine

By Michael Druckman

In many ways, the problems facing the city of Mykolayiv since the October 2015 local elections are a microcosm of the challenges facing Ukraine’s national leaders. The new mayor, with a strong track record of engaging with civil society on anti-corruption efforts and a fresh face to city politics, faces huge obstacles from old faces […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 1, 2016

Putin Gets It Wrong Again: Eurasian Economic Union Hurts Russia

By Anders Åslund

In June 2009, Vladimir Putin unexpectedly launched the idea of a customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. Soon it was named the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). In September 2013, Armenia agreed to join, and Kyrgyzstan joined in 2015. This is a Russian initiative, dominated by Russia in all regards. Its secretariat is located in Moscow. […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 27, 2016

In Ukraine, Putin Tries to Cash in Before Luck Runs Out

By Stephen Blank

Ukraine has become the object of high-stakes diplomacy. This does not mean that fighting has stopped—quite the opposite. Russian forces continue to launch probes and violate the cease-fire agreement; they have substantially reinforced themselves, as have the Ukrainian forces arrayed against them. Nevertheless, a major diplomatic campaign is occurring. Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken […]

European Union International Organizations

UkraineAlert

Jan 27, 2016

Making Sense of Minsk: Decentralization, Special Status, and Federalism

By Paul Niland

Decentralization, special status, and federalism. These terms are three different things, although they are often mistakenly substituted one for another, and some people think one term means another in Ukraine today. The decentralization debate is heating up again as Ukraine faces a legal deadline to pass a constitutional amendment that gives the so-called Donetsk People’s […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 26, 2016

Not So Fast, Mr. Inozemtsev

By John E. Herbst

Responding to an article that Ambassadors Steven Pifer, William Taylor, and I wrote in The New York Times advocating greater US and EU assistance to Ukraine, Vladislav Inozemtsev wrote a provocative article January 19 in which he makes the case that Kyiv should cede the occupied territories of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), Luhansk People’s […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 25, 2016

Ukrainians Need to Stop Waiting for Their White Knight

By Sergii Leshchenko

My source leaned forward and said in a muffled voice: “The latest news is that grey cardinal Igor Kononenko’s men have been placed inside Ukrainian Railways, and Member of Parliament Sergei Fayermak of the People’s Front is now in charge of all the seaports.” This conversation with a government insider took place in the middle […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 25, 2016

Ukraine’s Economic Revival Starting in the West

By James Brooke

What do coastal China, northern Mexico, and western Ukraine have in common? After Beijing dropped Maoist economics in the 1970s, low-wage China began to thrive. The economic boom started with the coast, the area closest to the Pacific coast ports of Canada and the United States, with its access to a huge market. Low-wage northern […]

European Union International Organizations