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

May 4, 2015

No War, No Peace—But Always a Place at the Table for Russia

By
James J. Coyle

Russia’s track record in the long-simmering conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is consistent with Russian efforts in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calls for a Novorossiya: No war, no peace—but always a place at the table for Russia.


Europe & Eurasia


Russia


UkraineAlert

May 4, 2015

Ukraine Debt Deal Could Spark Chain Reaction

By
Yuri Poluneev

Ukraine’s economy is in crisis. Experts warn that the country’s gross domestic product could shrink by 6 to 12 percent and inflation could exceed 40 percent in 2015, although one prominent economist put that figure in triple digits already. The war in eastern Ukraine has throttled the country’s industrial capacity. To prevent the country from […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2015

Ukraine’s Volunteer Battalions Must Join the Military or Sheath the Sword

By
Ruben Gzirian

The Ukrainian army faces growing criticism from within its ranks after humiliating defeats at Debaltseve and Ilovaisk in eastern Ukraine. When fighting broke out between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists, the Ukrainian military was weak and the state had to rely on volunteers. Of the fifty thousand Ukrainian troops in the field, 22 percent are […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2015

The West’s Strategy Toward Putin Promises Conflict and Increases Danger of Wider War

By
Melinda Haring

Ian Brzezinski: Our policy “conveys hesitancy and a lack of unity and determination. It has failed to convince Putin to reverse course. Indeed, it may have actually emboldened him.”    The West’s current strategy toward Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine not only promises continued conflict in Ukraine but also poses an increased danger […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 28, 2015

Klitschko: Economic Success Will Unite Country

By
Melinda Haring

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko is no pushover. The former professional boxer turned politician has never been knocked down in a professional boxing match. Known for his powerful punches, Klitschko’s 87 percent knockout rate is the second-best knockout-to-fight ratio of any champion in heavyweight boxing history.


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 27, 2015

Ukraine’s PR Problem Isn’t Just a PR Problem

By
Andrew Kornbluth

Ukraine has a problem with global public relations. Despite its fundamentally compelling narrative—a recent democracy defending itself against a much larger, authoritarian neighbor—the country’s efforts remain uncoordinated, unprofessional, and unfiltered. Even as the state relies on a worldwide diaspora in its struggle for survival, it shows few signs of effectively harnessing its expatriates and the […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 27, 2015

Let’s Go “All In” on Ukraine

By
Jeffrey Gedmin

In October 1949, as the defeated forces of Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan and Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Republicans in Congress blamed Harry S. Truman for losing China. Some demanded a pivot from Europe to Asia in US foreign policy. Truman might have been persuaded a few years […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 23, 2015

Is Putin’s Russia Fascist?

By
Alexander J. Motyl

A growing number of Russian analysts, in Russia and abroad, have taken to calling Vladimir Putin’s regime “fascist.” And they don’t use the term casually or as a form of opprobrium. They mean that Putin’s Russia genuinely resembles Mussolini’s Italy or Hitler’s Germany.


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 23, 2015

Russia’s Lone Warrior Stands Up to Putin

By
Irena Chalupa

Ilya Ponomarev has not slept in the same bed for more than a few nights since August 2014. The two-term legislator from Russia’s third-largest city Novosibirsk has been living in exile since Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, stripped him of parliamentary immunity.


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 22, 2015

Letter: Experts Worry that “Decommunization” Laws Curtail Free Speech

By
Atlantic Council

Editor’s note: It’s unfortunate that in a time of critical issues that legislation that disenfranchises certain, if often extreme, points of view looks like it’s going to become law. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is expected to sign four laws on “decommunization,” recently passed by Ukraine’s parliament, which enact an official version of the nation’s 20th century […]


Russia


Ukraine

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

Mar 29, 2016

Shokin’s Revenge: Ukraine’s Odious Prosecutor General Fires Honest Deputy Before Parliament Sacks Him

By Anders Åslund

On March 29, the Ukrainian Rada finally approved the resignation of Ukraine’s disreputable Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. He was voted out with an overwhelming majority of 289 votes, including 114 of the 134 deputies of the Poroshenko Bloc. On February 16, Shokin was forced to submit his letter of resignation in connection with the failed […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 29, 2016

US Presidential Politics Play Poorly in Ukraine

By James Brooke

US President Barack Obama’s refusal to militarily defend Ukraine against Russian aggression has sent a chill halfway around the world to Odesa, the Black Sea port only 200 kilometers by warship from Crimea. In the April issue of The Atlantic, Obama says: “The fact is that Ukraine, which is a non-NATO country, is going to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 29, 2016

Sick of the Ukraine Crisis? Then Arm Ukraine

By Alexander J. Motyl

Building Up Ukraine’s Military is the Counterintuitive Solution to Peace Western policymakers who believe the Minsk accords would work if only Ukraine made the requisite constitutional and electoral concessions are missing a key point: that they, and Russia, forced Ukraine to make security its priority by violating the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. Russia […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 23, 2016

Ukraine and Turkey’s Newly Strengthened Relationship

By Hannah Thoburn

Turkey and Ukraine, including Crimea, control 71 percent of the Black Sea coast between the two of them. With Ukraine to the north and Turkey directly to the south, the two nations have long been collegial when working together on regional problems, but their reasonably friendly relationship has generally been subordinated to more pressing issues. […]

Europe & Eurasia Russia

UkraineAlert

Mar 23, 2016

Separatists Launch New “Passportization” Strategy in Eastern Ukraine

By Agnia Grigas

On March 16, the separatist leaders of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) began issuing their own passports in eastern Ukraine. The territory’s militant leader Aleksander Zakharchenko called the move “a very important step toward building statehood” that will serve to solidify and formalize the territory’s separatist status. Earlier, Moscow had planned to hand out […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 23, 2016

Memo to Secretary Kerry: Russia Is Weaker Than You Think

By Ariel Cohen

When US Secretary of State John Kerry goes to Moscow this week, he should keep in mind that Russia’s recent military engagements in Ukraine and Syria represent an attempt to manipulate perceptions. The Kremlin wants to position itself as a peer of America, open to cooperation against ISIS, but capable of military threats against US […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 22, 2016

Russian Court Finds Ukraine’s Defiant Pilot Savchenko Guilty

By Irena Chalupa

Nothing in the Nadiya Savchenko case has been easy or fast. The famed Ukrainian pilot whom Russia has charged with complicity in the deaths of two Russian journalists can’t even get a quick verdict at the end of a trial that has lasted nine months. On March 22, the court found Savchenko guilty of all […]

Europe & Eurasia Russia

UkraineAlert

Mar 22, 2016

Don’t Mess With Kyiv’s Activists

By Josh Cohen

Ukrainians may soon be granted visa-free travel within the European Union, thanks to Kyiv’s watchful activists. But that status was in jeopardy after parliament weakened a key anti-corruption law on February 16. Visa-free travel was linked to a series of reforms, including a law that discloses the income of Ukrainian officials.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 22, 2016

Can Minsk Deliver a Sustainable Peace?

By Melinda Haring

Is the Minsk process salvageable? Twelve experts gathered at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, on March 17 to debate whether the Minsk ceasefire can deliver a sustainable peace in Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has claimed over 10,000 lives and displaced more than 1.6 million people. The Minsk accords, signed in 2014 and 2015, […]

Europe & Eurasia Russia

UkraineAlert

Mar 18, 2016

Fighting Back: New Bill Aims to Counter Russian Disinformation

By Amanda Abrams

Russia’s attempts to win over hearts and minds in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and beyond are succeeding—in large part because of the United States’ disengagement in the information arena, say experts. In response, Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced a bill on March 16 that would significantly beef up the United States’ counter-propaganda […]

Europe & Eurasia Russia