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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

Oct 27, 2022

A ceasefire would condemn millions of Ukrainians to Russian occupation

By
Mark Temnycky

Recent calls for a ceasefire in the Russo-Ukrainian War ignore the fact that millions of Ukrainians remain under Russian occupation and would face an uncertain fate if abandoned to the Kremlin, writes Mark Temnycky.


Conflict


Freedom and Prosperity


UkraineAlert

Oct 26, 2022

The West needs a more united approach to sanctioning Putin’s elite

By
David Clark

With Russia's invasion of Ukraine now in its ninth month, it is time for a coordinated approach to sanctioning Putin's elite that reflects the seriousness of the threat they pose to global security, writes David Clark.


Conflict


Corruption


UkraineAlert

Oct 25, 2022

Europe must make this the last winter of weaponized Russian energy exports

By
Arseniy Yatsenyuk

Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes to freeze Ukrainians into submission in the coming months while also using energy supply cuts to pressure European leaders into abandoning their support for Ukraine.


Energy Markets & Governance


Energy Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 25, 2022

Poll: 86% of Ukrainians want to fight on despite Russian terror bombing

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin's campaign to destroy Ukraine's critical civilian infrastructure marks a dramatic escalation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the increasingly desperate Russian ruler seeks to avert military defeat.


Conflict


Human Rights


UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2022

Ukraine’s growing tech sector offers hope amid wartime economic pain

By
Dathan Duplichen

Ukraine's tech sector offers a rare glimmer of light amid the economic gloom of Russia's ongoing invasion with Ukrainian IT industry export revenues actually up by 23% during the first six months of 2022.


Conflict


Digital Policy


UkraineAlert

Oct 20, 2022

Classical concert captures Ukraine’s defiant response to Russian invasion

By
Jacob Heilbrunn

Ukraine's defiant spirit was on display on October 18 at a Kennedy Center concert organized by the Chopivsky Family Foundation and featuring the New Era Orchestra of Kyiv together with celebrated violinist Joshua Bell.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2022

Winning the peace through democratic progress in post-war Ukraine

By
Peter Erben, Gio Kobakhidze

As Ukraine’s army continues to liberate the country from Russian occupation, it is critical that Ukraine’s military success is buttressed by continued democratic progress. Ukraine must not only win the war, but also win the peace.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 18, 2022

Bowing to Putin’s nuclear blackmail will make nuclear war more likely

By
Andriy Zagorodnyuk

Giving in to Putin’s nuclear blackmail would not end the war in Ukraine. What it would do is set a disastrous precedent that makes a future nuclear war far more likely while encouraging uncontrolled nuclear proliferation.


Arms Control


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2022

Ukraine has a Russia problem not a Putin problem

By
Taras Kuzio

Ukraine appears poised to defeat Putin's invasion but Russia will continue to pose an existential threat to Ukrainian statehood until Russians learn to accept that Ukraine is a sovereign and independent nation.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2022

Putin’s blackout blitz: Russia aims to freeze Ukrainians into surrender

By
Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Russia is seeking to plunge Ukraine into darkness ahead of the winter heating season by destroying the country's energy infrastructure. Ukraine's partners must step in to make sure Ukrainians are not frozen into surrender.


Conflict


Energy Markets & Governance

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 12, 2016

2016 Will Be a Make It or Break It Year for Ukraine

By Alina Polyakova

Two years ago, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians braved the freezing temperatures on Kyiv’s Maidan to protest. Since then, Ukraine has gone through almost too many crises to count: upheaval with the ousting of former President Viktor Yanukovych; Russian occupation of Crimea; a war with Russian forces in the Donbas that continues to simmer; and […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 6, 2016

How Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Sabotaged the Reform Process

By Halya Coynash

Viktor Shokin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, was upbeat in his New Year’s message to colleagues. While “2015 was a difficult and responsible year for us all,” he wrote, we “carried out unprecedented reform and overhaul of the prosecutor’s system, bringing it closer to European standards.” Almost twenty years after Ukraine promised to reform its prosecutor’s office […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 5, 2016

Ten Reasons Why I’m Optimistic About Ukraine’s Economy in 2016

By Anders Åslund

The outlook for the Ukrainian economy in 2016 is positive. Many important reforms were carried out in 2015. The necessary exchange rate adjustment has occurred and most required bank closures have taken place. The parliament has adopted tax changes and a decent budget for 2016. The debt restructuring deal has postponed foreign debt service. The […]

Russia Ukraine

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