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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 1, 2021

Europe is under attack from Putin’s energy weapon

By
Sergiy Makogon

Moscow's Nord Stream 2 pipeline has yet to enter service but Russian President Vladimir Putin is already being accused of weaponizing energy supplies and attempting to blackmail Europe with high gas prices.


European Union


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Sep 30, 2021

Europe’s new Russia policy must focus on human rights

By
Dave Elseroad, Nora Wehofsits

As the European Union looks to review and update its Russia policy, it is vital EU leaders focus on the growing human rights crisis that is threatening to spill over from Russia itself and undo the EU's own post-1991 progress.


Civil Society


European Union


UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2021

How Ukraine can become a global IT powerhouse

By
Yegor Chernev

Ukraine already boasts one of the region's most dynamic IT industries but further work is required to improve the business climate in order to make the most of the country's considerable tech sector potential.


Digital Currencies


Digital Policy


BelarusAlert

Sep 29, 2021

Lukashenka vs. Ukraine

By
Brian Whitmore

Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka has accused NATO of establishing military bases in Ukraine and has vowed to respond together with Russian President Vladimir Putin.


Belarus


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 28, 2021

American author’s timely love letter to Odesa

By
Anthony Bartaway

American author Vladislav Davidzon's new book "From Odessa With Love" takes readers on an entertaining and enlightening tour of Ukraine's famously colorful and cosmopolitan Black Sea port city.


Resilience & Society


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Sep 25, 2021

How village cheese is bringing Ukraine closer to Europe

By
Dmytro Tuzhanskyi

A village cheese-making initiative in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast is bringing a taste of Western Europe to the Ukrainian countryside and highlighting the possibilities of agricultural entrepreneurship.


Economy & Business


Resilience & Society


UkraineAlert

Sep 23, 2021

Zelenskyy slams UN inaction over Putin’s Ukraine war

By
Peter Dickinson

In a strongly worded address at the UN, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that failure to confront Russian aggression in Ukraine will have grave consequences for international security.


Conflict


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2021

Rigged vote highlights growing gulf between Putin’s Russia and democratic Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Russia's deeply flawed recent parliamentary election was a reminder of the growing gulf between the increasingly authoritarian country and the fledgling democratic political culture taking root in neighboring Ukraine.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Sep 20, 2021

Ukraine’s infrastructure upgrade set to continue

By
Peter Byrne

President Zelenskyy's Big Construction program, which aims to transform Ukraine's transport infrastructure through massive road construction works, is set to receive major funding in Ukraine's 2022 state budget.


Economy & Business


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Sep 20, 2021

Why we must not recognize Russia’s fraudulent election

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

Russia's parliamentary elections failed to meet even the most basic democratic standards and served to illustrate the country's slide into dictatorship under Vladimir Putin, says Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko


Corruption


Elections

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

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

UkraineAlert

Jan 25, 2016

Did Ukraine’s Cyberattacks Originate in Russia?

By Cristina Maza

As Ukraine grapples with a plethora of challenges, including endemic corruption and trade disputes with Russia, cyberattacks against the country’s critical infrastructure can now be added to the list of issues. In late December, Ukraine experienced what may have been the world’s first blackout caused by a cyberattack. While the blackout was short-lived, it affected […]

Cybersecurity Russia

UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2016

What Falling Oil Prices Mean for Russia and Ukraine

By Anders Åslund

At present the price of Brent crude oil is $28 per barrel, while it was $114 per barrel in June 2014. This price fall by three-quarters is of great importance for the Russian economy and its policy toward Ukraine. The only rational option for the Kremlin is to wind down the conflict with Ukraine. Russia […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 20, 2016

Russia Intervention in Syria Has Its Limits

By Sam Skove

While Russia’s intervention in Syria appears to have helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime claw its way back from the brink of defeat, the Kremlin’s gambit is in many ways a limited one. Russian President Vladimir Putin, thanks to technical and political constraints, cannot significantly ramp up his forces in the region. This means that […]

Russia Syria