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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

Mar 11, 2022

Lend-Lease 2022: How the US can back Ukraine against Putin

By
Thomas S. Warrick

With Ukraine still in desperate need of more military aid to counter Vladimir Putin's invasion, it is now time for the United States to revive the Lend-Lease program signed into law eighty-one years ago on March 11, 1941.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Mar 10, 2022

Not just Putin: Most Russians support the war in Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Many international commentators have pinned the blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine solely on Vladimir Putin but the chilling truth is that an overwhelming majority of ordinary Russians also support the war.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 9, 2022

Putin’s Ukraine War leaves Russia trapped behind a new iron curtain

By
Dave Elseroad

Vladimir Putin's Ukraine War is part of a broader Kremlin offensive against human rights and civil liberties that is also being waged inside Russia itself against the country's marginalized and muzzled civil society.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 8, 2022

Ukraine urgently needs a multi-billion dollar international fund to survive

By
Ilya Timtchenko

Ukraine urgently needs international financial support to prevent an economic collapse as a result of Vladimir Putin's invasion and in order to fund the future rebuilding of the country's devastated towns and cities.


Conflict


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Mar 7, 2022

Western weakness is enabling Russian war crimes in Ukraine

By
Bohdan Klid

The democratic world has loudly condemned Vladimir Putin's Ukrainian invasion but longstanding policies of Western weakness towards the Kremlin linger on and are now enabling Russian war crimes in Ukraine.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Mar 6, 2022

Putin’s Ukraine War: Russian oligarchs must face tougher sanctions

By
Diane Francis

Sanctions against Russian oligarchs are starting to work and have already caused some to speak out against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Their influence on the Kremlin is key and pressure on them must now continue.


Conflict


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Mar 6, 2022

Why Vladimir Putin is losing the information war to Ukraine

By
Anders Åslund

Vladimir Putin has long enjoyed a reputation as a master of disinformation, but the Russian ruler is now clearly losing the global information war that is being waged alongside his invasion of Ukraine.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 4, 2022

Sanctioning Putin’s Ukraine War: Time to cut academic ties with Russia?

By
Richard L. Hudson

As the West imposes crushing sanctions on Russia over Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, governments must also address the complex issue of academic cooperation with Russian universities.


Conflict


Education


UkraineAlert

Mar 3, 2022

Inside Vladimir Putin’s criminal plan to purge and partition Ukraine

By
Taras Kuzio

Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has raised the chilling prospect of a brutal occupation including a purge of pro-Ukrainian and pro-Western elements of the civilian population and possible annexations of Ukrainian land.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 2, 2022

Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine War is a blueprint for genocide

By
Peter Dickinson

Putin has convinced millions of Russians that Ukraine is not a country and Ukrainians are really Russians. This has set the stage for mass atrocities in the country as the Russian invasion runs into the reality of a hostile Ukraine.


Conflict


Disinformation

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Content

UkraineAlert

Feb 24, 2016

What If Parliamentary Elections Were Held in Ukraine Today?

By Brian Mefford

With Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s government surviving a no-confidence vote on February 16 and the parliamentary coalition splintering the next day, early parliamentary elections are now possible this year. New elections could be triggered by three scenarios: first, if the current majority coalition in parliament collapses and a new majority isn’t formed within thirty days; […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 24, 2016

In the Absence of American Leadership, Germany Steps in to Engage with Russia—at the EU’s Peril

By Stephen Blank

One particularly visible trend at the recent Munich Security Conference was America’s disengagement from European security issues. Foreign leaders often spoke without referring to the United States, and there was little sign of US involvement beyond its military participation in NATO. Washington’s priorities clearly revolved around Syria, not Europe. This trend confirms theories about the […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 23, 2016

Parliament Votes to Weaken Ukraine’s Key Anti-Corruption Law

By Josh Cohen

Since the overthrow of former President Viktor Yanukovych, the attitude of Ukraine’s post-Maidan government toward reform could best be described as ambivalent. Last week was a case in point. While Kyiv and its Western partners remained riveted by the fate of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, parliament greatly weakened a key anti-corruption law originally enacted almost one-and-a-half […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 22, 2016

Russia’s Pernicious Hybrid War Against Ukraine

By Andreas Umland

In recent months, the relative calming of the Russian-Ukrainian war in the Donbas has led many observers to describe this confrontation as yet another “frozen conflict” in the post-Soviet space. Yet even if Russian military activities ceased completely, the analogy is misleading. It is not always understood that Ukraine’s neighbor to the east is actively […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 22, 2016

How Soft Power Works: Russian Passportization and Compatriot Policies Paved Way for Crimean Annexation and War in Donbas

By Agnia Grigas

The following is an edited excerpt from Agnia Grigas’ new book, Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire. The book examines Moscow’s policies toward Russian compatriots in former Soviet republics, including Ukraine where they laid the groundwork for Crimea’s annexation and the conflict in the Donbas. Moscow’s policies towards its “compatriots”—loosely defined as ethnic Russians, Russian […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 17, 2016

A Pyrrhic Victory for President Poroshenko

By Anders Åslund

On February 16, the Ukrainian parliament deemed the performance of its government unsatisfactory with 247 votes, but only 194 parliamentarians voted for a no-confidence measure. The government did not fall as some had expected. Overtly, this strange vote may appear a victory for President Petro Poroshenko, but it seems a Pyrrhic victory that may have […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 17, 2016

Making Sense of the Turmoil in Kyiv

By John E. Herbst

Turmoil in Kyiv continued as President Petro Poroshenko called on both Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin to resign on February 16. The President’s parliamentary faction then introduced a resolution in the Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, describing the performance of the cabinet of ministers, headed by Yatsenyuk, as inadequate. That measure passed, but […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 16, 2016

How to Reverse Putin’s Damage in Syria

By John E. Herbst

Moscow’s operation in Syria was designed to shore up the Assad regime, its long-time ally in the Middle East, from falling to various opposition forces, whose strongest elements were the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), the al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front, and other extremist Sunni groups. Over time this intervention has also given […]

Russia Syria

UkraineAlert

Feb 16, 2016

A Way Out of the Crisis

By Sergii Leshchenko

In the village of Glebovka, on a road leading to the old hunting grounds of ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, there is a small enclave of villas. Here, in the deep forest by the shores of the Kyiv water reservoir, sits a guest house that belongs to former Rada Deputy Mykola Martynenko, where confidential meetings between […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 15, 2016

Kissinger’s Vapid Vision Thing

By Alexander J. Motyl

For more evidence of how badly Russian President Vladimir Putin has damaged the international order, take a look at former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s recently articulated “vision for US-Russia relations.” It consists of large swaths of boilerplate language and several disingenuous arguments demonstrating that the architect of détente has no idea how to […]

Russia