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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

Lviv Welcomes Crimean Tatar Community With Open Arms

UkraineAlert
Jan 20, 2026

Ukraine’s best security guarantee is the ability to strike back inside Russia

By
Serhii Kuzan

With Kyiv’s Western allies unlikely to risk war with Russia, Ukraine’s most realistic security guarantee remains a strong military coupled with the ability to strike targets deep inside Russia, writes Serhii Kuzan.

Conflict
Defense Policy

Lviv Welcomes Crimean Tatar Community With Open Arms

UkraineAlert
Jan 15, 2026

Veterans can shape the future of Ukrainian democracy

By
Vasyl Sehin

The participation of military veterans in Ukraine’s political life has the potential to dramatically strengthen Ukrainian democracy and safeguard the country’s historic transition from centuries of Russian autocracy, writes Vasyl Sehin.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

Lviv Welcomes Crimean Tatar Community With Open Arms

UkraineAlert
Jan 8, 2026

Ukraine’s robot army will be crucial in 2026 but drones can’t replace infantry

By
David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s growing robot army of land drones will play a vital role in the country’s defense during 2026, but they are not wonder weapons and cannot serve as a miracle cure for Kyiv’s manpower shortages, writes David Kirichenko.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Aug 22, 2024

Ukraine’s EU accession hinges on stronger defense and consolidated reforms

By
Zachary Popovich

To achieve EU accession, Ukraine must strengthen its defense capabilities, execute administrative reforms within its judiciary, and implement a multi-sector approach to corruption, writes Zachary Popovich.


Civil Society

Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 21, 2024

Invasion? What invasion? Putin is downplaying Ukraine’s Kursk offensive

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin's efforts to downplay Ukraine's invasion of Russia have severely dented his strongman image and make a mockery of the West's escalation fears, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict

Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Aug 20, 2024

Kursk offensive could help free Ukrainians in Russian captivity

By
Olivia Yanchik

Ukraine's invasion of Russia's Kursk Oblast has resulted in the surrender of unprecedented numbers of Russian soldiers, raising hopes of a large-scale prisoner exchange, writes Olivia Yanchik.


Conflict

Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Aug 15, 2024

The Kremlin is cutting Russia’s last information ties to the outside world

By
Mercedes Sapuppo

Recent measures to prevent Russians from accessing YouTube represent the latest escalation in the Kremlin’s campaign to dominate the domestic information space and eliminate all independent media in today’s Russia, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.


Conflict

Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Aug 15, 2024

Ukraine’s invasion of Russia exposes the folly of the West’s escalation fears

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

Ukraine's invasion of Russia has shown that Putin’s talk of red lines and his nuclear threats are just a bluff to intimidate the West, writes Oleksiy Goncharenko.


Conflict

Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Aug 13, 2024

New US-Ukraine partnership proposal from influential senators is a recipe for bipartisan success

By
Andrew D’Anieri

Senators Richard Blumenthal and Lindsey Graham came to Kyiv this week with an ambitious bipartisan vision for the future of US-Ukrainian relations, writes Andrew D’Anieri.


Conflict

Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Aug 13, 2024

Belarus’s political prisoners must not be forgotten

By
Hanna Liubakova

New sanctions unveiled in August have highlighted the plight of Belarus's approximately 1,400 political prisoners, but much more must be done to increase pressure on the Lukashenka regime, writes Hanna Liubakova.


Belarus

Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 13, 2024

Ukraine’s Kursk offensive proves surprise is still possible in modern war

By
Mykola Bielieskov

Ukraine’s Kursk offensive has succeeded in demonstrating that surprise is still possible despite the increased transparency of the modern battlefield, writes Mykola Bielieskov.


Conflict

Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Aug 11, 2024

Ukraine’s invasion of Russia is erasing Vladimir Putin’s last red lines

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine's invasion of Russia has erased the last of Vladimir Putin's red lines and made a complete mockery of the West's frequently voiced escalation fears, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict

Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Aug 8, 2024

Ukraine continues to expand drone bombing campaign inside Russia

By
Marcel Plichta

Ukraine’s long-range drone bombing campaign targeting military and industrial sites inside Russia has had a dramatic series of successes over the last few weeks, writes Marcel Plichta.


Conflict

Defense Technologies

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spotlight

Resilience in the face of adversity

Ukraine’s transformation

Ukraine has moved tentatively toward an open society and market economy since independence. The country has held several democratic elections and made halting progress in addressing corruption and state control in its economy. Since the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Ukraine has undertaken significant governance and economic reform and moved decisively toward a Europe-Atlantic foreign policy. Since 2022, Ukraine has resiliently continued to advance some reforms despite fighting for its very existence against the full-scale Russian invasion.

Learn more about Ukraine

Lviv Welcomes Crimean Tatar Community With Open Arms

UkraineAlert
Dec 5, 2024

Ukraine’s entrepreneurial class can drive the country’s economic recovery

The Ukrainian SME sector has demonstrated remarkable wartime resilience and is poised to be at the forefront of efforts to create a modern, innovative, postwar economy, writes Anton Waschuk.

Read More

Lviv Welcomes Crimean Tatar Community With Open Arms

UkraineAlert
Oct 1, 2024

Ukraine needs international investors to maintain defense tech momentum

By
Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s rapidly expanding defense tech sector can play a game-changing role in the war against Russia but Ukrainian companies need international investment, writes Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

Lviv Welcomes Crimean Tatar Community With Open Arms

UkraineAlert
Jun 13, 2024

Ukraine officially embraces English as historic westward pivot continues

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

By officially embracing English, Ukrainians aim to support their country’s historic pivot away from Moscow and return to the European community of nations, writes Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Civil Society
Conflict

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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2015

Lviv Welcomes Crimean Tatar Community With Open Arms

By Matthew Kupfer

The Russian annexation of Crimea in March 2014 is widely regarded as a tragedy for Crimean Tatars. But for Adile Namazova, it was also a professional catastrophe. A recent university graduate with near flawless English, Namazova, 22, had been working as a language tutor before annexation. But once Crimea changed hands, travelers stopped coming, food […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2015

Russian Narrative of Ukraine Conflict Fails to Sway Opinions in Odesa

By Ruben Gzirian

Eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region is strewn with remnants of Russian-made cartridges from AK-74U rifles, littered with the splintered, hollowed-out ruins of Russian-made BTR-80 armored personnel carriers, and scarred with the skeletons of Russian T-74B battle tanks. Yet the Kremlin’s incursion into Ukrainian territory is not isolated to the Donbas. Its influence has also permeated the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2015

Ukraine Must Privatize Failing State-Owned Enterprises Quickly

By Anders Åslund

Privatization has generated controversy in every post-communist country. Ministers of privatization are usually accused of heinous crimes, regardless of how impeccably they have performed their jobs. Yet privatization is vital for all such nations, not least for Ukraine. The goal must be to limit state-owned enterprises so that the private sector dominates. The aim isn’t […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2015

Exiled Russian Lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev: Current US Sanctions Won’t Work

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The United States must expand the scope of its sanctions well beyond Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle if this effort—a response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine—is to have any real impact, says a Russian lawmaker. “The [US] government machine is doing what it can do, but […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 27, 2015

To Prevent Global Catastrophe, Putin Must Go

By Leonid Gozman

The minority of Russians who have not been zombified by official propaganda and who still have any clue about what is really going on in the world—rather than just on television—already know Russia is hurtling toward full-blown catastrophe, though the details might be up for debate. Will the collapse come next month, or more like […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 27, 2015

Things Are Looking Up for Ukraine: Debt Deal Reached

By Anders Åslund

Today Ukraine received great news. Private owners of $19 billion of Ukraine’s Eurobonds have agreed to a substantial debt restructuring that will give Ukraine much-needed relief. The high bond yields have been sharply reduced, the bonds’ maturities have been prolonged, and the face value of the bonds has been reduced by 20 percent. According to […]

Eastern Europe Russia

UkraineAlert

Aug 25, 2015

How the West Can Stop Russia’s Escalating War in Ukraine

By Maksym Khylko

This month, Russia stepped up military pressure on Ukraine, concentrating about fifty thousand troops along its border with Ukraine, using its proxy militias to shell Ukrainian government positions in the Donbas, and threatening Kyiv with “a big war.” The current escalation indicates Russian discontent with Ukraine’s refusal to make unilateral concessions such as allowing the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 20, 2015

Russia, Not Ukraine, is the Questionable Partner

By Melinda Haring

In its August 12 editorial, “Shaky Ukraine: Economics and Corruption Complicate Its War,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette calls Ukraine a “questionable partner” because of “resistance to economic reform and use of Islamist Chechen forces.” Too bad neither charge is true.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 19, 2015

The Soviet Playbook in Ukraine

By Aaron Korwea

It appears that Russian President Vladimir Putin is losing the war in Ukraine. Gone are the talks about seizing so-called Novorossiya—the strip of land from Kharkiv to Odesa—and establishing a land bridge to occupied Crimea. Even though recent developments suggest a possible offensive to expand the territory Russia and its proxies now hold, perhaps with […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2015

“We want Ukraine to be a European country, not a Putin country,” Says Ukrainian MP

By Diane M. Francis

World attention focuses on ISIS and Iran, with its half an atomic weapon. But the biggest geopolitical issue is Vladimir Putin, backed by thousands of nuclear weapons, who is gradually conquering Ukraine, a democracy with 45 million people the size of Germany and Poland combined. In just over a year, Russia has seized 9 percent […]

Ukraine
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