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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

Apr 18, 2024

Putin’s plan to depopulate Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin’s new plan for victory in Ukraine appears to rely on a strategic bombing campaign to render entire regions of the country uninhabitable, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Apr 18, 2024

Grassroots diplomacy can help unlock international support for Ukraine

By
Benton Coblentz

Washington State’s ambitious new Sister State Agreement with Kyiv Oblast offers an attractive model that others can follow, both in the US and beyond, writes Benton Coblentz.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Apr 17, 2024

US House resolution: Russian abduction of Ukrainian children is genocide

By
Kristina Hook, Christopher Atwood

A recent US House resolution clearly articulates Russia’s genocidal crimes in Ukraine. Western leaders must now follow such statements with the necessary actions, write Kristina Hook and Christopher Atwood.

Conflict
Freedom and Prosperity


UkraineAlert

Apr 16, 2024

Western fear of escalation will hand Putin an historic victory in Ukraine

By
Mykola Bielieskov

The West’s self-defeating fear of escalation has allowed Russia to regain the initiative in Ukraine and is now threatening to hand Putin an historic victory, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Apr 16, 2024

Ukrainian nuclear energy can fuel country’s recovery and power Europe

By
Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Ukraine’s nuclear energy industry could help fuel the country’s reconstruction and power Europe’s energy transition, writes Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti.

Conflict
Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Apr 15, 2024

Organizing for victory

By
Ben Hodges

In the escalating struggle against Putin’s Russia, Iran, and China, The West needs a return to the clarity of Churchill and Roosevelt, who communicated clear strategic priorities to the public, industry, and the military, writes Ben Hodges.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Apr 11, 2024

Ukraine pleads for Patriot air defense systems as Russia destroys power grid

By
Peter Dickinson

Officials in Kyiv are calling on partners to urgently supply Patriot systems as Russia capitalizes on Ukraine’s weakening air defenses to methodically destroy the country’s power grid, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Apr 11, 2024

Ukraine’s veterans can transform the country’s postwar political landscape

By
Kateryna Odarchenko

While the Russian invasion of Ukraine is still far from over, it already looks likely that Ukrainian military veterans will play a key role in their country’s postwar politics, writes Kateryna Odarchenko.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Apr 9, 2024

Russian Orthodox Church declares “Holy War” against Ukraine and West

By
Brian Mefford

The Russian Orthodox Church has approved a remarkable new document that declares a holy war against Ukraine and the wider Western world, writes Brian Mefford.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Apr 9, 2024

Georgia launches new push to adopt Russian-style foreign agent law

By
Mercedes Sapuppo

Georgia’s ruling party has revived plans to pass legislation tightening restrictions on civil society, despite the fact that the same draft law sparked mass protests just one year ago, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Civil Society
Conflict

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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

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

UkraineAlert

Apr 21, 2015

No Easy Outs for Putin: US Presidential Candidates United on Ukraine

By Ariel Cohen

Ukraine will remain at the heart of the conflict between the US and Russia beyond the 2016 presidential election. In the polls, Americans are united on Ukraine; the majority of respondents support increased sanctions on the Kremlin. All of the major presidential candidates, save Senator Rand Paul, take a tough approach with Moscow and support […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 20, 2015

The Achilles’ Heel of Ukraine’s Mighty Oligarchs

By Brian Mefford

The Ukrainian government’s well-executed showdown in March 2015 to rein in the country’s wealthiest oligarch is the first of many battles with the oligarchs that lie ahead. In the battle with the oligarchs, President Petro Poroshenko—the owner of Roshen Confectionery Corporation and an oligarch himself—is uniquely positioned to fight. The President and his reform-minded parliament will […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 16, 2015

Ukrainian Fighter Pilot’s Case More About Politics, Less About Law, Says Attorney

By Melinda Haring

When Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine captured a fighter pilot loyal to Kyiv in June 2014, they got more than they bargained for. Nearly a year later, Nadiya Savchenko is on trial in Russia, and at the center of an international imbroglio. “This isn’t an ordinary case,” Russian attorney Mark Feygin said at the Atlantic […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 16, 2015

Out of the Abyss: Anders Åslund Sees Hope for Ukrainian Economy

By Thomas O. Melia

Ukraine: What Went Wrong and How to Fix It, the new book by Anders Åslund of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, presents so compelling an argument that—even before publication on April 17—it has already persuaded the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Western nations to adopt a $40 billion economic stabilization program for Ukraine. This […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 14, 2015

The Balkan Piece of the Putin Puzzle

By Stephen Blank

While the Russian threat to Poland and the Baltic States has sparked justified anxiety, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s imperial adventure is just as much of a threat to the Balkans.  Moscow is putting on a full-court press—using energy exports, information warfare, trade, arms sales, and efforts to obtain military bases in Cyprus, Montenegro and Serbia—to […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance