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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 7, 2022

Rebuilding Ukraine: EU must prepare to lead the post-war recovery

By
Janez Kopač

The European Union is expected to play a key role in efforts to rebuild Ukraine following the end of the current war with Putin's Russia but at present the EU is unprepared for this major institutional challenge.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Apr 6, 2022

Genocide in Ukraine: Putin will not stop until the world stops him

By
Mykhailo Tkach

If Western leaders wish to defend the rules-based order that has served them all so well since WWII, they must urgently do so in Ukraine by supplying the country with the offensive weapons needed to defeat Russia.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Apr 5, 2022

Zelenskyy tells UN: Act now on Russia or dissolve yourself altogether

By
Oleksii Riabchyn

President Zelenskyy has called for the wholesale reform of the United Nations in an emotional address to the UN Security Council marked by scathing criticism of its toothless response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Apr 5, 2022

The whole world would benefit from a Ukrainian victory over Russia

By
Chris Alexander

From the countries of the former USSR to nations targeted by Vladimir Putin's destabilization campaigns and secret wars, the whole world would stand to gain from a Ukrainian victory over Russia.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Apr 3, 2022

The West must choose: Either arm Ukraine or enable Putin’s genocide

By
Peter Dickinson

Revelations of Russian war crimes outside Kyiv underscore the urgency of providing the Ukrainian military more weapons.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Apr 2, 2022

Putin’s War: Ukraine can defeat Russia but urgently needs more weapons

By
Oleksandr Danylyuk

Western leaders must urgently rethink their cautious attitude towards arming Ukraine and provide the country with the offensive weapons it needs in order to defeat Putin on the battlefield, argues Oleksandr Danylyuk.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Apr 1, 2022

Russian contempt for Ukraine paved the way for Putin’s disastrous invasion

By
Anders Åslund

The many miscalculations that paved the way for Vladimir Putin's disastrous invasion of Ukraine are rooted in longstanding Russian ignorance of Ukraine and contempt for all things Ukrainian, writes Anders Åslund.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 31, 2022

Ukrainian civil society can help hold Russia accountable for war crimes

By
Danielle Johnson

The quest for international justice over the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine is already underway and should seek to involve Ukrainian civil society, argues Danielle Johnson.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 31, 2022

Putin will win unless the West sends Ukraine offensive weapons

By
Alyona Getmanchuk

Western weapons have played a key role in helping Ukraine to inflict punishing losses on Putin's invasion force but Russia may still secure a bloody victory if the democratic world fails to accelerate arms deliveries.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Mar 29, 2022

Russia in retreat: Putin appears to admit defeat in the Battle for Kyiv

By
Peter Dickinson

Kremlin officials have announced plans to withdraw troops from the Kyiv region in what is widely being seen as a major setback for Putin's war and tacit recognition of Russia’s failure to seize the Ukrainian capital.


Conflict


National Security

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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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Sep 16, 2015

How the West Can Stand Up to Putin

By Terrell Jermaine Starr

Winter is less than four months away, but Russian President Vladimir Putin is already freezing eastern Ukraine. No, I’m not talking about the possibility of Ukraine not being able to renegotiate lower gas prices this year. (That’s another issue entirely). The kind of freeze that Putin is plotting for Ukraine is political. For more than […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 16, 2015

Ukraine After Euromaidan: What Difference Does a Revolution Make?

By Viktoriya Sereda

Many people claim that following the 2013-14 protests against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and worsening violence in the Donbas, Ukrainian attitudes have significantly changed—mainly towards European integration, support for democracy and the fight against corruption. Our project—“Region, Nation, and Beyond: An Interdisciplinary and Transcultural Reconsideration of Ukraine”—attempts to verify those […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2015

Five Questions GOP Candidates Should Answer About Putin

By Terrell Jermaine Starr

Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s most bombastic presidential candidate, thinks President Barack Obama is a wimp and that he’s weak on Ukraine. “Putin does not respect our president whatsoever,” Trump said via Skype at the Yalta European Strategy Summit in Kyiv on September 11. Trump’s language is consistent with other Republican critiques of Obama’s handling […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2015

A Rock Star, The Donald, and Former Presidents All Agree: Ukraine’s Fate Matters to World

By John E. Herbst

Kyiv is famous for its golden Septembers, clear, cool days, where the sun shines brightly on the city’s many golden cupolas. The weather did not disappoint Ukrainian businessman Victor Pinchuk and the distinguished crowd at his 12th Yalta European Strategy Summit (YES) on September 10-12 in Kyiv. The summit was an impressive mix of glitz […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 11, 2015

Memo to GOP Presidential Candidates: Bust Three Myths About Ukraine

By Jeffrey Gedmin

Forces hostile to US interests are filling vacuums around the world. It’s Islamic State and Iran in the Middle East. It’s a rising China in East Asia. It’s a bullying, belligerent Russia in Eastern Europe.  How to reverse the fraying world order? On September 16, Republican presidential candidates will meet for a second debate, this […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 9, 2015

Reforms Will Succeed, But They Alone Won’t Save Ukraine

By Andreas Umland

Will Ukraine make it? Conditions necessary for Ukraine’s current reform drive to succeed look more promising than they did in 2013. Not only does Ukraine now have its most pro-European parliament and reform-oriented government since independence in 1991; it’s also seen at least four other significant shifts in domestic politics that, taken together, render any […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 9, 2015

Russia from Ukraine to Syria: Helping the Cat Down the Tree

By Ariel Cohen

Russia’s military involvement in Syria and Ukraine obligates the United States and its European allies to bring the Kremlin back to Earth and recognize that such adventures cannot be sustained indefinitely. Russia simply does not have the money and human resources to do so in view of low oil prices and birth rates. It will […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 8, 2015

Kremlin Uses Minsk Protocol to Undermine Ukraine Government

By Alina Polyakova

In peacetime, September 1 is an eventful day for Ukrainian children—it marks the first day of school. But the war in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, now in its second year, has put a dark stain on this usually festive occasion. This year, Ukrainian kids in Kyiv started school following violent protests outside Parliament. On August […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 2, 2015

Mr. Lavrov Builds His Dream World

By Adrian Karatnycky

Each summer, as part of ongoing efforts to influence their young, Russia’s government leaders and propagandists head to a conference center on the Klyazma River about 130 miles northeast of Moscow to address the “Terra Scientia” Russian Youth Education Conference. Despite its lofty name, the conference bears little trace of free inquiry. Over the course […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

Sep 2, 2015

In the Face of Russian Aggression in Ukraine, a New US Agenda for Europe

By Stephen Blank

Since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, the world has seen precious little Western leadership when it comes to confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin—despite US and European Union sanctions, recent efforts to strengthen NATO’s conventional deterrence in Europe, and the first signs of increased defense spending in Europe. Even in the face of plans to send […]

NATO Russia