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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

Why the West Should Give Ukraine’s New Spymaster a Chance

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

Why the West Should Give Ukraine’s New Spymaster a Chance

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

Why the West Should Give Ukraine’s New Spymaster a Chance

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

Jun 12, 2023

Beyond the counteroffensive: 84% of Ukrainians are ready for a long war

By
Peter Dickinson

84% of Ukrainians reject any compromise with Russia and are ready for a long war if necessary in order to fully de-occupy their country. Most simply see no middle ground between genocide and national survival, writes Peter Dickinson.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 11, 2023

Russia’s failing Ukraine invasion is exposing Putin’s many weaknesses

By
Anders Åslund

Vladimir Putin’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine is exposing all of his personal weaknesses as a ruler and casting an unforgiving light on the extensive damage he has done to Russia, writes Anders Åslund.

Conflict
Corruption


UkraineAlert

Jun 11, 2023

Ukraine’s counteroffensive will likely create new reintegration challenges

By
Lesia Dubenko

If Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive is successful, Kyiv will be faced with the significant challenge of reintegrating communities that have lived under Russian occupation for extended periods, writes Lesia Dubenko.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 8, 2023

Could Russia be held accountable for the destruction of the Kakhovka dam?

By
Danielle Johnson

Initial analysis indicates that Russia deliberately destroyed the Kakhovka dam in what would qualify as one of Moscow’s worst war crimes in Ukraine, but holding the Kremlin accountable will prove extremely difficult, writes Danielle Johnson.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 8, 2023

Kakhovka dam collapse threatens Europe’s largest nuclear plant

By
Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

The blowing up of the Kakhovka dam in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine threatens to deprive the nearby Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant of vital water supplies and raises the threat of nuclear disaster, writes Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Jun 7, 2023

Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive will aim to keep the Russians guessing

By
Peter Dickinson

Speculation is mounting that Ukraine’s hotly anticipated summer counteroffensive may be underway but initial stages are likely to feature probes and diversionary attacks rather than a big push, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Drones


Fast Thinking

Jun 7, 2023

Has Ukraine’s counteroffensive really begun?

By
Atlantic Council

Atlantic Council experts share their insights on the intensifying war in Ukraine.

Conflict
Europe & Eurasia


UkraineAlert

Jun 7, 2023

Moldova needs an energy overhaul

By
Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

If energy security is national security, then Moldova is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world and is in need of a comprehensive energy sector overall, writes Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti.

Energy Markets & Governance
European Union


UkraineAlert

Jun 6, 2023

Is China preparing for a post-Putin Russia?

By
Anders Åslund

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have famously proclaimed a “friendship without limits” but the Chinese leader may be looking to a post-Putin Russia and cultivating ties with Putin’s PM Mikhail Mishustin, writes Anders Åslund.

China
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jun 6, 2023

Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive is a key moment but long-term resolve remains crucial

By
Tennyson Dearing

Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive is an important moment in the war with Russia but it is critical to maintain a sense of perspective and underline the need for long-term Western backing, writes Tennyson Dearing.

Conflict
Freedom and Prosperity

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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

Why the West Should Give Ukraine’s New Spymaster a Chance

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

Why the West Should Give Ukraine’s New Spymaster a Chance

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

Why the West Should Give Ukraine’s New Spymaster a Chance

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

Jun 25, 2015

Why the West Should Give Ukraine’s New Spymaster a Chance

By John E. Herbst

Late June in Kyiv can be beautiful. With clear skies, temperatures peaking in the high 70s, the natural beauty of the city and its citizens, it can be easy to forget that the country is at war. In part that is a result of the country’s success. A year ago, few would have predicted that […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 25, 2015

Hey, Remember Me? It’s Europe.

By Ariel Cohen

The Transatlantic Alliance is in Trouble  “We lived next to Russia for 500 years—listen to what we have to say,” Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said at the Bratislava Global Security Forum on June 20. He’s right. The West needs to pay attention and achieve strategic clarity in Europe and beyond before it’s too late. There […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 24, 2015

Russia Bans Freedom to Report, Says Top Investigative Journalist

By Melinda Haring

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has banned US investigative journalist Simon Ostrovsky from working in Russia. On June 4, it denied a press visa for Ostrovsky, an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist best known for his coverage of the Ukraine crisis for VICE News.

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 23, 2015

Here’s How to Crowdsource Ukrainian Language and Culture

By Matthew Kupfer

On a scorching Saturday afternoon in the Pechersk district of Kyiv, a group of five young people take refuge in a cool alcove hidden at the back of the Ivan Honchar Museum for a free Ukrainian class. Together, for ninety minutes, they discuss that week’s subject, studentstvo (“student life”), learning new Ukrainian words to describe […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 22, 2015

Here’s How We Give Putin Something to Think About

By Jeffrey Gedmin

Imagine Winston Churchill saying: “We’ve got to send Nazi Germany a clear signal. At the same time we have to recognize that the Germans do need their lebensraum.” It’s unthinkable. But that’s what the West keeps saying to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The most recent example is United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond telling the BBC: […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 22, 2015

It’s Hard to Take Russian Propaganda Seriously. But We Must.

By James J. Coyle

Three Russian television stations interviewed Andrei Petkov from a hospital bed in Nikolayev, Ukraine, in April 2014. Rossia 1 described him, with a bandage on his nose, as an ordinary citizen attacked by neo-Nazis and nationalists; NTV named him a German spy for a secret European organization; and the National Independent News of Crimea identified him […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 18, 2015

Switching Spymasters Amid War is Risky

By Brian Mefford

Valentin Nalyvaichenko, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), is in trouble again. On June 15, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he was “unsatisfied” with Nalyvaichenko’s work. Three days later, Ukraine’s parliament dismissed him. At a time when the Minsk II ceasefire agreement is a ceasefire in name only and the threat of Russian espionage, sabotage, […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 17, 2015

Here’s Why Moscow Doesn’t Want the Donbas But Continues to Meddle There Anyway

By Anders Åslund

The war in the Donbas is imposing large costs on Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s leading investment bank Dragon Capital, in October 2014 the occupied territories in the Donbas accounted for 2.6 percent of Ukraine’s territory, 7.3 percent of the population, 10 percent of GDP, and 15 percent of industrial production. This output has declined by […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 16, 2015

Here’s One Practical Way to Save Ukraine

By Andreas Umland

Stimulating Ukraine’s economy is a key goal of the reforms that are underway in Kyiv. Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the European Union (EU) should enable better economic management and freer trade. But there’s an important precondition for growth: investor confidence. Domestic businessmen and foreign investors must feel sufficiently motivated to spend their money, time, and […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 15, 2015

The Muddled Thinking at the G-7 Only Encourages Putin

By Stephen Blank

Leaders at the recent G-7 summit reaffirmed their commitment to keeping sanctions on Russia in place. They also agreed that sanctions will likely be extended until 2016 because Russia has failed to implement the Minsk II ceasefire agreement. But the summit ended on a disappointing note: The summit communiqué and all the G-7 leaders indicated […]

Russia
Ukraine
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