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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

Jul 16, 2026

Ukraine’s tech-savvy defense minister ousted in clash with army old guard

By
Peter Dickinson

President Zelenskyy's decision to side with the army old guard and oust Ukraine's tech-savvy Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has sparked a political crisis and raised questions over the country's future direction, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Jul 16, 2026

Innovation under fire: Ukraine’s energy defense is a blueprint for the world

By
Oleksii Riabchyn

Those who still treat energy resilience as a technical matter are not prepared for the changes currently taking place in military doctrine. Thanks to Ukraine, the blueprint to address this vulnerability exists, writes Oleksii Riabchyn.


Conflict


Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Jul 16, 2026

Ukraine’s national recovery must go far beyond rebuilding what was lost

By
Vitalii Kim

As international efforts to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine continue, it is also vital to look beyond the battlefield and address the issue of Ukraine’s recovery in order to create the conditions for a genuine national renewal, writes Vitalii Kim.


Conflict


Critical Infrastructure Policy


UkraineAlert

Jul 14, 2026

Drone superpower Ukraine is now Europe’s first line of defense

By
David Kirichenko

Ukrainian troops took part in the annual Bastille Day parade in Paris for the first time on July 14, underling Ukraine's key role as Europe's first line of defense against Putin's Russia, writes David Kirichenko.


Conflict


Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Jul 9, 2026

NATO summit dashes Putin’s hopes of outlasting the West in Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

This week's NATO summit in Ankara focused on demonstrating a united front in support of Ukraine. This was a major blow for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who still hopes Western disunity can hand Russia victory in Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Jul 7, 2026

Putin escalates ballistic missile attacks as Patriot shortages leave Ukraine defenseless

By
Karlis Kuskevics

Ballistic missiles are accounting for a growing share of Russia’s increasingly deadly attacks on Ukrainian cities, as Moscow unleashes a new bombing strategy seeking to exploit a global shortage of US-made Patriot air defense systems, writes Karlis Kuskevics.


Conflict


Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Jul 6, 2026

A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine

By
Oleksandr Tolokonnikov

A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, with thousands of Ukrainian civilians facing severe risks to their lives, food shortages, and a lack of medical assistance, according to a new UN report.


Conflict


Drones


UkraineAlert

Jul 5, 2026

With Putin visibly weakened, now is the time to back Ukraine

By
Kira Rudik

Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently in a weaker position than at any time since Ukraine's battlefield victories in 2022. Kyiv's Western allies must seize this window of opportunity to push for peace through strength, writes Kira Rudik.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Jul 4, 2026

Putin may gamble on mobilization to rescue Russia’s Ukraine invasion

By
Mykola Bielieskov

With the tide turning in Ukraine's favor on the battlefield and Russian manpower problems mounting, Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin may soon be forced to gamble on a politically risky mass mobilization in order to rescue his invasion, writes Mykola Bielieskov.


Conflict


Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Jul 4, 2026

Ukraine is showing NATO the future of warfare

By
Myroslava Gongadze

Over five years, Ukraine has done more than expose Russia's weaknesses. It has revealed the future of warfare. NATO leaders must now demonstrate at the Ankara Summit that they are ready for the new security environment, writes Myroslava Gongadze.


Conflict


Defense Technologies

spotlight

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

Oct 7, 2015

The Forgotten War: A View From Ukraine’s Frontlines

By Ihor Kozak

For a brief moment, it felt like déjà vu. As an officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, I visited several hot spots, witnessing my share of misery and destruction. Now I am in the Donbas, the war-torn region of eastern Ukraine. Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has struggled to shed its Soviet colonial past […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2015

Evolution, Not Revolution, Is the Way to Save Ukraine, Says Leading Anti-Corruption Crusader

By Diane Francis

Russian President Vladimir Putin is pivoting and wants to withdraw from the Donbas but keep Crimea, according to Iegor Soboliev, the head of the Ukrainian parliament’s anti-corruption committee. “He wants to give it back to us right now. He doesn’t need the Donbas,” he said in an interview on October 5. “Unfortunately, he will try […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2015

The Donbas Black Hole

By Irena Chalupa

What Russia hoped would be a small, victorious war has turned into the “geostrategic disaster of a new cold war,” writes Volodymyr Horbulin, a respected foreign policy analyst currently advising Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. In an article in Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, Horbulin argues that the main participants in the war have exhausted themselves. The Donbas has […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 6, 2015

Don’t Blame the Oligarchs: Why Have Ukraine’s Cultural Reforms Gone Nowhere?

By Kateryna Smagliy

The demonizing of Ukrainian oligarchs as major impediments to democratization and reform has become a shared mantra of Western and domestic pundits alike. Whenever explaining the slow pace of Ukraine’s changes after the Euromaidan, analysts argue that oligarchs only gained influence and that by controlling whole chunks of the state apparatus, mass media, and economy, […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2015

Testing Putin’s Intentions

By John E. Herbst

The October 2 Paris Summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and Russian President Vladimir Putin produced no breakthrough for peace in Ukraine. But it provided additional proof that, for the moment, Putin wants to lower tensions in the region. The parties spoke about three issues: the withdrawal […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2015

How to Fight Corruption in Ukraine

By Anders Åslund

We all agree: The greatest threat facing Ukraine, after its war with Russia, is corruption. But few agree how to do so, though it should not be that difficult. In 1998, Ukraine’s main gas importer, Ihor Bakai, stated that “all rich people in Ukraine made their money on Russian gas.” The technique was simple. A […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 30, 2015

Radars for Ukraine: Obama’s Strong Signal to Putin

By Adrian Karatnycky

A day after US President Barack Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the United States announced that it will ship long-range counter-battery radars to Ukraine. Obama authorized $20 million to provide the country with radars, bringing US security assistance to Ukraine up to $265 million. Obama’s message is clear: the United States will not […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2015

Ukraine Must Embrace Radical Reform Now

By Melinda Haring

If the Ukrainian government does not follow through with an ambitious reform agenda, public support will wane while dissatisfaction will increase, threatening political stability and the country’s future. “There is no time for slow evolutionary changes. Radical and revolutionary reforms are the only way to success,” warns a new report issued September 28.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2015

Halfway There on National Unity in Ukraine

By Colin Cleary

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has lost the battle for the hearts and minds of the predominantly Russian-speaking regions of eastern and southern Ukraine that remain under Kyiv’s control. Support for those he calls “compatriots” has been at the core of Putin’s stated rationale for intervention in Ukraine. Polls show, however, that a clear majority of […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2015

Will Assad Rescue Putin from the Ukrainian Quagmire?

By Aaron Korewa

For fifteen years, Gleb Pavlovsky worked as an adviser to Russian Presidents Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, and the one-term Dmitry Medvedev. He was one of the chief architects behind the “power vertical” concept— the need for a strong leader in order to create stability. Freedom and democracy were supposed to “come later.” Unfortunately for Pavlovsky, […]

Russia Ukraine