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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 4, 2023

Russia’s Wagner Group is a feature not a bug of the Putin regime

By
Allen Maggard

Russian private paramilitaries like the Wagner Group are a symptom of the institutionalized corruption at the heart of Putin’s regime and not just another instrument in Russia’s hybrid warfare toolbox, writes Allen Maggard.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Apr 4, 2023

How to keep Western tech out of Russian weapons

By
Aleksander Cwalina

The Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center convened a panel of experts for a virtual event in March to discuss how to prevent the use of Western technologies in Russian weapons, reports Aleksander Cwalina.


Arms Control


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Apr 3, 2023

Pressuring Ukraine into a premature peace would only encourage Putin

By
Andriy Zagorodnyuk

Efforts to pressure Ukraine into accepting a land-for-peace deal in order to end the war misunderstand Putin's imperial ambitions and will only encourage further Russian aggression, writes Andriy Zagorodnyuk.


Conflict


Freedom and Prosperity


UkraineAlert

Mar 30, 2023

Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling is a sign of dangerous Russian desperation

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin's latest bout of nuclear saber-rattling is a clear indication of Russia's growing desperation as the invasion of Ukraine continues to unravel amid mounting military losses, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Mar 30, 2023

Russia faces long economic decline as isolated Putin turns to China

By
Diane Francis

With most avenues for Western partnership indefinitely closed and Russian economic dependency on China growing rapidly, Putin’s talk of “economic sovereignty” is starting to sound very hollow, writes Diane Francis.


China


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 29, 2023

Putin’s plan for a new Russian Empire includes both Ukraine and Belarus

By
Taras Kuzio

A leaked document detailing Russia's plans to absorb Belarus highlights the scale of Vladimir Putin's imperial ambitions and provides insights into the true objectives behind the invasion of Ukraine, writes Taras Kuzio.


Belarus


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 28, 2023

Russia’s Ukraine invasion is eroding Kremlin influence in Kazakhstan

By
Kamila Auyezova

The invasion of Ukraine was meant to advance Vladimir Putin’s vision of a revived Russian Empire. Instead, it is forcing other neighboring countries like Kazakhstan to urgently reassess their own relationships with Moscow.


Central Asia


Civil Society


UkraineAlert

Mar 28, 2023

The real definition of victory for Ukraine

By
Victor Pinchuk

Genuine Ukrainian independence will only come with the country as a member of the European Union and NATO, writes Victor Pinchuk.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 23, 2023

Child abductions reveal the genocidal intent behind Putin’s Ukraine invasion

By
Peter Dickinson

Putin hoped his Ukraine invasion would secure his place among Russia’s greatest rulers. Instead, he looks destined to enter history as a genocidal dictator forever linked with the mass abduction of Ukrainian children, writes Peter Dickinson.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Mar 22, 2023

Russia’s Black Sea blockade is part of Putin’s war on international law

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

By preventing the free passage of merchant shipping in the Black Sea, Russia deprives world markets of vital Ukrainian agricultural produce while also challenging the core principles of international maritime law.


Africa


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

Jul 27, 2015

Ukraine’s IDP Crisis Worsens as Local Attitudes Harden

By Kateryna Moroz and Olena Vynogradova

Ukraine officially has 1,381,953 internally displaced persons (IDPs), the country’s Ministry of Social Policy (MoSP) reported July 10. Overall, more than 2.3 million Ukrainians—including IDPs and those seeking refuge abroad—have been uprooted by conflict since March 2014. Yet the actual number of IDPs remains unknown and is likely to be higher, since the official figure […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 25, 2015

The Future of Ukraine’s Default

By Yuriy Gorodnichenko

On July 24, Ukraine paid a $120 million coupon to service its sovereign debt. In many ways, this event is a moment of truth: it signals that there is a prospect of reaching an agreement with Ukraine’s creditors. Earlier this year, Ukraine signed a major deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF agreed […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 24, 2015

Kremlin Stages Fake Separatist Stunt in Lviv

By Halya Coynash

Western leaders pressing Ukraine to give into Russian demands and offer the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics autonomy would be well-advised to take note of the other parts of Ukraine which, according to Russian media, are also demanding self-rule. On July 17, approximately twenty people in Lviv staged a blitzkrieg demonstration with banners demanding […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 24, 2015

The Enemy Within: Paramilitaries and the Ukrainian State

By Peter Sattler

Ukrainian paramilitaries pose an increasingly existential threat to Kyiv. Earlier this year, Kyiv launched an initiative to bring them under their direct control. But despite their nominal subordination to Kyiv’s security services, these groups operate with minimal supervision and maintain financial independence. Their fighting capacity breeds instability and violence. More recently, Right Sector is undermining […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 22, 2015

Reform Agenda in Kyiv on Slow Burn, But in Odesa, Saakashvili Already Delivers

By Kateryna Smagliy

“I come away from this visit to Odesa with a sense of optimism,” wrote US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt after his recent trip there. After I posted Pyatt’s article to my Facebook page in an attempt to diminish the growing fatigue of fellow Ukrainians over the mixed results of the new government’s reforms, angry reactions followed. […]

Russia The Caucasus

UkraineAlert

Jul 22, 2015

We Are All Ukrainians Now

By Diane M. Francis

My first visit to Ukraine was in February 1992 and the City of Kyiv was gray, bleak and joyless as was the rest of the Soviet Union. Last month I re-visited—23 years and several other assignments later—to find a new nation of extremes. There is prosperity and there is poverty; there is peace and war; […]

Ukraine
20150720MH172event

UkraineAlert

Jul 21, 2015

One Year After MH17 Shootdown, Brazen Act Over Ukraine Still Poisons Atmosphere

By Larry Luxner

Simon Ostrovsky will never forget the moment he learned that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 had fallen from the sky, with 298 passengers and crew aboard. “I was on a train from Kyiv to Kharkiv reading my Twitter feed, and something came down about a plane crash. Somebody said it was a Malaysian plane,” the Soviet-born […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 20, 2015

Europe, Brace Yourself. Russia Sees Iran Deal as Means to Kill Missile Defense

By Stephen Blank

On July 14, hours after the United States, Russia and four other world powers concluded a nuclear accord with Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared that the deal negated any reason for a US missile defense network in Europe. We should now prepare ourselves for the inevitable political and propaganda onslaught Russia will mount […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 20, 2015

Russian Disinformation Alienates the West from Russian Periphery

By James J. Coyle

The Russian Army has released a photo of a Ukrainian tank decorated with a swastika, yet the original Reuters photograph shows no such emblem. Russia also released a photo of a Ukrainian soldier covered in Nazi tattoos, but that picture was actually taken in 2005, inside a Russian prison. Europe is revolted by any reminders […]

Russia The Caucasus

UkraineAlert

Jul 20, 2015

No One Feels Safe in the New Crimea

By Taras Berezovets

Sixteen months after Russia’s March 2014 annexation of Crimea, the peninsula’s human rights situation is getting progressively worse. The first wave of repression targeted mainly pro-Ukrainian activists and Crimean Tatars, while in 2015 the Kremlin’s victims have been Slavs: Ukrainians and Russians. Since early this year, Russian authorities have forcibly resettled thousands of self-sufficient businessmen […]

Russia Ukraine