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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

Nov 14, 2022

Ukraine needs urgent help to counter Putin’s energy infrastructure attacks

By
Aura Sabadus

Ukraine urgently needs international support in order to counter Moscow’s campaign of airstrikes against the country’s energy infrastructure and prevent Putin from freezing Ukrainians into submission this winter.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Nov 10, 2022

US national interests are best served by stopping Vladimir Putin in Ukraine

By
Steven Pifer

As Ukraine defends itself against a full-scale Russian invasion, continued American support is not only the morally correct position but also in the national interests of the United States, writes Steven Pifer.

Conflict
Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion


UkraineAlert

Nov 10, 2022

Battle of Kherson: Russian retreat confirms Putin is losing the war

By
Andriy Zagorodnyuk

The war is still far from over, but Ukraine’s victory in the Battle of Kherson may eventually come to be seen as one of the key turning points in the defeat of Vladimir Putin’s invasion, writes Andriy Zagorodnyuk.

Conflict
Freedom and Prosperity


UkraineAlert

Nov 9, 2022

Putin suffers humiliating defeat as Russia announces Kherson retreat

By
Peter Dickinson

Russia’s retreat from Kherson is a turning point in the invasion of Ukraine and a personal humiliation for Vladimir Putin just weeks after he declared that the city had joined the Russian Federation “forever.”

Conflict
Human Rights


UkraineAlert

Nov 8, 2022

NATO, Nazis, Satanists: Putin is running out of excuses for his imperial war

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin has blamed his invasion on everything from NATO expansion to Nazis and Satanists. In reality, he is waging an old-fashioned war of imperial expansion with the end goal of extinguishing Ukrainian statehood.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Nov 7, 2022

The international community must prepare for a post-Putin Russia

By
Francis M. O’Donnell

With little hope of a meaningful settlement as long as Vladimir Putin remains in power, the international community should seek pathways to a lasting peace with a future post-Putin Russia, writes Francis O’Donnell.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Nov 3, 2022

Will next week’s midterm elections impact US support for Ukraine?

By
Peter Dickinson

US backing for Ukraine has been crucial for the country’s fight back against Putin’s invasion but the campaign leading up to next week’s US midterm elections suggests American support cannot be taken for granted.

Conflict
Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Nov 3, 2022

Russia hopes a winter wave of Ukrainian refugees will divide Europe

By
Kristen Taylor

Russia’s campaign of airstrikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure aims to spark a humanitarian crisis and fuel a new winter season refugee wave that Moscow hopes will undermine European support for Ukraine.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Nov 1, 2022

Should Ukraine pursue closer ties with Taiwan?

By
Michael Druckman

In recent years China has emerged as Ukraine’s leading trade partner but the war unleashed by Vladimir Putin has created a geopolitical climate where closer Taiwan-Ukraine ties may make sense, writes Michael Druckman.

Conflict
Digital Policy


UkraineAlert

Nov 1, 2022

Putin’s failing Ukraine invasion proves Russia is no superpower

By
Taras Kuzio

Vladimir Putin’s failing Ukraine invasion has dramatically undermined the credibility of modern Russia’s Great Power pretensions and exposed the dysfunctional reality behind the Kremlin’s claims to superpower status.

Conflict
Disinformation

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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

May 20, 2015

Europe Needs to Help Ukraine Now

By Anders Åslund

Ukraine bleeds, but reforms impressively, while the West ignores it. The Minsk ceasefire agreement does not hold, though the intensity of the fighting has faded. In mid-March, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) doubled Ukraine’s international reserves, but the country’s finances remain fragile. Europe’s central banks should provide a large swap credit with minimum risks to […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 19, 2015

The West’s Failure of Nerve

By Stephen Blank

Poland and the Baltic states intend to ask NATO to station a battalion or even larger units on their territory. The Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—want a brigade so that each country can host a battalion or permanent rotational forces. Poland’s Foreign Minister, Grzegorz Schetyna, indicated that his government would request the permanent stationing of […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 19, 2015

Remembering Roman

By Melinda Haring and Simon Hoellerbauer

Every Memorial Day, friends leave small bottles of Jack Daniel’s and an American flag on Roman Kupchinsky’s gravestone in Arlington National Cemetery. Kupchinsky was a warrior, both on and off the battlefield. A man of passion who fought for his ideals with a singular determination, he devoted his life to seeing Ukraine become free. He […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 14, 2015

Four Reasons to Be Hopeful About Ukraine’s Economy

By Yuriy Gorodnichenko

Ukraine’s current economic crisis was years in the making. Former President Viktor Yanukovych grossly mismanaged and looted the country. And it may take years for the country to fully recover. But there are signs that the economy has reached the lowest point and its prospects are brighter than commonly portrayed in the press.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 13, 2015

Imposing Costs on Putin Will Deter War

By John E. Herbst

“Russia and America: Stumbling to War,” a recent National Interest article by Graham Allison and Dimitri Simes, commands attention because of the gravity of the issue and the stature of its authors. Allison is a leading authority on great power relations, and Dimitri Simes is a scholar with deep connections to the elites running Russia.

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 13, 2015

Crimean Tatars: ‘We did not reject Russia, Russia rejected us’

By Catherine Cosman

On May 18, 1944, Joseph Stalin deported more than 180,000 Crimean Tatars to Uzbekistan. Once again this community faces major challenges. Today, 230,000 Crimean Tatars, who are mainly Sunni Muslims, represent about 12 percent of Crimea’s population. Virtually all of Crimea’s Tatars opposed Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and refused to vote in […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 12, 2015

Russia Has Complete Information Dominance in Ukraine

By James J. Coyle

Hackers have consistently used low-level cyber warfare tactics to advance Russian goals in Ukraine. A dedicated group of hackers successfully infected the e-mail systems of the Ukrainian military, counterintelligence, border patrol, and local police. The hackers use a spear-phishing attack in which malware is hidden in an attachment that appears to be an official Ukrainian […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 7, 2015

‘Russian Propaganda is Really Working,’ Warns Crimean Activist

By Melinda Haring

Activist Urges US Government to Step Up Efforts in Crimea Russia has banned Taras Berezovets from visiting his family in Crimea. His crime: launching Free Crimea, a nongovernmental organization focused on disseminating impartial information about Crimea, in December 2014. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) considers it an extremist organization.

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 7, 2015

When the Kremlin Makes An Offer You Can’t Refuse

By Stephen Blank

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has multiple dimensions, and the energy dimension is one that has been underestimated. Russia has sought to make Ukraine dependent on its abundant energy since 2006. The reason is simple: Russia wants economic and political control over Ukraine and it wants to enmesh Ukraine’s government and elites in a web of […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 6, 2015

The Dog That Finally Barked? Separatism and Hybrid Warfare in Ukraine

By Emmet C. Tuohy

Kremlin Targets Sleepy Corner of Europe with Hybrid Tactics No part of Europe is too obscure for the Kremlin’s machinations. On April 6 in Odessa, a group claiming to represent ethnic minorities in southwestern Ukraine founded the National Council of Bessarabia (NRB). Released on a Russian-registered website, the NRB’s manifesto decrying “discrimination” and calling for […]

Russia
Ukraine