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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

Jan 11, 2021

US sanctions Giuliani-linked Ukrainians over Russian bid to influence 2020 election

By
Anders Åslund

The US Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on seven Ukrainians who stand accused of meddling in the recent American presidential election campaign on behalf of Russia.


Elections


Russia


UkraineAlert

Jan 9, 2021

Russia remains unwilling to end seven-year Ukraine war

By
Oleksii Reznikov

Ukraine has repeatedly demonstrated its readiness to make compromises in order to secure peace with Russia but Moscow has so far refused to reciprocate, argues Ukraine's Deputy PM Oleksii Reznikov.


Conflict


Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding


UkraineAlert

Jan 7, 2021

How to improve EU-Ukraine energy cooperation in 2021

By
Olga Bielkova

Ukraine's GTSOU gas transportation system operator is hoping to expand cooperation with European partners in 2021 as part of efforts to diversify beyond the prior focus on Russian gas transit to EU markets.


Eastern Europe


Energy Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jan 7, 2021

What is Ukraine’s economic outlook for 2021?

By
Anders Åslund

Without judicial reform or an increase in investment, there is little reason to expect any economic growth in Ukraine during 2021 beyond the gains arising from the post-coronavirus rebound.


Coronavirus


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Jan 7, 2021

Ukraine counting on Biden’s support in struggle against Russian authoritarianism

By
Kira Rudik

Many Ukrainians have high hopes for US President-elect Joe Biden. They see cause for encouragement in Biden’s nuanced understanding of Ukrainian affairs honed through years of engagement.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jan 5, 2021

All roads lead to Ukraine in Putin’s global hybrid war

By
Peter Dickinson

For the past seven years, Russia has been waging a campaign of hybrid hostilities against the West. This confrontation began in Ukraine, and events in Ukraine remain central to what has become a new Cold War.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Jan 2, 2021

US imposes new sanctions to kill off Putin’s pet pipeline

By
Diane Francis

New US sanctions look set to thwart Russian efforts to complete a strategically important natural gas pipeline that would greatly strengthen the Kremlin's control over European energy supplies.


European Union


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Dec 22, 2020

Death of Kharkiv mayor Kernes marks end of era

By
Brian Mefford

The recent death of long-serving Kharkiv mayor Hennadiy Kernes marks the end of an era for the eastern Ukrainian city and ushers in a period of political jockeying in the months ahead.


Coronavirus


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Dec 21, 2020

Ukraine’s education reforms are at risk of politicization

By
Andrew D’Anieri

The controversial recent confirmation of Serhiy Shkarlet as Ukrainian Minister of Education has dragged the country's ambitious education sector reform agenda firmly into the political fray.


Education


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Dec 21, 2020

Ukraine on trial

By
Adrian Karatnycky

Fears are mounting that the prosecution of Maidan protest movement leader Tetyana Chornovol on murder charges is an attempt to put Ukraine's entire future as a European democracy on trial.


Democratic Transitions


Resilience & Society

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

Oct 26, 2015

As Ukraine Moves Toward Decentralization, Challenges Loom

By Alina Polyakova

Kyiv, Ukraine – On Sunday, October 25, Ukrainians went to the polls to elect mayors and representatives to municipal councils. Under normal circumstances, local elections would go more or less unnoticed by international observers, but with no elections taking place in occupied territories, including Crimea and the Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples’ Republics, these are far […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 23, 2015

Imperial Gamble Doesn’t Pay Off: New Book Gets Ukraine’s History Wrong

By Alexei Sobchenko

In his new book, Imperial Gamble: Putin, Ukraine and the New Cold War, the renowned American journalist Marvin Kalb touches on an issue outside his traditional area of expertise in domestic politics: the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and its implications for US-Russia relations.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2015

Battle to End Pharma Corruption Makes Progress, Needs Push

By Josh Cohen

As the ceasefire in the Donbas takes hold, Ukraine can now face its other existential threat: the endemic corruption that threatens the country’s long-term stability and prosperity. While graft within the Ukrainian government is widespread, corruption is perhaps most threatening in the area of government procurement. Public procurement corruption costs Kyiv billions, with as much […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2015

Ukrainians Face Another Election Headache

By Irena Chalupa

People are more important than political interests. This party will never betray you. Fair wages and pensions. People, not politicians. Let’s unite for Ukraine! Order and justice. These are just a few of the messages blaring at Kyiv residents from billboards. Ukraine’s capital is awash with campaign tents manned by students and retirees wearing smocks […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 20, 2015

“No Fighting” in Ukraine Is Not “Peace”

By Aaron Korewa

The main problem with the West’s approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin is that it doesn’t seem to know who it’s dealing with. In an excellent article in Foreign Policy, Raymond Tanter states the bleatingly obvious—the Russian leader is nothing but a bully and should be treated as such. While the United States and Europe […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2015

Europe’s Refugee Crisis Shows Ukraine’s Resilience

By Colin Cleary

Ukraine Has Absorbed 1.5 Million Displaced; Soon It Must Employ Them With Europe awash in more than a half-million refugees from Middle Eastern and other wars, it might be easy to overlook Ukraine’s response to its own population—nearly three times the size, at 1.5 million—displaced by the Russian-backed war in the east. More than 18 […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2015

Ukrainians Eager to Go to Polls

By Brian Mefford

In less than a week, Ukrainians go to the polls to elect mayors, city councils, and regional councils, and they’re eager to do so. A recent poll carried out by the International Republican Institute found that 75 percent of Ukrainians are very likely or somewhat likely to vote on October 25. A new law requires […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2015

Ukraine Can Beat Its Political Corruption

By Anders Åslund

Ukraine’s politics suffer from a vicious circle of corruption. Its elections are extremely expensive. Large amounts of gray and black funds are needed to finance them. Criminals, called gray cardinals, handle this black financing, extracted from the state treasury and state companies. To corrupt all, the gray cardinals and their political allies insist on tiny […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 15, 2015

New Movie Reveals Russia’s Attempts to Destroy Ukraine

By Diane Francis

Ukraine is a nation interrupted, its identity and promise stolen by invaders and predators for centuries. Ukraine’s principle oppressor has been, and remains, Russia where leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin propagate the fiction that Ukraine is “little Russia.” But the two are distinctive and the Ukrainian language is as different from Russian as is […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 14, 2015

Why Crimea’s Blockade is Necessary

By Maksym Bugriy

Since September 20, Crimean Tatar activists and other protesters—mostly from Right Sector—have been blockading the flow of goods from mainland Ukraine to Crimea. The Kyiv government has neither formally supported nor criticized the move. The reaction among analysts, observers, and bloggers has been mixed—from enthusiasm to caution and even downright criticism.

Russia Ukraine