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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

Poroshenko Goes Hunting for Oligarchs

UkraineAlert
Sep 30, 2025

Putin’s dream of demilitarizing Ukraine has turned into his worst nightmare

By
Peter Dickinson

Putin had hoped to demilitarize and decapitate the Ukrainian state, but his self-defeating invasion has inadvertently created the militarily powerful and fiercely independent Ukraine he feared most of all, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

Poroshenko Goes Hunting for Oligarchs

UkraineAlert
Oct 2, 2025

Drone superpower Ukraine is teaching NATO how to defend against Russia

By
David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s unrivaled experience of drone warfare makes it a key partner for NATO and an indispensable ally in the defense of Europe as the continent faces up to the mounting threat posed by an expansionist Russia, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

Poroshenko Goes Hunting for Oligarchs

UkraineAlert
Oct 14, 2025

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are a European problem

By
Aura Sabadus

Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure are no longer just a Ukrainian problem. Moscow’s bombing campaign will become a wider European issue unless more support is offered to Kyiv, writes Aura Sabadus.

Conflict
Drones

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2022

Ukrainian priest recounts escape from Russian siege of Mariupol

By
Melinda Haring, Vladislav Davidzon

The Siege of Mariupol was the deadliest engagement so far in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian priest Father Pavel Kostel recounts his harrowing experience of escaping from the encircled city.

Conflict
Freedom and Prosperity


UkraineAlert

Sep 22, 2022

Will Ukraine invasion condemn Putin to place among Russia’s worst rulers?

By
Anders Åslund

Vladimir Putin has long dreamed of securing his place among the titans of Russian history but his disastrous Ukraine invasion now leaves him destined to be remembered as one of the country’s worst rulers.

Conflict
Corruption


UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2022

Putin’s nuclear ultimatum is a desperate bid to freeze a losing war

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine is a sign of the Russian dictator’s mounting desperation as his invasion continues to unravel and his country’s geopolitical isolation deepens.

Central Asia
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 20, 2022

Weaponizing education: Russia targets schoolchildren in occupied Ukraine

By
Oleksandr Pankieiev

The Kremlin is attempting to impose the russification of Ukrainian schoolchildren in occupied areas as part of Moscow’s campaign to extinguish Ukrainian statehood and eradicate all traces of Ukrainian national identity.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 18, 2022

Most multinationals remain in Russia and fund Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

By
Diane Francis

Despite much coverage of multinational corporations leaving the Russian market in protect over the invasion of Ukraine, in reality the majority of international companies have yet to fully exit Russia.

Conflict
Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2022

Putin’s Russian Empire is collapsing like its Soviet predecessor

By
Taras Kuzio

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was meant to extinguish the Ukrainian state once and for all. Instead, Russian influence in the post-Soviet region is in danger of receding to levels not witnessed in hundreds of years.

Belarus
Central Asia


UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2022

Putin’s self-defeating invasion turns southern Ukrainians away from Russia

By
Michael Druckman

Putin framed his Ukraine invasion as a crusade to rescue Russian-speaking Ukrainians but polling data indicates that the war has turned traditionally Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine decisively against the Kremlin.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 14, 2022

The complex reality behind Vladimir Putin’s nuclear blackmail in Ukraine

By
Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Putin’s recent efforts to blackmail European leaders by threatening a nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Ukraine reflect Russia’s use of fear and energy as foreign policy tools.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2022

Ukrainian victory shatters Russia’s reputation as a military superpower

By
Andriy Zagorodnyuk

The stunning success of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region has exposed the rotten reality behind Russia’s military superpower reputation and convinced many that a decisive Ukrainian victory is now possible.

Conflict
Corruption


UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2022

Ukraine is winning but needs weapons to end Russia’s genocidal occupation

By
Kristina Hook

Ukraine’s recent Kharkiv counteroffensive was a major breakthrough but the country’s Western partners must now deliver more weapons in order to achieve a decisive victory and end Russia’s genocidal occupation.

Conflict
Disinformation

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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

Poroshenko Goes Hunting for Oligarchs

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

Poroshenko Goes Hunting for Oligarchs

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

Poroshenko Goes Hunting for Oligarchs

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

Apr 9, 2015

Poroshenko Goes Hunting for Oligarchs

By Brian Mefford

Ukraine won an important battle in the war against the oligarchs with the removal of Dnipropetrovsk Governor Ihor Kolomoyskyi last week. But Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the Ukrainian parliament are just getting started.  On April 7 the government challenged billionaire Rinat Akhmetov’s grip on energy companies. Some parliamentarians are pushing to curb the power […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 7, 2015

Will Sanctions on Russia, Weapons for Ukrainians Keep Putin at Bay?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Former Putin advisor says they will not, advocates stronger response Western sanctions on Russia are not working and a proposal to provide defensive weapons to Ukrainian security forces will not deter the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, according to Andrei Illarionov, a former advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “For those few people who are there […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 7, 2015

Putin’s Chilling Message to the West

By Ariel Cohen

Vladimir Putin’s 10-day disappearance shortly after the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov and his triumphal reappearance after the broadcast of a 150-minute documentary on state television, suggest a more erratic—and aggressive—policy course in Russia. Here’s why. After Putin’s disappearance on March 5, the Russian media and the blogosphere dealt with little else.  However, the […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 2, 2015

The IMF’s Very Tough Love for Ukraine

By Yuriy Gorodnichenko

As Kyiv Slashes Spending, the Economy’s Real Shrinkage This Year May Be 10, Not 6, Percent The International Monetary Fund last month threw what looks like a much-improved financial lifeline to Ukraine—and indeed, the new loan program is welcome help for a desperate need. But a check on the math of one prominent IMF realist […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 31, 2015

In Ukraine, the Real Fight is for Europe

By Stephen Blank

Putin’s War is Not Over Donbas, but a New Russian Empire According to Vladimir Putin, Crimea and Ukraine are where the spiritual sources of Russia’s nationhood lie. And he “always saw the Russians and Ukrainians as a single people. I still think this way now.” People observing the crisis triggered by Putin’s aggression against Ukraine […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 31, 2015

Russia Plans Spring Offensive in Ukraine, Warns Ex-NATO Chief Wesley Clark

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Russian-backed separatists are planning a fresh offensive in eastern Ukraine that could come within a matter of months, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, warned March 30. “What is happening now is preparations for a renewed offensive from the east,” and this could take place following Orthodox Easter, on April 12, […]

NATO
Russia

UkraineAlert

Mar 26, 2015

Less-Stringent Minsk II Terms Paved the Way for Renewed Sanctions

By John E. Herbst

On March 19, delegates at the European Union Summit in Brussels agreed to extend tough sanctions against Moscow—until year’s end if necessary—to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to implement the Minsk II ceasefire. Under terms of that deal, signed on February 12, EU sanctions won’t be lifted until Ukraine takes back full control of its […]

European Union
Germany

UkraineAlert

Mar 26, 2015

Putin’s War Has Consolidated Ukraine

By Alexander Motyl

Viewed historically, the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war is the product of four deeper causes and one trigger. First, the Soviet empire’s collapse in 1991 propelled its successor state, Russia, to seek reimperialization for structural and ideological reasons. Second, the emergence of a “fascistoid” (or almost fully fascist) regime made imperial revival a central feature of Vladimir […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 26, 2015

Ukraine’s Powerful Billionaire Governor Quits After Clash With Kyiv

By New Atlanticist

Dnipropetrovsk’s Kolomoyskyi: Patriotic, Corrupt, Threatening—Or All Three? Ukrainian billionaire politician Ihor Kolomoyskyi resigned today as governor of Ukraine’s strategically critical Dnipropetrovsk province after clashing with the central government and parliament over control of two state-owned oil-sector companies. In that clash, Kolomoyskyi last week sent troops of an armed militia he controls to occupy the Kyiv […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 18, 2015

EU Will Kick the Can Down the Road on Russia Sanctions

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Europeans do not want to undermine Minsk II, says analyst European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on March 19 are unlikely to either ramp up or lift sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, says Edward W. Walker, a professor of political science at the University of California at Berkeley. “It’s very likely that […]

Russia
Ukraine
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