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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

Oct 21, 2021

Now is the moment to transform Ukraine

By
Kristina Kvien, Matti Maasikas, Melinda Simmons

Ukraine is on the verge of achieving a breakthrough towards judicial reform and transforming the rule of law situation in the country but President Zelenskyy must demonstrate the political will to overcome opposition.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 21, 2021

Ukraine strengthens independence of key anti-corruption agency

By
Anastasia Radina

Ukrainian MPs adopted a landmark law on October 19 that will safeguard the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the key agency in the country’s struggle against corruption.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2021

Putin’s Ukraine war is world’s worst-kept secret but he remains in denial

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian President Vladimir Putin's refusal to acknowledge his country's involvement in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine makes progress towards peace virtually impossible.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Oct 19, 2021

Russia is the world’s leading exporter of instability

By
Iuliia Mendel

Vladimir Putin's Russia has emerged over the past two decades as the world's leading exporter of instability via tools ranging from digital disinformation and weaponized corruption to cyber attacks and military mercenaries.


Cybersecurity


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 15, 2021

Ukraine flirts with disastrous return to gas price caps

By
Anders Åslund

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party has proposed a potentially disastrous new law to “temporarily” prohibit private companies from selling gas at commercial market prices.


Energy Markets & Governance


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Oct 14, 2021

Open Skies agreement will deepen Ukraine’s European integration

By
Peter Dickinson

The Open Skies aviation agreement signed in Kyiv on October 12 will strengthen connectivity between Ukraine and the EU while significantly enhancing Ukraine's ongoing European integration.


Economy & Business


European Union


UkraineAlert

Oct 14, 2021

Old problems threaten Ukraine’s new Bureau of Economic Security

By
Victor Tregubov

Ukraine is currently in the process of reforming the country’s tax police. While there was much initial optimism earlier this year over the creation of a Bureau of Economic Security, familiar concerns are now creeping in as this new agency slowly takes shape.


Corruption


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Oct 14, 2021

Ukraine hopes industrial parks can attract international investors

By
Oleksii Chernyshov

President Zelenskyy recently signed off on a series of amendments to Ukrainian legislation on industrial parks as part of an initiative to establish a network of 25 flagship industrial parks across the country.


Economy & Business


Trade and tariffs


UkraineAlert

Oct 12, 2021

Medvedev echoes Putin’s dangerous Ukraine obsession

By
Peter Dickinson

Former Russian president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev has penned a vitriolic essay attacking the current Ukrainian leadership that underlines the scale of Moscow's dangerous obsession with the loss of Ukraine.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 11, 2021

Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy must prove he is serious about judicial reform

By
Mykhailo Zhernakov, Nestor Barchuk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's reputation as a reformer hinges on his ability to deliver on promises to transform Ukraine's discredited judiciary and achieve a breakthrough towards the rule of law in the country.


Corruption


Political Reform

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

Jul 15, 2015

What Ukraine Can Learn From Poland

By Oksana Khomei

When the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991, both Poland and Ukraine were poor. Since then, the Polish economy has boomed, while Ukrainians are poorer than they were twenty-four years ago. Poland got its reforms right in the 1990s, and now plays a significant role in Ukraine’s reform process. This is evident in the close relations […]

Poland Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 14, 2015

Here’s How to Make Sense of the Violence in Western Ukraine: Follow the Money

By John E. Herbst

Ukraine made headlines again when a nationalist group and police in the western city of Mukachevo exchanged gunfire that killed three on June 11. A group of 21 armed members of Right Sector seized a sports complex owned by Member of Parliament Mikhail Lanyo and reportedly beat and shot one of his employees in the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 14, 2015

Greek Crisis ‘Diverts Attention’ from Kyiv

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Ukraine’s Economy Minister: Unlike Greece, Ukraine is embracing reforms The Greek financial crisis has diverted global attention away from Ukraine, but it also “sheds a positive light” on the Kyiv government’s achievements, Ukrainian Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius said in a July 14 interview. “Greece is rejecting reforms, and we are embracing reforms,” said Abromavicius, who […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 13, 2015

Ukraine Must Put Reform Agenda in Overdrive While There’s Still Time

By Anders Åslund

Kyiv is vibrant with intellectual and political discussions. As after any revolution the debate is about what is wrong and what should be done. Policy people acknowledge that reforms are proceeding but too slowly, while a typical business verdict is that corruption is as bad as before, but it has become more disorganized, since the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 13, 2015

Here’s Why European Disunity is a Greater Threat to Ukraine Than Russia

By Aaron Korewa

As the Greek tragedy unfolds, many Europeans seem to have forgotten that for the first time since the end of World War II, a country is trying to redraw European borders by force. Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support for rebels in eastern Ukraine is, by far, Europe’s most serious security crisis since the […]

Germany Russia

UkraineAlert

Jul 13, 2015

Ukraine’s Dangerous Drive to Decentralize

By Maksym Khylko

Here’s Why the West Should Stop Pushing Decentralization Now  In the coming days the Ukrainian parliament is expected to debate a draft law that would amend Ukraine’s Constitution on decentralization to expand local governments’ powers. The West has enthusiastically encouraged Ukraine to embrace decentralization, provide special status for the Donbas, and hold local elections in […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 8, 2015

Here’s Why More Ukrainians Admire Nationalists, and Why the West Shouldn’t Freak Out

By Alexander J. Motyl

Here’s a suggestion that will strike you as either painfully obvious or unnecessarily cumbersome. If you really want to understand contemporary Ukraine and Ukrainians, you need to know Ukrainian. If you accept that point, then discard all the writings by linguistically challenged analysts incapable of delving deeper into the Ukrainian psyche—and then go see two […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 8, 2015

Repression of Crimean Tatars Intensifies Under Russia, Says New Turkish Report

By Melinda Haring

Russian authorities have forced Crimean Tatars to become Russian citizens and curtailed their freedoms of speech, language, education, and residence—as well as their right to a fair trial. That’s according to an independent group of Turkish scholars sent to Crimea to investigate human rights violations after Russia annexed the peninsula on March 18, 2014.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 8, 2015

Here’s Why Armenia Is Not Ukraine

By Sabine Freizer

The Electric Yerevan protest officially ended July 7, two weeks after it began as a reaction to the Armenian government’s 16.7 percent increase in electricity prices. But the social movement behind it will likely continue influencing Armenia until the country makes serious political reforms. Thousands marched on Yerevan’s Baghramyan Avenue—a main artery fronting the presidential […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

Jul 6, 2015

Ukraine Is More Important Than Greece

By Anders Åslund

For one year, Russia has pursued a long, costly war of aggression against Ukraine. Its objective is obvious: to destabilize Ukraine so that the new democratic regime fails. Therefore, the West should adjust its goals accordingly to offer Ukraine financial support. The Kremlin has presented one false objective after the other for this aggression. On […]

Russia Ukraine