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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

Ukraine Debt Deal Could Spark Chain Reaction

UkraineAlert
Jan 20, 2026

Ukraine’s best security guarantee is the ability to strike back inside Russia

By
Serhii Kuzan

With Kyiv’s Western allies unlikely to risk war with Russia, Ukraine’s most realistic security guarantee remains a strong military coupled with the ability to strike targets deep inside Russia, writes Serhii Kuzan.

Conflict
Defense Policy

Ukraine Debt Deal Could Spark Chain Reaction

UkraineAlert
Jan 15, 2026

Veterans can shape the future of Ukrainian democracy

By
Vasyl Sehin

The participation of military veterans in Ukraine’s political life has the potential to dramatically strengthen Ukrainian democracy and safeguard the country’s historic transition from centuries of Russian autocracy, writes Vasyl Sehin.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

Ukraine Debt Deal Could Spark Chain Reaction

UkraineAlert
Jan 8, 2026

Ukraine’s robot army will be crucial in 2026 but drones can’t replace infantry

By
David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s growing robot army of land drones will play a vital role in the country’s defense during 2026, but they are not wonder weapons and cannot serve as a miracle cure for Kyiv’s manpower shortages, writes David Kirichenko.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Oct 8, 2024

Ending Russian impunity: Why Ukraine needs justice as well as security

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Kateryna Odarchenko, Lesia Zaburanna</span>

Failing to hold Russia accountable for war crimes committed in Ukraine would set a disastrous precedent for the future of international security and would create the conditions for more war, write Kateryna Odarchenko and Lesia Zaburanna.


Civil Society

Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2024

Ukraine is slowly but steadily weakening Russia’s grip on Crimea

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Serhii Kuzan</span>

With international attention firmly fixed on the Russian army’s advances in eastern Ukraine and the Ukrainian invasion of Russia’s Kursk region, Ukraine is also making progress toward weakening Russia's grip on Crimea, writes Serhii Kuzan.


Conflict

Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2024

Kyiv’s allies should boost Ukraine’s ability to strike deep inside Russia

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >David Kirichenko</span>

With Kyiv's partners still reluctant to lift restrictions on attacks inside Russia using Western weapons, one obvious solution would be to enhance Ukraine's ability to strike Russian targets using domestically-produced Ukrainian weapons, writes David Kirichenko.


Conflict

Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Oct 1, 2024

Ukraine needs international investors to maintain defense tech momentum

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Mykhailo Fedorov</span>

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


UkraineAlert

Oct 1, 2024

Russia’s political prisoners must not be forgotten

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Leonid Gozman</span>

The international community must not forget the more than one thousand Russian political prisoners currently incarcerated by the Kremlin, writes Leonid Gozman.


Conflict

Freedom and Prosperity


UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2024

Putin will keep escalating his nuclear blackmail until it stops working

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert">Peter Dickinson</span>

More than two and half years since the start of Russia’s Ukraine invasion, it should now be abundantly clear that Vladimir Putin will continue escalating his nuclear blackmail until it stops working, writes Peter Dickinson.


Arms Control

Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2024

History is a key battleground in the Russian invasion of Ukraine

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert">Benton Coblentz</span>

Vladimir Putin has weaponized history to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The international community can combat this by committing more resources to the study of Ukrainian history, writes Benton Coblentz.


Civil Society

Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 24, 2024

There can be no sustainable peace in Europe without security for Ukraine

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Mykola Bielieskov</span>

A compromise peace that rewards Putin with around 20 percent of Ukraine would only embolden Moscow and set the stage for further Russian aggression in Ukraine and beyond, writes Mykola Bielieskov.


Conflict

Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2024

Ukraine’s expanding drone fleet is flying straight through Putin’s red lines

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Giorgi Revishvili</span>

Ukraine's rapidly expanding campaign of long-range drone strikes is flying straight through Vladimir Putin's red lines and could help persuade Kyiv's Western partners to lift restrictions on attacks inside Russia, writes Giorgi Revishvili.


Conflict

Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2024

Compromising with the Kremlin in Ukraine will only embolden Putin

By
<span class="gta-embed–tax–expert gta-post-embed–tax–expert" >Kateryna Odarchenko, Elena Davlikanova</span>

JD Vance recently claimed a Trump peace plan would include letting Russia retain occupied areas of Ukraine. But any concessions to the Kremlin will only embolden Putin and invite more war, write Kateryna Odarchenko and Elena Davlikanova.


Conflict

European Union

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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

Ukraine Debt Deal Could Spark Chain Reaction

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

Ukraine Debt Deal Could Spark Chain Reaction

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

Ukraine Debt Deal Could Spark Chain Reaction

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

May 4, 2015

Ukraine Debt Deal Could Spark Chain Reaction

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Yuri Poluneev</span>

Ukraine’s economy is in crisis. Experts warn that the country’s gross domestic product could shrink by 6 to 12 percent and inflation could exceed 40 percent in 2015, although one prominent economist put that figure in triple digits already. The war in eastern Ukraine has throttled the country’s industrial capacity. To prevent the country from […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2015

Ukraine’s Volunteer Battalions Must Join the Military or Sheath the Sword

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Ruben Gzirian</span>

The Ukrainian army faces growing criticism from within its ranks after humiliating defeats at Debaltseve and Ilovaisk in eastern Ukraine. When fighting broke out between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists, the Ukrainian military was weak and the state had to rely on volunteers. Of the fifty thousand Ukrainian troops in the field, 22 percent are […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2015

The West’s Strategy Toward Putin Promises Conflict and Increases Danger of Wider War

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Melinda Haring</span>

Ian Brzezinski: Our policy “conveys hesitancy and a lack of unity and determination. It has failed to convince Putin to reverse course. Indeed, it may have actually emboldened him.”    The West’s current strategy toward Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine not only promises continued conflict in Ukraine but also poses an increased danger […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 28, 2015

Klitschko: Economic Success Will Unite Country

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Melinda Haring</span>

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko is no pushover. The former professional boxer turned politician has never been knocked down in a professional boxing match. Known for his powerful punches, Klitschko’s 87 percent knockout rate is the second-best knockout-to-fight ratio of any champion in heavyweight boxing history.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 27, 2015

Ukraine’s PR Problem Isn’t Just a PR Problem

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Andrew Kornbluth</span>

Ukraine has a problem with global public relations. Despite its fundamentally compelling narrative—a recent democracy defending itself against a much larger, authoritarian neighbor—the country’s efforts remain uncoordinated, unprofessional, and unfiltered. Even as the state relies on a worldwide diaspora in its struggle for survival, it shows few signs of effectively harnessing its expatriates and the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 27, 2015

Let’s Go “All In” on Ukraine

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Jeffrey Gedmin</span>

In October 1949, as the defeated forces of Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan and Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Republicans in Congress blamed Harry S. Truman for losing China. Some demanded a pivot from Europe to Asia in US foreign policy. Truman might have been persuaded a few years […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 23, 2015

Is Putin’s Russia Fascist?

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Alexander J. Motyl</span>

A growing number of Russian analysts, in Russia and abroad, have taken to calling Vladimir Putin’s regime “fascist.” And they don’t use the term casually or as a form of opprobrium. They mean that Putin’s Russia genuinely resembles Mussolini’s Italy or Hitler’s Germany.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 23, 2015

Russia’s Lone Warrior Stands Up to Putin

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Irena Chalupa</span>

Ilya Ponomarev has not slept in the same bed for more than a few nights since August 2014. The two-term legislator from Russia’s third-largest city Novosibirsk has been living in exile since Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, stripped him of parliamentary immunity.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 22, 2015

Letter: Experts Worry that “Decommunization” Laws Curtail Free Speech

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Atlantic Council </span>

Editor’s note: It’s unfortunate that in a time of critical issues that legislation that disenfranchises certain, if often extreme, points of view looks like it’s going to become law. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is expected to sign four laws on “decommunization,” recently passed by Ukraine’s parliament, which enact an official version of the nation’s 20th century […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 21, 2015

No Easy Outs for Putin: US Presidential Candidates United on Ukraine

By <span class="gta-embed--tax--expert gta-post-embed--tax--expert" >Ariel Cohen</span>

Ukraine will remain at the heart of the conflict between the US and Russia beyond the 2016 presidential election. In the polls, Americans are united on Ukraine; the majority of respondents support increased sanctions on the Kremlin. All of the major presidential candidates, save Senator Rand Paul, take a tough approach with Moscow and support […]

Russia Ukraine
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