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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

Nemtsov Assassination Is Rooted in Putin’s Authoritarianism

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

Nemtsov Assassination Is Rooted in Putin’s Authoritarianism

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

Nemtsov Assassination Is Rooted in Putin’s Authoritarianism

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

Oct 6, 2022

Ukraine’s top NATO priority should be weapons, not fast-track membership

By
Steven Pifer

Ukraine’s recent application for fast-track NATO accession is unlikely to receive the necessary backing from alliance members but appeals for more weapons would pay dividends for Kyiv, writes Steven Pifer.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2022

Memo to Elon Musk: Only Ukrainian victory can stop Vladimir Putin

By
Doug Klain

Elon Musk recently became the latest high-profile figure to argue that Ukraine should cede land to Russia in exchange for peace. These advocates of appeasement fail to grasp the genocidal nature of Vladimir Putin’s war.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

Is Russia preparing to target vital Norwegian energy exports to Europe?

By
Thomas S. Warrick

Recent drone activity close to Norwegian energy infrastructure has sparked calls for urgent security measures to prevent potential Russian sabotage of vital oil and gas exports to Europe in the coming months.

Conflict
Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

Will Putin send mobilized Russians to Belarus for a new Kyiv offensive?

By
Alesia Rudnik

Vladimir Putin’s decision to order Russia’s first mobilization since World War II has revived fears in neighboring Belarus that the country could be dragged into the invasion of Ukraine and a new march on Kyiv.

Belarus
Civil Society


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

European unity is essential as Putin prepares to weaponize winter

By
Kira Rudik

European unity will be vital in the coming months as Russia attempts to weaponize winter in order to convince EU leaders to abandon their support for Ukraine and end their opposition to Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion.

Conflict
Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Sep 30, 2022

Putin denounces imperialism while annexing large swathes of Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially annexed four regions of Ukraine while denouncing Western imperialism and proclaiming Russia as the leader of a global “anti-colonialism movement.”

Conflict
Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2022

Referendum coverage proves media is still vulnerable to Russian disinformation

By
Peter Dickinson

International coverage of Russia’s sham referendums in occupied regions of Ukraine has served to highlight the continued influence of Kremlin disinformation at some of the world’s leading media outlets, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Sep 27, 2022

Putin threatens to increase attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure

By
Victor Kevluk

Vladimir Putin has threatened to destroy Ukrainian civilian infrastructure in a targeted campaign designed to crush the country’s will to resist the ongoing Russian invasion.

Conflict
Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2022

The West should not fear the prospect of a post-Putin Russia

By
Richard D. Hooker, Jr.

Many in the West believe the fall of Vladimir Putin would pave the way for an even more extreme successor in Moscow but post-Putin Russia may actually reject the anti-Western policies of today’s Kremlin.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2022

From the UN to The Late Show, Ukraine’s diplomats are winning

By
Pete Shmigel

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba recently quipped at the UN that “Russian diplomats flee almost as aptly as Russian soldiers.” This one-liner was typical of the creative diplomacy that is bolstering Ukraine’s war effort.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

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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

Nemtsov Assassination Is Rooted in Putin’s Authoritarianism

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

Nemtsov Assassination Is Rooted in Putin’s Authoritarianism

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

Nemtsov Assassination Is Rooted in Putin’s Authoritarianism

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

Mar 1, 2015

Nemtsov Assassination Is Rooted in Putin’s Authoritarianism

By John E. Herbst

Passive Responses to Putin Darken the Future for Ukraine—and for Russia The professional killing of Boris Nemtsov February 27 confronts us with two facts that Western policymakers ignore at great cost in the Russia-Ukraine war. First, Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine is potentially a great domestic political liability for him. Second, it is central to […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 25, 2015

The Flawed Minsk Peace Accord—And How to Use It

By Adrian Karatnycky

Truce Buys Ukraine Time to Get a Little Real Help From Its Friends Ukraine and its allies hope this month’s cease-fire deal agreed with Russia and Russian-backed rebels brings relative calm to southeastern Ukraine. But the Minsk agreement is deeply flawed, and there is every chance it may yet unravel, even if it holds for […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2015

Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Battle Slogs Ahead

By Olena Tregub

New Prosecutor Briefly Arrests an Oligarch; Anti-Corruption Bureau Seeks a Director The Ukrainian campaign to actually begin cleaning up Europe’s most corrupt government and economy is progressing more slowly than many Ukrainians have demanded. But the past week showed some movement in two critical government agencies: the prosecutor general’s office and the nascent National Anti-Corruption […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2015

Amid the ‘Cease-Fire,’ Russian Forces Win a Battle in Ukraine

By New Atlanticist

Kyiv Forced into New Retreat; US, Europe Must Increase Support, Atlantic Council Analysts Say At midday February 18, three-and-a-half days beyond the designated hour for a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, fighting was continuing in the strategic city of Debaltseve, where Russian forces continue to pound a nearly surrounded Ukrainian contingent that may still number in […]

Eastern Europe
Russia

UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2015

Ukraine’s Other War: Parliament Advances Anti-Corruption Fight

By New Atlanticist

Lawmakers Vote to End Their Immunity from Prosecution Members of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, overwhelmingly passed a bill to end their own legal immunity from prosecution, one of the main laws that for years helped Ukraine to the top of Europe’s corruption charts. Article 80 of Ukraine’s constitution protects all Rada members from prosecution […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2015

Making Ukraine’s ‘Glimmer of Hope’ Sustainable

By Sabine Freizer

If Russia Permits, the Minsk Accord Could Be a Start for Stabilizing Donbas The ceasefire agreement signed by Russia and Ukraine on in Minsk on 12 February offers what German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls “a glimmer of hope, no more no less” for constricting, and eventually ending, the war in southeast Ukraine’s Donbas region. Whether […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2015

Russia’s Ukraine War Wins it the Advantage in New Truce Deal

By John E. Herbst

‘Minsk II’ Accord Will Let Moscow Keep Pumping Arms, Fighters into Ukraine’s Donbas With thousands of Ukrainian troops nearly surrounded in Donbas by the freshly armed, Kremlin-directed rebel militias, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko accepted the Minsk II agreement February 12. The new accord is clearly less advantageous to Kyiv than was the Minsk I agreement, which […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 10, 2015

Obama-Merkel Accord Delays Talk of Arms for Ukraine’s Defense Against Russia

By John E. Herbst

Europe Signals New Negotiation With Kremlin Will Not Include New Pressures on Kyiv The Obama-Merkel summit was critical for maintaining Transatlantic unity in the face of Moscow’s escalating aggression in Ukraine. While skeptical of the Kremlin’s intentions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel would like to try another round of diplomacy to stop the fighting. That is why […]

Europe & Eurasia
Germany

UkraineAlert

Feb 10, 2015

Ukraine’s Economic Crisis is Deep; It Needs Loans Faster Than You May Think

By Yuriy Gorodnichenko

Kyiv Lacks Money for the Aggressive Reforms That Ukrainians and the West Seek The uncertainty around how much—and how soon—Ukraine might get help from international lenders is contributing to two real economic dangers facing the country: a default on its debts and a radical slashing of the budget. Ukraine’s friends—the United States and European governments—need […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 6, 2015

Amid Escalated War, U.S. Weighs Defensive Weapons for Ukraine

By New Atlanticist

France & Germany Seek to Halt the Fighting, May Use Specter of a Better-Armed Ukraine to Press Putin The Obama administration has announced no decision on whether to help Ukraine use US-made weapons to defend against Russian-sponsored attacks. But France and Germany are probing to see whether that threat might help push Russian President Vladimir […]

Ukraine
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