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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

Sep 4, 2025

Ukrainian bombing campaign turns Russia’s sheer size into a weakness

By
David Kirichenko 

For centuries, Russia’s sheer size has been its greatest asset. Ukraine now intends to transform this vastness into a weakness with a long-range bombing campaign targeting Putin’s economically vital but vulnerable energy industry, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Drones


UkraineAlert

Sep 3, 2025

Europe’s best security guarantee against Russia is the Ukrainian army

By
Elena Davlikanova, Yevhen Malik

With Europe militarily unprepared and deeply reluctant to confront the Kremlin, a strong Ukraine currently looks to be by far the most realistic deterrent against further Russian aggression, write Elena Davlikanova and Yevhenii Malik.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Sep 2, 2025

Putin’s failed summer offensive shatters the myth of inevitable Russian victory

By
Peter Dickinson

The failure of Putin’s summer offensive should help to debunk the persistent myth of inevitable Russian victory and persuade Western leaders to increase their support for the Ukrainian war effort, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Sep 2, 2025

Hungary has alternative energy options but chooses to rely on Russia

By
Aura Sabadus

Ukraine’s recent strikes on the Kremlin’s Druzhba oil pipeline are not only an attack on Russia’s war economy. They are also a wake-up call for Hungarians highlighting the role being played by their country in the funding of Russia’s invasion, writes Aura Sabadus.

Conflict
Economic Sanctions


UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2025

Putin wants to capture Ukraine’s crucial fortress belt without a fight

By
Mykola Bielieskov

As US-led efforts to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine struggle to gain momentum, Vladimir Putin’s latest territorial demands include the surrender of strategically vital and heavily fortified Ukrainian land in the east of the country, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2025

Russia attacks Zelenskyy’s legitimacy to derail US-led Ukraine peace talks

By
Serhii Savelii

Moscow’s efforts to portray Zelenskyy as illegitimate fall apart when weighed against Ukraine’s Constitution and the country’s political practice, along with international precedents and legal tradition, writes Serhii Savelii.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Aug 25, 2025

Putin’s hybrid war against Europe continues to escalate

By
Maksym Beznosiuk

While international attention focuses on faltering US-led efforts to broker a peace deal and end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s broader hybrid war against Europe continues to escalate, writes Maksym Beznosiuk.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Aug 21, 2025

Putin is facing a fuel crisis as Ukraine escalates attacks on Russian refineries

By
David Kirichenko

Historically, Russia’s sheer size has always been considered one of its main strengths. By launching waves of airstrikes across the country, Ukraine now intends to exploit this vastness and transform it into Russia’s greatest weakness, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Aug 21, 2025

Sorry, Trump, but Putin will not pursue peace until he is facing military defeat

By
Elena Davlikanova, Yevhen Malik

Following the recent Alaska and White House summits, it should now be abundantly clear that Russia will continue to reject Trump’s peace overtures until Putin faces significantly more pressure to end the war, write Elena Davlikanova and Yevhen Malik.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Aug 19, 2025

A strong Ukraine is the only realistic security guarantee against Russia

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s Western partners are preparing to offer security guarantees as part of efforts to prevent further Russian aggression, but it far from clear whether Western governments would actually fight Russia on behalf of Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy

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 16, 2014

The Kremlin’s Myth About Ukraine Militias Echoes in the Baltics

By James Rupert

A Diaspora Russian Declares That 500 Pro-Kremlin Fighters Could Break Up Latvia Latvia’s government and the world’s mainstream media may have been right to publicly ignore a Latvia-born Russian named Andrey Neronsky this week when he declared that “about 500 [Donbas-style] militiamen would be enough to end the existence of Latvia as a unified state.” […]

Northern Europe Russia

UkraineAlert

Jul 14, 2014

After the West’s Retreat on Sanctions: Putin, Tanks & Missiles Escalate the War on Ukraine

By James Rupert

Kyiv Government and Local Residents Report New Tanks From Russia Entering the Fight A week after the European Union backed away from its vow to impose broad economic sanctions on Russia over the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, the government of President Vladimir Putin has intensified the assault. Ukraine’s government and independent reports say Russia has […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 11, 2014

As EU Decides Russia Sanctions July 16, Will the US Have to Lead on Its Own?

By James Rupert

Damon Wilson: White House May Have to Decide to Act Without European Union The United States has only a dwindling few days left to persuade the European Union to join it in imposing broad economic sanctions against Russia for its attacks on Ukraine. After the EU Council meets on Wednesday, July 16, the Obama administration […]

European Union International Organizations

UkraineAlert

Jul 10, 2014

Ukraine’s War Zone: Government Claims New Advances

By James Rupert

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council has issued a map showing what it says are its troops’ latest advances on the battlefield in the two southeastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk as of July 9, 2014 (at noon Ukrainian time).

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 10, 2014

Ukraine’s Female Pilot-Soldier Surfaces in a Russian Prison

By James Rupert

At age 33, Nadiya Savchenko has served her country as a paratrooper in the combat zone of Iraq, as a helicopter navigator, and as a volunteer National Guard infantrywoman in the three-month-old war against Russian-backed militias. Yesterday she surfaced in a new role – as Ukraine’s most prominent prisoner of that war, detained in a […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 7, 2014

A Day in Luhansk: Crimes and Uncertainties of War

By Tanya Lokshina, Human Rights Watch

Tanya Lokshina, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, published on July 5 an account, excerpted below, of a visit to the conflict zone in Luhansk province. Read her full report here.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 7, 2014

Ukraine, Having Seized Rebel-Held Cities, Now Must Govern Them

By James Rupert

Stabilizing a Recaptured Conflict Zone Will Test Kyiv’s Skills at Reconciliation While Ukraine’s weekend victory in seizing back two cities in Donetsk province is its biggest in the three-month war with Russian proxy forces, it immediately poses some tough new tests for the government in Kyiv. And, at a critical moment in Ukraine’s fight against […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 7, 2014

Why Ukraine Was Forced to Fight

By Damon Wilson

The West Retreated From Its Vow of Sanctions, Leaving Kyiv No Option   The Ukrainian military’s counter-offensive in southeast Ukraine suddenly has become Kyiv’s most effective response so far to the three-month-old proxy insurgency waged by Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the fight will be longer and riskier if the West continues its hesitation to […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2014

Poroshenko’s Vow to Fight Seals a Defeat for Putin

By James Rupert

President Petro Poroshenko’s cancellation of Ukraine’s cease-fire yesterday seals a strategic defeat for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Seven months after Putin strong-armed a malleable Ukrainian leader into scrapping Ukraine’s plan for closer ties to Europe, Ukraine is prepared to fight Russia to preserve exactly that choice.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2014

Opinion Poll Shows Russian Support for Arming Separatist Militants in Ukraine

By Irena Chalupa

Nearly two-thirds of Russians in a survey this month support the arming of the Russian-backed separatist fighters in southeastern Ukraine, according to the Moscow-based Levada Center for public opinion research. In other words, the Russian people are giving President Vladimir Putin the green light to do what he is doing, even as he says he […]

Ukraine