UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine’s politics, economy, civil society, and culture. UkraineAlert sources analysis and commentary from a wide-array of thought-leaders, politicians, experts, and activists from Ukraine and the global community. UkraineAlert has become a major publication in Ukraine’s news landscape and has established itself not only through its quality of content but also significant partnerships with English, Ukrainian, and Russian-language media through the country.

Stay Updated

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

Exiled Russian Lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev: Current US Sanctions Won’t Work

UkraineAlert
Sep 3, 2026

Putin cannot defeat NATO but he could divide and discredit the alliance

By
Peter Dickinson

If Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to attack NATO, his goal will be to divide and discredit the alliance rather than actually defeating it, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy

Exiled Russian Lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev: Current US Sanctions Won’t Work

UkraineAlert
Aug 27, 2026

Ukrainians are not superheroes with endless powers of resilience

By
Lauren Van Metre, Elena Davlikanova

By celebrating Ukrainian resilience as an almost superhuman quality, the international community risks obscuring the much less glamorous reality that Ukrainians are actually ordinary people who have endured extraordinary violence for far too long, write Lauren Van Metre and Elena Davlikanova.

Civil Society
Conflict

Exiled Russian Lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev: Current US Sanctions Won’t Work

UkraineAlert
Aug 25, 2026

A cultural renaissance is reshaping national identity in wartime Ukraine

By
Davis Richardson

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is fueling a defiant cultural outpouring that is redefining and strengthening Ukrainian national identity in ways that challenge centuries of Kremlin imperialism, writes Davis Richardson.

Civil Society
Conflict

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Jul 13, 2020

East Ukraine’s European roots and the myths of Putin’s Russian World

By
Alvydas Medalinskas

Moscow has sought to justify the war in eastern Ukraine by claiming it historically belongs within the "Russian World", but this ignores the region's deep Ukrainian roots and cosmopolitan heritage.


Conflict

Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Jul 10, 2020

Central bank chief’s political ouster discredits Ukraine

By
Anders Åslund

In June, Ukraine secured a vital new IMF program. Continued National Bank of Ukraine independence was a key condition. However, within weeks, NBU chief Yakiv Smolii resigned citing political pressure.


Economy & Business

International Financial Institutions


UkraineAlert

Jul 9, 2020

Coronavirus chaos reigns at front line checkpoints in Russian-occupied Ukraine

By
Eric Fritz

A climate of confusion over coronavirus-related checkpoint crossing procedures is creating havoc and adding to the hardships of civilians living close to the front lines of the Russo-Ukrainian War.


Coronavirus

Crisis Management


UkraineAlert

Jul 8, 2020

Containing the Kremlin: Why the West must rethink policy towards a revisionist Russia

By
Oleksii Reznikov

After more than five years of deadlock in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, it is obvious that fresh approaches are needed in order to end the war on Europe’s eastern frontier and contain the Kremlin.


Conflict

NATO Partnerships


UkraineAlert

Jul 8, 2020

Ukrainian resorts see 30% growth as coronavirus crisis boosts domestic tourism

By
Peter Dickinson

With international travel still heavily restricted due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Ukraine's Black Sea holiday resorts are experiencing a major boost as Ukrainians spend their vacations closer to home.


Coronavirus

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jul 6, 2020

Czar Putin wants a new age of empires

By
Nataliia Popovych and Danylo Lubkivsky

In both word and deed, Putin has made it clear that he rejects today’s rules-based international order and seeks to reverse the verdict of 1991. His vision for a new age of empires represents an existential challenge to the West.


Conflict

Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Jul 2, 2020

Analysis: Ukraine’s central bank governor quits post citing “political pressure”

By
Peter Dickinson

National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Governor Yakiv Smolii submitted his resignation on July 1 in what was widely seen as a major blow to Ukraine’s reform agenda. What does this mean for the country’s future direction?


Economy & Business

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2020

Ukraine’s central bank chief resigns leaving Zelenskyy’s reform credentials in tatters

By
Anders Åslund

Ukraine’s reform agenda suffered a serious blow on July 1 when Yakiv Smolii, the highly respected governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), resigned due to what he called “systematic political pressure.”


Financial Regulation

Macroeconomics


UkraineAlert

Jun 30, 2020

Ukraine’s powerful Interior Minister Avakov under fire over police reform failures

By
Liliane Bivings

Ukraine's post-2014 police reforms were initially hailed as a success but have since unraveled alarmingly. Many now blame powerful Interior Minister Arsen Avakov for blocking genuine law enforcement reform.


Political Reform

Rule of Law


UkraineAlert

Jun 29, 2020

How fake news helped hide Soviet genocide in Ukraine

By
Georgiy Kent

Stalin’s man-made famine in 1930s Ukraine ranks as one of the worst crimes of the twentieth century but it remains relatively unknown. The new movie "Mr. Jones" seeks to counter decades of disinformation.


Disinformation

Media

Load More

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

Exiled Russian Lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev: Current US Sanctions Won’t Work

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

Exiled Russian Lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev: Current US Sanctions Won’t Work

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

Exiled Russian Lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev: Current US Sanctions Won’t Work

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.

Learn more

Follow us on social media
and support our work

support our work

Content

UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2015

Exiled Russian Lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev: Current US Sanctions Won’t Work

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The United States must expand the scope of its sanctions well beyond Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle if this effort—a response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine—is to have any real impact, says a Russian lawmaker. “The [US] government machine is doing what it can do, but […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 27, 2015

To Prevent Global Catastrophe, Putin Must Go

By Leonid Gozman

The minority of Russians who have not been zombified by official propaganda and who still have any clue about what is really going on in the world—rather than just on television—already know Russia is hurtling toward full-blown catastrophe, though the details might be up for debate. Will the collapse come next month, or more like […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 27, 2015

Things Are Looking Up for Ukraine: Debt Deal Reached

By Anders Åslund

Today Ukraine received great news. Private owners of $19 billion of Ukraine’s Eurobonds have agreed to a substantial debt restructuring that will give Ukraine much-needed relief. The high bond yields have been sharply reduced, the bonds’ maturities have been prolonged, and the face value of the bonds has been reduced by 20 percent. According to […]

Eastern Europe Russia

UkraineAlert

Aug 25, 2015

How the West Can Stop Russia’s Escalating War in Ukraine

By Maksym Khylko

This month, Russia stepped up military pressure on Ukraine, concentrating about fifty thousand troops along its border with Ukraine, using its proxy militias to shell Ukrainian government positions in the Donbas, and threatening Kyiv with “a big war.” The current escalation indicates Russian discontent with Ukraine’s refusal to make unilateral concessions such as allowing the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 20, 2015

Russia, Not Ukraine, is the Questionable Partner

By Melinda Haring

In its August 12 editorial, “Shaky Ukraine: Economics and Corruption Complicate Its War,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette calls Ukraine a “questionable partner” because of “resistance to economic reform and use of Islamist Chechen forces.” Too bad neither charge is true.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 19, 2015

The Soviet Playbook in Ukraine

By Aaron Korwea

It appears that Russian President Vladimir Putin is losing the war in Ukraine. Gone are the talks about seizing so-called Novorossiya—the strip of land from Kharkiv to Odesa—and establishing a land bridge to occupied Crimea. Even though recent developments suggest a possible offensive to expand the territory Russia and its proxies now hold, perhaps with […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2015

“We want Ukraine to be a European country, not a Putin country,” Says Ukrainian MP

By Diane M. Francis

World attention focuses on ISIS and Iran, with its half an atomic weapon. But the biggest geopolitical issue is Vladimir Putin, backed by thousands of nuclear weapons, who is gradually conquering Ukraine, a democracy with 45 million people the size of Germany and Poland combined. In just over a year, Russia has seized 9 percent […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2015

Ukraine’s Fall Elections Matter More Than You Think

By Brian Mefford

With less than 80 days before election day in Ukraine, mayoral races are already heating up. Parliament approved a new election law that does two things: Ukraine will use an open-list system and the country will hold runoffs for mayors in larger cities. These two features combined with the potential decentralization reforms being debated by […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2015

Ukraine Must Finish Reforming Public Procurement Practices as Part of Anti-Corruption Drive

By Josh Cohen

As Ukraine struggles with a collapsing economy and Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas, a third crisis threatens its long-term national stability: endemic corruption. Ukraine ranks 142nd out of 175 countries on Transparency International’s latest annual Corruption Perceptions Index. Of the fifteen former Soviet republics, only Tajikistan and Uzbekistan score lower. Official graft is widespread, but […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 13, 2015

Russia’s Occupation of Ukraine Still Top Threat to Global Security

By Stephen Blank

Recent articles in the US media suggest that the Pentagon is “rebalancing” its forces towards Europe to meet the Russian challenge. At the same time, NATO plans to halve the number of air patrols over the Baltic. Supposedly the Russian threat to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania has ebbed, and governments are finally stepping up to […]

NATO Russia
Load More