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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

Aug 8, 2023

Odesa urgently needs an air defense upgrade as Russia escalates airstrikes

By
Michael Bociurkiw

Ukrainian Black Sea port Odesa has recently been hit by a series of Russian air attacks that have caused devastation in the city’s UNESCO-listed historic center and highlighted the need for improved air defenses, writes Michael Bociurkiw.

Conflict
Infrastructure Protection


UkraineAlert

Aug 7, 2023

Ukraine’s slow counteroffensive is a wake-up call for the West

By
Maksym Skrypchenko

Ukraine’s lack of counteroffensive progress over the past two months should serve as a wake-up call for Western leaders. Their response will shape the geopolitical landscape for decades to come, writes Maksym Skrypchenko.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2023

Agricultural obstacles may complicate Ukraine’s path toward EU membership

By
Aleksander Cwalina, Benton Coblentz

Ukraine continues to pursue EU integration even as the country defends itself against Russian invasion, but there are signs that some EU member states are not yet ready to integrate Ukraine’s powerful agricultural sector.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2023

Russia is targeting Ukrainian national identity with attacks on heritage sites

By
Mercedes Sapuppo

The Russian bombing of Odesa’s main Orthodox church in July was the latest in long line of attacks on Ukrainian heritage sites that indicate a deliberate campaign to erase Ukrainian cultural identity, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2023

Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill’s unholy war against Ukraine

By
Borys Gudziak

Russia’s Unholy War: Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill has provided the ideological justification for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Russian efforts to eliminate Ukrainian national identity.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 1, 2023

Ukraine is finally freeing itself from centuries of Russian imperialism

By
Taras Kuzio

Vladimir Putin hoped his full-scale invasion of Ukraine would mark the dawn of a new Russian Empire. Instead, it has strengthened Ukraine’s resolve to free itself from centuries of Russian imperialism, writes Taras Kuzio.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jul 31, 2023

Zelenskyy advisor: Defeat in Ukraine will spark collapse of Putin regime

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak says the Wagner mutiny has exposed Russia’s internal weakness and predicts battlefield defeats in Ukraine will spark the collapse of the Putin regime, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Jul 27, 2023

Ukraine must not forget fight against corruption while battling Russia

By
Brian Mefford

The Ukrainian fightback against Russia’s invasion has won the admiration of the watching world, but corruption continues to threaten the country from within and could undo any battlefield success, warns Brian Mefford.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jul 27, 2023

Russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children may qualify as genocide

By
Vladyslav Havrylov

Vladimir Putin has already been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court over the mass abduction of Ukrainian children. Many believe the deportations quality as genocide, writes Vladyslav Havrylov.

Civil Society
Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jul 27, 2023

Ukraine’s digital revolution is proving vital for the country’s war effort

By
Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s remarkable resilience amid the biggest European war since World War II owes much to the country’s ongoing digital revolution, writes Ukrainian Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Conflict
Cybersecurity

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 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

UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2014

US Ambassador Discusses Ukraine Crisis, OSCE Role

By Irena Chalupa

Russian-backed militants in Ukraine have detained (and ultimately released) three varied teams monitoring the crisis there under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Security threats to the monitors, including those detentions, are hampering the work of the OSCE in its role as the main international body observing and mediating in […]

OSCE Security & Defense

UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2014

DIRECT TRANSLATION: Dispatch from Donetsk – How a Cease-Fire Failed

By Irena Chalupa

As Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced an end to the cease-fire by government forces fighting Russian-backed militants in the Donbas region of the southeast, new accounts emerged to show how futile was the ten-day truce. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry reported that the country’s armed forces lost 27 soldiers killed and 69 wounded. And from Donetsk, the […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 26, 2014

Amid the ‘Dirty War’ in Ukraine, Hundreds Have Disappeared – and a Few Volunteers Search for Them

By Irena Chalupa

Kateryna Serhatskova, a 26-year-old Russian reporter for the Ukrainian news website Ukrainska Pravda, is becoming one of the main documenters of the “dirty war” for control of the Donbas region of southeastern Ukraine. Serhatskova, who lived for several years in Crimea, travels regularly to some of the most violent and fearful towns in the Donbas […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 23, 2014

US, EU Should Use Sanctions to Push Russia for a Single Base Price for Gas Sales to Europe

By Irena Chalupa

Former US Ambassador Bryza Urges Stepped-Up Effort to End Political Pricing by Kremlin and Gazprom  Russia has unsheathed its gas weapon again, demanding higher prices this spring from Ukraine and announcing last week a cutoff in sales to its neighbor unless paid for in advance. (As Moscow twists Ukraine’s arm over gas, it has retreated […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Jun 23, 2014

The New Ordeal of Nadiya Savchenko

By Irena Chalupa

Ukraine Military’s Most Famous Female Pilot is Now a Captive of Separatist Rebels She looks tired, her face slightly puffy, but her blue eyes are calm and clear, and she appears utterly unafraid. Dressed in military fatigues, her hair cut short, she sits in the corner of a white-tiled room, handcuffed to a set of […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 26, 2014

President-Elect Poroshenko’s Post-Election Remarks

President-elect Poroshenko makes his first remarks after Ukraine’s landmark elections. English subtitles available via close captioning, and translation available below.

Ukraine