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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 20, 2022

Weaponizing education: Russia targets schoolchildren in occupied Ukraine

By
Oleksandr Pankieiev

The Kremlin is attempting to impose the russification of Ukrainian schoolchildren in occupied areas as part of Moscow's campaign to extinguish Ukrainian statehood and eradicate all traces of Ukrainian national identity.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 18, 2022

Most multinationals remain in Russia and fund Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

By
Diane Francis

Despite much coverage of multinational corporations leaving the Russian market in protect over the invasion of Ukraine, in reality the majority of international companies have yet to fully exit Russia.


Conflict


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2022

Putin’s Russian Empire is collapsing like its Soviet predecessor

By
Taras Kuzio

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was meant to extinguish the Ukrainian state once and for all. Instead, Russian influence in the post-Soviet region is in danger of receding to levels not witnessed in hundreds of years.


Belarus


Central Asia


UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2022

Putin’s self-defeating invasion turns southern Ukrainians away from Russia

By
Michael Druckman

Putin framed his Ukraine invasion as a crusade to rescue Russian-speaking Ukrainians but polling data indicates that the war has turned traditionally Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine decisively against the Kremlin.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 14, 2022

The complex reality behind Vladimir Putin’s nuclear blackmail in Ukraine

By
Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Putin's recent efforts to blackmail European leaders by threatening a nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Ukraine reflect Russia's use of fear and energy as foreign policy tools.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2022

Ukrainian victory shatters Russia’s reputation as a military superpower

By
Andriy Zagorodnyuk

The stunning success of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region has exposed the rotten reality behind Russia’s military superpower reputation and convinced many that a decisive Ukrainian victory is now possible.


Conflict


Corruption


UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2022

Ukraine is winning but needs weapons to end Russia’s genocidal occupation

By
Kristina Hook

Ukraine's recent Kharkiv counteroffensive was a major breakthrough but the country's Western partners must now deliver more weapons in order to achieve a decisive victory and end Russia's genocidal occupation.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Sep 11, 2022

Russia is facing defeat in Putin’s gas war against the European Union

By
Aura Sabadus

Vladimir Putin has declared an energy war against the European Union but there are growing signs that the Russian dictator may have overplayed his hand, writes Aura Sabadus.


Conflict


Energy Markets & Governance


UkraineAlert

Sep 9, 2022

Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine demands special international tribunal

By
Olena Khomenko

Ukraine is urging the international community to establish a special tribunal in order to prosecute Russia for the crime of aggression and bring an end to the impunity that is fueling the Putin regime's criminal foreign policy.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Sep 8, 2022

There can be no compromise between Russian genocide and Ukrainian freedom

By
Peter Dickinson

Calls for a negotiated peace settlement in Ukraine fail to recognize that Russia's imperial ambitions and the Kremlin's genocidal objectives render any kind of compromise incompatible with Ukrainian statehood.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions

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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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Jun 2, 2015

The Dangerous Game of Truth Telling in Ukraine

By Danielle Johnson

As commentary on Ukraine increasingly focuses on the next Russian offensive and ways to end the war, now is the time to consider how to rebuild a unified country. Any attempt to move past the violence and establish a stable basis for reform must involve a frank discussion of the past. A truth commission is […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 1, 2015

The Odesa Gambit

By Michael Hikari Cecire

Mikheil Saakashvili has a varied resume: former President of Georgia, Justice Minister, parliamentarian, senior statesman, and Ukrainian presidential adviser. On May 30, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko added another line to his CV. He named Saakaskvili regional Governor of Odesa, a vulnerable and strategic port city on the Black Sea. Despite having served in Georgia through […]

The Caucasus Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 28, 2015

Russia’s Secret Funerals

By Melinda Haring

Sgt. Leonid Kichatkin of the Russian 76th Airborne Division and Russian soldier Anton Tumanov died in August 2014 while fighting in eastern Ukraine. Their deaths amply demonstrate that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that there are no Russian troops in Ukraine is false.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 27, 2015

Putin Celebrates Stalinism. Again.

By Stephen Blank

Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 10 once again justified the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as a statesmanlike act of defending Russia’s national interests. This time Putin did so with German Chancellor Angela Merkel next to him. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact—the 1939 deal that split Eastern Europe between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany—was a death warrant for […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 26, 2015

The Disastrous EU Summit on the European Partnership

By Anders Åslund

The European Union’s Summit on the Eastern Partnership, held May 21-22 in Riga, was a disaster for Ukraine. For friends of democracy, the rule of law, and Ukraine, it would have been better had this EU summit never taken place and its joint declaration never written.

European Union International Organizations

UkraineAlert

May 26, 2015

Ukraine Is Still Caught between a Hammer and an Anvil

By Alexander J. Motyl

For most of the 20th century, Ukraine was the victim of two equally malevolent empires—Germany and Russia. Germany’s contribution to Ukraine’s devastation was the two World Wars; Russia’s was the imposition of Soviet rule and the concomitant destruction of Ukraine’s peasantry and elites. Unsurprisingly, one of the most constant images in 20th-century Ukrainian commentary is […]

Germany Russia

UkraineAlert

May 26, 2015

Kremlin Lays Hands on Faith in Crimea

By Geraldine Fagan

In Russia this April, a Baptist pastor was jailed for professing his faith. Pavel Pilipchuk’s five-day detention was brief, but excessive. It followed his refusal to pay a heavy fine for organizing street evangelism in the city of Oryol, around 200 miles south of Moscow. By not informing city officials of his plans, a local […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 21, 2015

War in Ukraine of Global Significance, Says Archbishop

By Melinda Haring

“To those from outside, [the fighting in Ukraine] may seem like a regional conflict, but that’s really not the case,” said Archbishop Zoria Yevstratiy of Chernihiv of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Kyiv Patriarchate.  In an interview at the Atlantic Council on May 19, Yevstratiy described the situation in Ukraine as unique and of global significance.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 21, 2015

Why Mariupol Will Not be the Next Frontline

By Ruben Gzirian

Analysts and journalists have begun to ask where the Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine will go next now that the second ceasefire agreement has failed. Skirmishes on the frontline in Shyrokyne, less than ten miles from Mariupol’s city limits, have raised concerns that Mariupol will be the next target. Geographically and commercially speaking, Mariupol makes […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 20, 2015

Europe Needs to Help Ukraine Now

By Anders Åslund

Ukraine bleeds, but reforms impressively, while the West ignores it. The Minsk ceasefire agreement does not hold, though the intensity of the fighting has faded. In mid-March, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) doubled Ukraine’s international reserves, but the country’s finances remain fragile. Europe’s central banks should provide a large swap credit with minimum risks to […]

Ukraine