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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

Dec 4, 2025

Russia has learned from Ukraine and is now winning the drone war

By
David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s more agile army and vibrant tech sector initially gave the country an edge in the drone war against Russia, but Moscow has now regained the initiative thanks to an emphasis on mass and training, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Dec 3, 2025

Returning Ukraine’s abducted children should be central to any peace plan

By
Kristina Hook

The United States should lead efforts to secure the release and return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. This could help build confidence in the peace process and boost efforts to end the war, writes Kristina Hook.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Dec 2, 2025

Ukraine peace plan must not include amnesty for Russian war crimes

By
Ivan Horodyskyy

US President Donald Trump’s 28-point peace plan for Ukraine includes an amnesty for war crimes that critics say will only strengthen Putin’s sense of impunity and set the stage for more Russian aggression, writes Ivan Horodyskyy.

Conflict
European Union


UkraineAlert

Nov 27, 2025

While Trump talks peace, Putin is escalating efforts to erase Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree this week calling for an escalation in efforts to erase all traces of Ukrainian identity from the approximately 20 percent of Ukraine currently under Kremlin control, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Human Rights


UkraineAlert

Nov 25, 2025

Trump’s latest Ukraine peace proposal sparks strong Republican reaction

By
Doug Klain

Congress is clearly eager to help Trump force Russia to end its war in Ukraine. Capitalizing on the revised peace framework agreed by US and Ukrainian negotiators will now require action from both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue, writes Doug Klain.

Conflict
Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion


UkraineAlert

Nov 25, 2025

Russian imperial impunity is the key obstacle to a lasting peace in Ukraine

By
Kristina Hook

From Peter the Great to Stalin and Putin, generations of Russian tyrants have systematically directed violence at Ukrainians in ways that must be addressed in order to secure a lasting peace, writes Kristina Hook.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Nov 25, 2025

Strengthening Ukraine’s wartime economy can set the stage for peace

By
Zahar Hryniv

The US and Europe must take steps to strengthen Ukraine’s economic resilience if they wish to convince Putin that his dreams of outlasting the West are futile and persuade Russia to begin serious peace negotiations, writes Zahar Hryniv.

Conflict
Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Nov 20, 2025

Any serious Ukraine peace plan must address Putin’s imperial ambitions

By
Mykola Bielieskov

The new US plan to end the war in Ukraine fails to recognize that Putin is not driven by limited political goals. He believes he is engaged in an existential struggle to revive Russia’s great power status and will never accept a compromise peace, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict
Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Nov 20, 2025

Axis of authoritarians poses mounting threat on the global information front

By
William Dixon, Maksym Beznosiuk

The authoritarian axis that has taken shape since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is currently setting new standards in terms of coordinated information operations across media platforms, write William Dixon and Maksym Beznosiuk.

China
Civil Society


UkraineAlert

Nov 18, 2025

Vladimir Putin fears entering Russian history as the man who lost Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Throughout his reign, Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin has become increasingly obsessed with the idea of erasing Ukrainian independence, but his decision to invade has backfired disastrously, eroding centuries of Russian influence and accelerating Ukraine’s European integration, writes Peter Dickinson.

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.

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

Sep 23, 2014

Russia Cracks Down in Crimea, Shuts Tatar Community Offices

By James Rupert

Police, Masked Thugs Bar Tatar, Other Ethnic Leaders From Attending UN Conference Today Russian authorities in Crimea have moved since last week to silence and isolate the peninsula’s main ethnic Tatar community and political organization, the Mejlis. Russia’s government has shut down the group’s headquarters in Crimea and tried to prevent Tatar representatives from attending […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 22, 2014

Russians Protest Putin’s War on Ukraine: What Does It Mean for Kyiv?

By James Rupert

Like Poroshenko’s Reception in Congress, It’s a Morale Boost—But Ukraine Is Fighting on Its Own Yesterday’s images from Moscow could hardly be more welcome for Ukrainians: thousands of Russians marching in their capital to condemn their government’s war against Ukraine. The protest was fueled partly by the spreading news in Russia that scores, perhaps hundreds, […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2014

Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert: Version 2.0

By James Rupert

With today’s edition, the Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert newsletter is six months old. Readers will notice that it arrives in a new package: concise and colorful. Its content will remain much the same, although we’re always working to improve it.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 18, 2014

Poroshenko’s Stark Message to Washington

By John E. Herbst

Russia’s Assault Threatens Not Just Ukraine, but Europe and Eurasia Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko delivered a stark but necessary message in Washington September 18.  Addressing a Joint Session of Congress, he noted that:

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2014

Can Ukraine’s Parliament Election Bring Moderate Voices From Embattled East?

Could Ukraine’s parliamentary elections in six weeks produce representatives from eastern Ukraine who might provide a clear alternative voice for that region, distinct from those of the thuggish, Kremlin-sponsored “people’s republics?” If so, that could offer President Petro Poroshenko a set of credible, more moderate interlocutors to bring into negotiations to come over the east’s […]

Elections
Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2014

Ukraine’s President Seeks Urgent US Help to Defend against Russian Aggression

By John E. Herbst

Petro Poroshenko Will Ask Congress’ Support in Getting US Weapons President Petro Poroshenko arrives in Washington this week at the most perilous moment in the history of independent Ukraine. After the Kremlin’s months of attacking Ukraine with its proxy militias, it directly invaded southeast Ukraine last month with thousands of regular Russian army troops, thus […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 11, 2014

Mariupol: Russia’s Next Target in Ukraine War?

A Strategic City Prepares Its Defense; But if Truce Fails, Its Fate Will be Uncertain Amid the war between Russia and Ukraine, no city is watching the viability of the fragile cease-fire with more apprehension than Ukraine’s second-largest seaport, Mariupol. That is because the city, home to steel mills and, normally, a half-million residents, will […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 10, 2014

The Turning Point

By Timothy Ash

Inaction by US and NATO to Russia’s August Incursion Showed Putin He Could Invade Ukraine History books to be written about the Ukraine crisis and the Battle for Donbas will likely record as a military turning point the battle on September 5 for the town of Ilovaisk. A massive, pinpoint-accurate artillery barrage, using high-tech reconnaissance […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 8, 2014

Russian Court Orders Ukrainian Pilot-Soldier to Undergo Psychiatric Evaluation

Nadiya Savchenko Will Refuse to Submit to ‘Illegal’ Exam, Her Lawyer Says A Russian court has sent Ukrainian soldier and pilot Nadiya Savchenko for a “forensic psychiatric evaluation” at the Moscow institute where Soviet authorities for years performed abusive treatments on political dissidents. Savchenko says she will refuse to submit to the examination, which she […]

Russia
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 8, 2014

Ukraine, Facing Russia on Its Own, Takes the Risk of Truce and Compromise With Moscow

By James Rupert

A Cease-Fire, if It Holds, Could Let the Kremlin Strengthen Its Grip on the Donbas Region When Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko attended the NATO Summit on Friday, it was clear that the Alliance had chosen not to offer his country the weapons it needs to fight the Russian troops and paramilitaries who have invaded his […]

Russia
Ukraine