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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

Oct 11, 2022

Russia’s terror tactics: Putin escalates attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin has launched a new phase of his Ukraine invasion and ordered the destruction of the country's civilian infrastructure. Ukraine's Western partners must urgently provide air defense systems to avert disaster.


Conflict


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Oct 11, 2022

Six things you (yes, you!) can do now to help Ukraine

By
Melinda Haring

With the winter season fast approaching and Vladimir Putin launching a campaign against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, it is more important than ever to maintain support for Ukraine. Melinda Haring has some ideas.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 9, 2022

Ukraine and Moldova move to disarm Vladimir Putin’s energy weapon

By
Aura Sabadus

With the winter heating season now underway, Ukraine and neighboring Moldova both continue to make progress toward reducing dependence on Russian gas and disarming Vladimir Putin's energy weapon.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2022

The United States will also benefit from Ukraine’s European integration

By
Dmytro Lyvch, Yuliia Shaipova

As Ukrainian troops continue to liberate their country from Russian occupation, a consensus is emerging that the future stability of the continent will depend on Ukraine’s further integration into the European Union.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2022

Vladimir Putin has little reason to celebrate on his seventieth birthday

By
Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin marks his seventieth birthday on October 7 but the Russian ruler has little reason to celebrate as his disastrous Ukraine invasion continues to unravel leaving Russia increasingly internationally isolated.


Central Asia


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Oct 6, 2022

Ukraine’s top NATO priority should be weapons, not fast-track membership

By
Steven Pifer

Ukraine's recent application for fast-track NATO accession is unlikely to receive the necessary backing from alliance members but appeals for more weapons would pay dividends for Kyiv, writes Steven Pifer.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Oct 5, 2022

Memo to Elon Musk: Only Ukrainian victory can stop Vladimir Putin

By
Doug Klain

Elon Musk recently became the latest high-profile figure to argue that Ukraine should cede land to Russia in exchange for peace. These advocates of appeasement fail to grasp the genocidal nature of Vladimir Putin's war.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

Is Russia preparing to target vital Norwegian energy exports to Europe?

By
Thomas S. Warrick

Recent drone activity close to Norwegian energy infrastructure has sparked calls for urgent security measures to prevent potential Russian sabotage of vital oil and gas exports to Europe in the coming months.


Conflict


Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

Will Putin send mobilized Russians to Belarus for a new Kyiv offensive?

By
Alesia Rudnik

Vladimir Putin’s decision to order Russia’s first mobilization since World War II has revived fears in neighboring Belarus that the country could be dragged into the invasion of Ukraine and a new march on Kyiv.


Belarus


Civil Society


UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

European unity is essential as Putin prepares to weaponize winter

By
Kira Rudik

European unity will be vital in the coming months as Russia attempts to weaponize winter in order to convince EU leaders to abandon their support for Ukraine and end their opposition to Vladimir Putin's ongoing invasion.


Conflict


Economy & Business

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Content

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

UkraineAlert

May 19, 2015

The West’s Failure of Nerve

By Stephen Blank

Poland and the Baltic states intend to ask NATO to station a battalion or even larger units on their territory. The Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—want a brigade so that each country can host a battalion or permanent rotational forces. Poland’s Foreign Minister, Grzegorz Schetyna, indicated that his government would request the permanent stationing of […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 19, 2015

Remembering Roman

By Melinda Haring and Simon Hoellerbauer

Every Memorial Day, friends leave small bottles of Jack Daniel’s and an American flag on Roman Kupchinsky’s gravestone in Arlington National Cemetery. Kupchinsky was a warrior, both on and off the battlefield. A man of passion who fought for his ideals with a singular determination, he devoted his life to seeing Ukraine become free. He […]

Ukraine