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

Latest analysis


UkraineAlert

Apr 13, 2023

Putin cancels Victory Day parades as Ukraine invasion continues to unravel

By
Peter Dickinson

The cancellation of Victory Day parades in multiple Russian regional capitals is a blow to Putin's personal prestige that exposes the grim reality behind Moscow's upbeat propaganda portrayals of the faltering Ukraine invasion, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Apr 12, 2023

Poland and Ukraine: The emerging alliance that could reshape Europe

By
Taras Kuzio

Poland's leading role in the European response to Russia's Ukraine invasion is fueling talk of a eastward shift in Europe's geopolitical center of gravity with the Polish-Ukrainian alliance set to become increasingly influential.


Conflict


Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Apr 11, 2023

Ukraine’s energy sector survives winter

By
Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Vladimir Putin's winter bombing campaign targeting Ukraine's civilian infrastructure failed to achieve its goal of breaking Ukrainian resistance and freezing the country into submission, writes Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti.


Conflict


Energy Markets & Governance


UkraineAlert

Apr 11, 2023

Ukraine resumes electricity exports in latest show of wartime resilience

By
Aura Sabadus

Ukraine resumed energy exports to Europe in early April. The move confirmed the failure of Russia's six-month energy infrastructure bombing campaign and underlined Ukraine's remarkable wartime resilience, writes Aura Sabadus.


Conflict


Energy Transitions


UkraineAlert

Apr 10, 2023

Russian nukes in Belarus: Putin’s creeping annexation continues

By
Hanna Liubakova

Putin's plan to place nukes in Belarus has been widely interpreted as as an escalation in his ongoing nuclear saber-rattling tactics but it will also greatly strengthen the Russian dictator's grip over the neighboring country.


Belarus


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Apr 8, 2023

Human wave tactics are demoralizing the Russian army in Ukraine

By
Olivia Yanchik

Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has not gone according to plan but he still hopes to win a long war of attrition. However, Russia's reliance on human wave tactics risks undermining morale within his invading army, writes Olivia Yanchik.


Conflict


Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Apr 6, 2023

NATO poses a threat to Russian imperialism not Russian security

By
Peter Dickinson

Russia's passive acceptance of neighboring Finland's NATO membership raises serious questions over the Kremlin's efforts to portray the invasion of Ukraine as a response to NATO expansion, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Apr 6, 2023

Anti-war Russians struggle to be heard

By
Christopher Isajiw

The Kremlin has worked hard to create the impression of overwhelming Russian public support for the invasion of Ukraine but anti-war sentiment may become more visible if Putin's army suffers further battlefield defeats, writes Christopher Isajiw.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Apr 4, 2023

Russia’s Wagner Group is a feature not a bug of the Putin regime

By
Allen Maggard

Russian private paramilitaries like the Wagner Group are a symptom of the institutionalized corruption at the heart of Putin’s regime and not just another instrument in Russia’s hybrid warfare toolbox, writes Allen Maggard.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Apr 4, 2023

How to keep Western tech out of Russian weapons

By
Aleksander Cwalina

The Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center convened a panel of experts for a virtual event in March to discuss how to prevent the use of Western technologies in Russian weapons, reports Aleksander Cwalina.


Arms Control


Conflict

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.

Follow us on social media
and support our work

Content

UkraineAlert

Nov 12, 2014

Putin’s Project Sparta

By Adrian Karatnycky

As the US Congress Reconvenes, It and Europe Must Respond to the Kremlin’s Coming Offensive in Ukraine Russia has moved a massive wave of tanks, armored personnel carriers, and artillery into Ukraine’s Donbas region in recent days, accompanied by new uniformed troops without insignia, to bolster the armed forces of the Russian-sponsored Donetsk and Lugansk […]

Eastern Europe Russia

UkraineAlert

Nov 10, 2014

How Russia Sells Itself to the Long-Demoralized People of Donbas

By Irena Chalupa

In Stakhanov, a Cossack Rebel and Local Radio Mix Nostalgias for Russia’s Greatness and Soviet Goodness While analysts of Russia’s assault on Ukraine debate the veiled question of President Vladimir Putin’s motives, little is hidden about how the Kremlin and its proxy forces are selling themselves to the long-demoralized people of southeastern Ukraine. As Moscow […]

Eastern Europe Russia

UkraineAlert

Nov 7, 2014

For Putin, Ukraine’s Elections Backfired. So the War Is On Again.

By James Rupert

Analysts: Moscow Fights Now with Mercenaries and Local Trainees, But in 20 Weeks May Again Send Its Own Troops The Russian-Ukrainian conflict in southeastern Ukraine is sliding back quickly into all-out war. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said this morning that its forces have killed 200 separatist fighters and destroyed four tanks, plus artillery in the past […]

Eastern Europe Russia

UkraineAlert

Nov 6, 2014

Ukraine’s Need for Fast Reform Means Government Has No Time for Infighting

By Sabine Freizer

Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk Must Cut Short Their Recent Signs of Rivalry As Ukraine’s new leading political parties renew their talks today, they can waste no time in forming the government that now must grapple with a financial emergency, economic crisis, and war in the east. They must avoid acrimony or drawn-out negotiations, yet some signs […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 3, 2014

Ukraine’s New Government: Here’s What to Expect

By New Atlanticist

Amid Horse-Trading by Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk, a New Parliament Speaker Is Likely The Atlantic Council’s Kyiv-based senior fellow, Brian Mefford, writes on the likely makeup of Ukraine’s post-election government. His key observations are below, and you can read his detailed analysis on his own blog.

Elections Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Nov 3, 2014

Russian-Ukraine Gas Deal Gives Moscow the Leverage and Europe the Energy

By John E. Herbst

Ukrainians Will Get Gas, Too, But Their Cost and Risk of Cutoffs Remain High European Union leaders in Brussels may be celebrating the gas deal signed Thursday between Ukraine and Russia as an assurance of Russian gas supplies to Europe this winter, but Ukrainians can at best take cold comfort from the agreement. EU Energy […]

Eastern Europe Energy & Environment

UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2014

Ukraine Gas Deal May Show That the West’s Sanctions on Russia Are Working

By James Rupert

The gas supply deal signed in Brussels yesterday among Russia, Ukraine and the European Union “is perhaps the clearest indication yet that sanctions imposed on Russia are working in terms of changing Russia’s behavior,” writes Timothy Ash, an economist who directs emerging markets strategy at Standard Bank in London.

Eastern Europe Energy & Environment

UkraineAlert

Oct 30, 2014

Russian-Backed ‘People’s Republics’ in Ukraine Prepare Elections for Sunday

By James Rupert

Donetsk, Lugansk Vote for ‘Parliaments’ Violates Truce and Raises Risks, Say Analysts The Russian-backed, miniature, “people’s republics” declared in southeastern Ukraine are preparing to elect parliaments and heads of state on Sunday, a step backed by Moscow to consolidate their self-declared statehood. Those elections promise to further undermine the already wobbly political deal that underpins […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 27, 2014

Today’s Corruption Video: Which Ukrainian Officials Own These Palaces?

By New Atlanticist

The former director and deputy director of Ukraine’s state-owned gas company, Naftogaz, will have been waiting today to hear if they are elected to Ukraine’s parliament, not least because winning seats would offer them immunity from prosecution. Prosecution for what?

Elections Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Oct 27, 2014

Ukraine Counts Its Votes: Here Is What They Mean

By New Atlanticist

Official Tallies Are Tracking With Polls Predicting a Strong, Pro-Europe and Reformist Coalition With 71 percent of Ukraine’s ballots counted today, the official results are broadly tracking the recent days’ polls, suggesting that Ukraine’s next government will be a pro-European coalition built across several political parties, with President Petro Poroshenko likely to rely on his […]

Eastern Europe Elections