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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 17, 2021

Reloading Ukraine’s corporate governance reforms

By Iaroslav Zhelezniak, Andriy Boytsun, Oleksandr Lysenko

Ukraine's corporate governance reforms have come under scrutiny this year following controversial developments at Naftogaz. Can new legislation get this important reform initiative back on track?

Economy & Business Fiscal and Structural Reform

UkraineAlert

Sep 16, 2021

Why Ukraine’s Olympic bid could be a very smart move

By Peter Dickinson

President Zelenskyy has set his sights on bringing the Winter Olympics to Ukraine. For a country seeking to emerge from international obscurity, hosting the Olympics offers a range of exciting opportunities.

Resilience & Society Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 16, 2021

America must lead the international response to Russia’s human rights crisis

By Dave Elseroad

US President Joe Biden took an important step in Geneva towards supporting Russian human rights defenders. America must now follow this up with concrete action to punish Moscow's abuses.

Human Rights Russia

UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2021

Vladimir Putin accused of weaponizing Russian gas

By Diane Francis

With construction work on Russia’s controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline now complete, critics say Moscow is weaponizing gas deliveries to Europe in a bid to speed up the lengthy certification process.

European Union Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2021

Ukraine’s top soccer stars join the country’s Ukrainian language renaissance

By David Kirichenko

Ukraine's national football team captain Andriy Yarmolenko recently conducted a press conference in Ukrainian, marking the latest small step forward in what is a wider renaissance of the Ukrainian language.

Resilience & Society Ukraine

BelarusAlert

Sep 14, 2021

Belarus dictator poses growing threat to Ukraine

By Lisa Yasko

Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka's growing dependence on the Kremlin is allowing Vladimir Putin to expand his military presence in Belarus and creating a new front in Russia's hybrid war against Ukraine.

Belarus Conflict

UkraineAlert

Sep 14, 2021

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy vows to fight for judicial reform

By Halyna Chyzhyk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called an extraordinary meeting of politicians, diplomats, and members of the judiciary in order to prevent his flagship judicial reform drive from being sabotaged and derailed.

Corruption Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Sep 9, 2021

Odesa’s unique place in Ukraine’s cultural evolution

By Andrew D’Anieri

Ukrainian Black Sea port city Odesa occupies a unique place in the country's cultural evolution thanks to its unrivaled international pedigree and the limitless creative ambitions of the local cultural community.

Civil Society Resilience & Society

UkraineAlert

Sep 9, 2021

Why Ukraine must join NATO

By Adrian Hoefer

Given the Kremlin's hostile revisionism, Ukraine's membership in NATO is in the long-term interest of the US and its allies. As Moscow expands its hybrid war on the West, Ukraine is an asset.

Eastern Europe International Organizations

UkraineAlert

Sep 9, 2021

Navigating the geopolitical battlefield of Ukrainian history

By Serhii Plokhy

Prominent Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy's latest essay collection seeks to demonstrate how the country's evolving sense of national history is central to Ukraine’s current war with Russia and its relations with the West.

Resilience & Society Ukraine

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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 29, 2015

Youth platform is transforming Eastern Ukraine

By Melinda Haring

Freedom Home's platform is unique in eastern Ukraine, and its organizers want to make it sustainable.

Conflict Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

UkraineAlert

Jun 25, 2015

Why the West Should Give Ukraine’s New Spymaster a Chance

By John E. Herbst

Late June in Kyiv can be beautiful. With clear skies, temperatures peaking in the high 70s, the natural beauty of the city and its citizens, it can be easy to forget that the country is at war. In part that is a result of the country’s success. A year ago, few would have predicted that […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 25, 2015

Hey, Remember Me? It’s Europe.

By Ariel Cohen

The Transatlantic Alliance is in Trouble  “We lived next to Russia for 500 years—listen to what we have to say,” Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said at the Bratislava Global Security Forum on June 20. He’s right. The West needs to pay attention and achieve strategic clarity in Europe and beyond before it’s too late. There […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 24, 2015

Russia Bans Freedom to Report, Says Top Investigative Journalist

By Melinda Haring

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has banned US investigative journalist Simon Ostrovsky from working in Russia. On June 4, it denied a press visa for Ostrovsky, an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist best known for his coverage of the Ukraine crisis for VICE News.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 23, 2015

Here’s How to Crowdsource Ukrainian Language and Culture

By Matthew Kupfer

On a scorching Saturday afternoon in the Pechersk district of Kyiv, a group of five young people take refuge in a cool alcove hidden at the back of the Ivan Honchar Museum for a free Ukrainian class. Together, for ninety minutes, they discuss that week’s subject, studentstvo (“student life”), learning new Ukrainian words to describe […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 22, 2015

Here’s How We Give Putin Something to Think About

By Jeffrey Gedmin

Imagine Winston Churchill saying: “We’ve got to send Nazi Germany a clear signal. At the same time we have to recognize that the Germans do need their lebensraum.” It’s unthinkable. But that’s what the West keeps saying to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The most recent example is United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond telling the BBC: […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 22, 2015

It’s Hard to Take Russian Propaganda Seriously. But We Must.

By James J. Coyle

Three Russian television stations interviewed Andrei Petkov from a hospital bed in Nikolayev, Ukraine, in April 2014. Rossia 1 described him, with a bandage on his nose, as an ordinary citizen attacked by neo-Nazis and nationalists; NTV named him a German spy for a secret European organization; and the National Independent News of Crimea identified him […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 18, 2015

Switching Spymasters Amid War is Risky

By Brian Mefford

Valentin Nalyvaichenko, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), is in trouble again. On June 15, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he was “unsatisfied” with Nalyvaichenko’s work. Three days later, Ukraine’s parliament dismissed him. At a time when the Minsk II ceasefire agreement is a ceasefire in name only and the threat of Russian espionage, sabotage, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 17, 2015

Here’s Why Moscow Doesn’t Want the Donbas But Continues to Meddle There Anyway

By Anders Åslund

The war in the Donbas is imposing large costs on Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s leading investment bank Dragon Capital, in October 2014 the occupied territories in the Donbas accounted for 2.6 percent of Ukraine’s territory, 7.3 percent of the population, 10 percent of GDP, and 15 percent of industrial production. This output has declined by […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 16, 2015

Here’s One Practical Way to Save Ukraine

By Andreas Umland

Stimulating Ukraine’s economy is a key goal of the reforms that are underway in Kyiv. Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the European Union (EU) should enable better economic management and freer trade. But there’s an important precondition for growth: investor confidence. Domestic businessmen and foreign investors must feel sufficiently motivated to spend their money, time, and […]

Russia Ukraine