UkraineAlert

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

Why Mariupol Will Not be the Next Frontline

UkraineAlert
Sep 3, 2026

Putin cannot defeat NATO but he could divide and discredit the alliance

By
Peter Dickinson

If Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to attack NATO, his goal will be to divide and discredit the alliance rather than actually defeating it, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy

Why Mariupol Will Not be the Next Frontline

UkraineAlert
Aug 27, 2026

Ukrainians are not superheroes with endless powers of resilience

By
Lauren Van Metre, Elena Davlikanova

By celebrating Ukrainian resilience as an almost superhuman quality, the international community risks obscuring the much less glamorous reality that Ukrainians are actually ordinary people who have endured extraordinary violence for far too long, write Lauren Van Metre and Elena Davlikanova.

Civil Society
Conflict

Why Mariupol Will Not be the Next Frontline

UkraineAlert
Aug 25, 2026

A cultural renaissance is reshaping national identity in wartime Ukraine

By
Davis Richardson

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is fueling a defiant cultural outpouring that is redefining and strengthening Ukrainian national identity in ways that challenge centuries of Kremlin imperialism, writes Davis Richardson.

Civil Society
Conflict

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Nov 21, 2016

Holodomor Remembrance Day: Why the Past Matters for the Future

By
Victor Rud

As Americans sit down to their Thanksgiving meals on the last Thursday in November, Ukrainians will be commemorating the memory of millions who were murdered in 1932-33. The last Saturday in November is Holodomor Remembrance Day in Ukraine, a time to mark the anniversary of Joseph Stalin’s engineered starvation of the nation. In the West, […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Nov 21, 2016

How Ukraine Can Use E-Declarations to Target the Most Corrupt

By
Basil A. Kalymon and Oleh Havrylyshyn

This year, thousands of Ukrainian members of parliament, government officials, and civil servants were required by law to declare their incomes and assets in a publicly available database by October 30. Although the introduction of the e-declaration system was initially blocked numerous times, today the public can view the vast amount of wealth owned by […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Nov 21, 2016

Kremlin Power Struggle Intensified: Liberals Under Attack

By
Anders Åslund

The Kremlin power struggle intensifies. On November 15, Russia’s Investigative Committee arrested Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev, the first time since 1991 that a sitting minister has been arrested. Ulyukaev is accused of corruption, but nothing seems to be as originally stated. Rather, this is a high-level political struggle between President Vladimir Putin’s confidant, […]


Russia


UkraineAlert

Nov 21, 2016

The Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Then and Now

By
Amanda Abrams

Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk still believes deeply in the power of international norms to maintain peace. “Today’s world is based on great principles: sovereignty, territorial integrity, and untouchable borders. And as far as I understand the situation, the United States is the guardian of these principles,” said Kravchuk at an event on November 18, […]


Belarus

Russia


UkraineAlert

Nov 17, 2016

The Russian Plot against Europe

By
Alina Polyakova

Russia’s influence reaches deep into Western Europe. France has a major far-right, Eurosceptic, and openly pro-Russian party that receives funding from the Kremlin. In London, Brexit provides an opportunity for Moscow to gain a toehold in British politics. Germany’s former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder serves as chairman of the Russian-German pipeline Nord Stream. But these examples […]


European Union

France


UkraineAlert

Nov 15, 2016

Ukraine’s Reforms Are Pointless without Resolving Security Issues

By
Andreas Umland

Making Western assistance to Kyiv more effective is crucial to Ukraine’s future. Yet the West’s current approach is plagued by a strategic defect. When Western aid and Kyiv’s reforms reach a tipping point, they will trigger increasingly aggressive counter-reactions from Moscow for domestic political reasons in Russia. Until Ukraine’s fundamental security challenges are met, Western […]


Russia

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Nov 14, 2016

Watch Out, Silicon Valley. Here Comes Ukraine

By
Yuliia Horovetska

Ukraine has the potential to become Europe’s top hub for information technology and other innovation-based industries. Some major private sector businesses have already chosen Ukraine as the site of their research and development centers; among them are Aricent, Boeing, Ericsson, Oracle, and Siemens. Private business initiatives in Ukraine have given birth to well-known startups like […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Nov 14, 2016

We Are Building the New Ukraine, Three Years after Euromaidan

By
Yuriy Didula

The need for reconciliation between eastern and western Ukraine is often emphasized in Ukrainian and international media, and has been the subject of dozens of roundtables in the past couple of years. Though originally from western Ukraine, I have lived and worked in the east for nearly two years, and I have come to realize […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Nov 9, 2016

Here’s Why Nord Stream 2 Isn’t the Only Game in Town

By
Olga Bielkova

Most Russia watchers, including those at the Atlantic Council, recognize that in this age of hybrid warfare, energy trade is a potent weapon. What has changed with Nord Stream 2 is that the weapon is now pointed directly at the EU rather than Ukraine, and it is masquerading as a commercial project. But who could […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Nov 9, 2016

Does Saakashvili’s Resignation Mark the End of Reform in Ukraine?

By
Diane Francis

Mikheil Saakashvili’s resignation this week does not mark the failure of reform efforts in Ukraine. It opens a new chapter. “Odesa can only develop once Kyiv will be freed from these bribe takers, who directly patronize organized crime and lawlessness,” he bluntly told journalists when he announced he was quitting on November 7. This opinion […]


Ukraine

Load More

spotlight

Resilience in the face of adversity

Ukraine’s transformation

Ukraine has moved tentatively toward an open society and market economy since independence. The country has held several democratic elections and made halting progress in addressing corruption and state control in its economy. Since the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Ukraine has undertaken significant governance and economic reform and moved decisively toward a Europe-Atlantic foreign policy. Since 2022, Ukraine has resiliently continued to advance some reforms despite fighting for its very existence against the full-scale Russian invasion.

Learn more about Ukraine

Why Mariupol Will Not be the Next Frontline

UkraineAlert
Dec 5, 2024

Ukraine’s entrepreneurial class can drive the country’s economic recovery

The Ukrainian SME sector has demonstrated remarkable wartime resilience and is poised to be at the forefront of efforts to create a modern, innovative, postwar economy, writes Anton Waschuk.

Read More

Why Mariupol Will Not be the Next Frontline

UkraineAlert
Oct 1, 2024

Ukraine needs international investors to maintain defense tech momentum

By
Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s rapidly expanding defense tech sector can play a game-changing role in the war against Russia but Ukrainian companies need international investment, writes Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

Why Mariupol Will Not be the Next Frontline

UkraineAlert
Jun 13, 2024

Ukraine officially embraces English as historic westward pivot continues

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

By officially embracing English, Ukrainians aim to support their country’s historic pivot away from Moscow and return to the European community of nations, writes Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Civil Society
Conflict

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.

Learn more

Follow us on social media
and support our work

support our work

Content

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

UkraineAlert

May 14, 2015

Four Reasons to Be Hopeful About Ukraine’s Economy

By Yuriy Gorodnichenko

Ukraine’s current economic crisis was years in the making. Former President Viktor Yanukovych grossly mismanaged and looted the country. And it may take years for the country to fully recover. But there are signs that the economy has reached the lowest point and its prospects are brighter than commonly portrayed in the press.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 13, 2015

Imposing Costs on Putin Will Deter War

By John E. Herbst

“Russia and America: Stumbling to War,” a recent National Interest article by Graham Allison and Dimitri Simes, commands attention because of the gravity of the issue and the stature of its authors. Allison is a leading authority on great power relations, and Dimitri Simes is a scholar with deep connections to the elites running Russia.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 13, 2015

Crimean Tatars: ‘We did not reject Russia, Russia rejected us’

By Catherine Cosman

On May 18, 1944, Joseph Stalin deported more than 180,000 Crimean Tatars to Uzbekistan. Once again this community faces major challenges. Today, 230,000 Crimean Tatars, who are mainly Sunni Muslims, represent about 12 percent of Crimea’s population. Virtually all of Crimea’s Tatars opposed Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and refused to vote in […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 12, 2015

Russia Has Complete Information Dominance in Ukraine

By James J. Coyle

Hackers have consistently used low-level cyber warfare tactics to advance Russian goals in Ukraine. A dedicated group of hackers successfully infected the e-mail systems of the Ukrainian military, counterintelligence, border patrol, and local police. The hackers use a spear-phishing attack in which malware is hidden in an attachment that appears to be an official Ukrainian […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 7, 2015

‘Russian Propaganda is Really Working,’ Warns Crimean Activist

By Melinda Haring

Activist Urges US Government to Step Up Efforts in Crimea Russia has banned Taras Berezovets from visiting his family in Crimea. His crime: launching Free Crimea, a nongovernmental organization focused on disseminating impartial information about Crimea, in December 2014. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) considers it an extremist organization.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 7, 2015

When the Kremlin Makes An Offer You Can’t Refuse

By Stephen Blank

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has multiple dimensions, and the energy dimension is one that has been underestimated. Russia has sought to make Ukraine dependent on its abundant energy since 2006. The reason is simple: Russia wants economic and political control over Ukraine and it wants to enmesh Ukraine’s government and elites in a web of […]

Russia Ukraine
Load More