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

Ukraine Is Still Caught between a Hammer and an Anvil

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

Ukraine Is Still Caught between a Hammer and an Anvil

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

Ukraine Is Still Caught between a Hammer and an Anvil

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

Sep 24, 2026

Ukraine’s defense tech sector must offer investors more than innovation

By
Olga Usenko

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine has built one of the world’s most dynamic defense tech ecosystems under conditions few industries ever face. However, innovation alone will not be enough to win over potential investors, writes Olga Usenko.


Conflict

Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Sep 23, 2026

Putin’s Ukraine invasion has made Russia China’s junior partner

By
Zahar Hryniv

Putin’s evident inability to secure Beijing’s backing for the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline is strengthening international perceptions that the invasion of Ukraine has reduced Russia to the status of China’s junior partner, writes Zahar Hryniv.


China

Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 22, 2026

Ukrainians are braced for a brutal winter. Are the Russians also ready?

By
Peter Dickinson

With Ukraine's air defenses running low, Russia is expected to escalate the bombardment of Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure ahead of the coming winter season in a bid to freeze the country into submission, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict

Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2026

Ukraine can do more to counter Russia’s illicit finance threat

By
Matthew McGlynn

For more than four years, Ukraine has impressed global audiences with the country’s ability to defend itself against Russia on land, at sea, and in the air. Illicit finance is another important front in the fight against Russian aggression, writes Matthew McGlynn.


Conflict

Cybersecurity


UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2026

Putin is escalating against NATO but a Baltic incursion remains unlikely

By
James Rice

The recent escalation in Russian gray zone aggression across Europe has sparked a lively debate over how far the Kremlin may be prepared to go, but a Russian attack on the Baltic states remains unlikely, writes James Rice.


Conflict

European Union


UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2026

With Putin overextended in Ukraine, Armenia is turning away from Russia

By
Joseph Epstein

Every day Ukraine keeps fighting, Russian influence grows weaker in the countries of the ex-USSR that Moscow refers to as the “near abroad.” Nowhere is this Russian retreat clearer than in Armenia, writes Joseph Epstein.


Conflict

Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2026

Learning from Ukraine’s unrivaled experience of Russian cyber warfare

By
Iryna Volnytska

No country in the world today knows more about Russian cyber warfare than Ukraine, but further steps are required in order to help Kyiv’s partners make the most of Ukraine’s unrivaled experience, writes Iryna Volnytska.


Conflict

Cybersecurity


UkraineAlert

Sep 11, 2026

Ukrainian police are preventing Russia from turning civilians into saboteurs

By
Andrii Niebytov, Clara Kaluderovic

Since spring 2024, Russia has been waging a campaign far behind the front lines featuring arson, sabotage, and terrorist attacks using Ukrainians who are recruited online, deceived, and discarded, write Andrii Niebytov and Clara Kaluderovic.


Conflict

Infrastructure Protection


UkraineAlert

Sep 10, 2026

Russia’s escalating bombing campaign is terrorizing Ukrainian schoolchildren

By
Shelby Magid

Russia's escalating bombardment of Ukrainian cities is terrorizing a generation of Ukrainian schoolchildren who are being prevented from attending classes or forced to spend days in bomb shelters, writes Shelby Magid.


Civil Society

Conflict


UkraineAlert

Sep 10, 2026

As Russia’s invasion falters, Putin boasts of imaginary victories

By
Peter Dickinson

Putin was caught lying about imaginary Russian victories again in September. His habit of exaggerating battlefield gains reflects mounting unease over the credibility gap between the Kremlin’s superpower pretensions and his army’s underwhelming performance in Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict

Disinformation

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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

Ukraine Is Still Caught between a Hammer and an Anvil

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

Ukraine Is Still Caught between a Hammer and an Anvil

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

Ukraine Is Still Caught between a Hammer and an Anvil

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.

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Content

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

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
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