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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

Nov 11, 2021

Time to rediscover eastern Ukraine’s surprisingly cosmopolitan past

By
Peter Dickinson

Moscow has long cultivated the myth of eastern Ukraine as an indivisible part of Russia’s ancestral heartlands but in reality the region has a surprisingly cosmopolitan past that makes a mockery of Kremlin propaganda claims.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Nov 9, 2021

Nord Stream 2: Germany must listen to Ukrainian security concerns

By
Olga Bielkova

Ukraine has requested a role in the German process to certify Nord Stream 2 amid fears in Kyiv that the pipeline could pave the wave for an escalation in ongoing Russian military aggression against Ukraine.


Conflict


Energy Markets & Governance


UkraineAlert

Nov 8, 2021

De-oligarchization of Ukraine is President Zelenskyy’s top priority

By
Andriy Yermak

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's anti-oligarch agenda holds the key to Ukraine's reform ambitions and is vital for the country's future national security, argues presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Nov 6, 2021

Ukraine’s anti-oligarch law could make President Zelenskyy too powerful

By
David Clark

President Zelenskyy has trumpeted the country's new anti-oligarch law as a meaningful step towards curbing the power of Ukraine's oligarch class, but critics fear it may actually make Zelenskyy himself too powerful.


Corruption


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Nov 6, 2021

Disarming Putin’s energy weapon: Ukraine must connect to EU grid

By
Anders Åslund

With Vladimir Putin seeking to restrict energy supplies to Ukraine, it is increasingly clear that Kyiv must connect to the European electricity grid in order to reduce its vulnerability to Kremlin blackmail tactics.


Conflict


Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Nov 4, 2021

Ukraine faces energy crisis as Putin weaponizes gas and coal supplies

By
Aura Sabadus

As the winter season draws closer, Ukraine faces a looming energy crisis on multiple fronts which could lead to domestic political instability and deepen the country’s dependence on Vladimir Putin's Russia.


Conflict


Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Nov 4, 2021

Ukraine MPs fight back against fake Covid vaccination certificates

By
Oleksandra Ustinova

As Ukraine grapples with a mounting Covid-19 death toll and low vaccination rates, the country's MPs aim to adopt tougher regulations targeting the thriving Ukrainian black market for fake vaccination certificates.


Coronavirus


Corruption


UkraineAlert

Nov 2, 2021

Putin’s Ukraine War: Russian MP recalls efforts to push civil war myth

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian MP Alexander Borodai's frank recent comments about Russia's responsibility for the war in Ukraine underline the current sense of impunity in Moscow and expose the absurdity of Russia's ongoing denials.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Nov 2, 2021

Ukraine’s dangerous Winter Olympic obsession

By
Nicholas Bell, Lukas Straumann

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has declared his intention to bring the Winter Olympics to the country, but environmentalists fear the initiative will cause irreparable damage to some of the most valuable mountain ecosystems in Europe.


Climate Change & Climate Action


Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Nov 2, 2021

Two years of Lifeline Ukraine

By
Paul Niland

Since it was launched in October 2019, Lifeline Ukraine has evolved from its original focus on support for Ukrainian combat veterans into a fully-fledged national suicide prevention hotline.


Conflict


Human Rights

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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

May 6, 2015

The Dog That Finally Barked? Separatism and Hybrid Warfare in Ukraine

By Emmet C. Tuohy

Kremlin Targets Sleepy Corner of Europe with Hybrid Tactics No part of Europe is too obscure for the Kremlin’s machinations. On April 6 in Odessa, a group claiming to represent ethnic minorities in southwestern Ukraine founded the National Council of Bessarabia (NRB). Released on a Russian-registered website, the NRB’s manifesto decrying “discrimination” and calling for […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 5, 2015

Standing Up to a ‘Revanchist Russia’

By Ashish Kumar Sen

NATO’s top military commander says Russia set on ‘strategic competition’ with West A “revanchist Russia” would use violence to alter international norms, boundaries, and institutions and poses a threat to the United States’ transatlantic allies and partners, NATO’s top military commander US Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove said April 30.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 4, 2015

No War, No Peace—But Always a Place at the Table for Russia

By James J. Coyle

Russia’s track record in the long-simmering conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is consistent with Russian efforts in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calls for a Novorossiya: No war, no peace—but always a place at the table for Russia.

Europe & Eurasia Russia

UkraineAlert

May 4, 2015

Ukraine Debt Deal Could Spark Chain Reaction

By Yuri Poluneev

Ukraine’s economy is in crisis. Experts warn that the country’s gross domestic product could shrink by 6 to 12 percent and inflation could exceed 40 percent in 2015, although one prominent economist put that figure in triple digits already. The war in eastern Ukraine has throttled the country’s industrial capacity. To prevent the country from […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2015

Ukraine’s Volunteer Battalions Must Join the Military or Sheath the Sword

By Ruben Gzirian

The Ukrainian army faces growing criticism from within its ranks after humiliating defeats at Debaltseve and Ilovaisk in eastern Ukraine. When fighting broke out between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists, the Ukrainian military was weak and the state had to rely on volunteers. Of the fifty thousand Ukrainian troops in the field, 22 percent are […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2015

The West’s Strategy Toward Putin Promises Conflict and Increases Danger of Wider War

By Melinda Haring

Ian Brzezinski: Our policy “conveys hesitancy and a lack of unity and determination. It has failed to convince Putin to reverse course. Indeed, it may have actually emboldened him.”    The West’s current strategy toward Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine not only promises continued conflict in Ukraine but also poses an increased danger […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 28, 2015

Klitschko: Economic Success Will Unite Country

By Melinda Haring

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko is no pushover. The former professional boxer turned politician has never been knocked down in a professional boxing match. Known for his powerful punches, Klitschko’s 87 percent knockout rate is the second-best knockout-to-fight ratio of any champion in heavyweight boxing history.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 27, 2015

Ukraine’s PR Problem Isn’t Just a PR Problem

By Andrew Kornbluth

Ukraine has a problem with global public relations. Despite its fundamentally compelling narrative—a recent democracy defending itself against a much larger, authoritarian neighbor—the country’s efforts remain uncoordinated, unprofessional, and unfiltered. Even as the state relies on a worldwide diaspora in its struggle for survival, it shows few signs of effectively harnessing its expatriates and the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 27, 2015

Let’s Go “All In” on Ukraine

By Jeffrey Gedmin

In October 1949, as the defeated forces of Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan and Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Republicans in Congress blamed Harry S. Truman for losing China. Some demanded a pivot from Europe to Asia in US foreign policy. Truman might have been persuaded a few years […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 23, 2015

Is Putin’s Russia Fascist?

By Alexander J. Motyl

A growing number of Russian analysts, in Russia and abroad, have taken to calling Vladimir Putin’s regime “fascist.” And they don’t use the term casually or as a form of opprobrium. They mean that Putin’s Russia genuinely resembles Mussolini’s Italy or Hitler’s Germany.

Russia Ukraine