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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

Aug 25, 2021

Putin’s pipeline poses an “existential threat” to Ukraine

By
Diane Francis

The CEO of Ukraine's energy giant Naftogaz, Yuriy Vitrenko, has branded Vladimir Putin's Nord Stream 2 pipeline project an existential threat to Ukraine and a security threat to Europe as a whole.


Conflict


Geopolitics & Energy Security


UkraineAlert

Aug 24, 2021

Looking back at the events that defined three decades of Ukrainian independence

By
Peter Dickinson

As Ukrainians celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of their country's independence, the Atlantic Council asked a range of experts for their opinions on the most significant events during independent Ukraine's first three decades.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Aug 23, 2021

UKRAINE AT 30: What is independent Ukraine’s greatest achievement?

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine marks 30 years of independence this week with much to celebrate and plenty to regret. The Atlantic Council invited a range of experts to share their thoughts on independent Ukraine’s greatest achievements.


Democratic Transitions


Resilience & Society


UkraineAlert

Aug 23, 2021

Biden can reassert US leadership by backing Ukraine against Russia

By
Alexander Vershbow

President Biden must use his August 31 meeting with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy to underline America's commitment to defending the rules-based international order and supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression.


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Aug 23, 2021

Is Ukraine’s split from Russia now irreversible?

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s split from Russia ranks as one of the most consequential European events since the Soviet collapse. But is this geopolitical divorce now final, or could Moscow still force Kyiv back into Russia's orbit?


Conflict


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Aug 21, 2021

How modern Ukraine was made on Maidan

By
Peter Dickinson

Since 1991, Ukraine's two post-Soviet Maidan revolutions have helped define the country as an emerging democracy that seeks to escape from the orbit of authoritarian Russia and embrace Euro-Atlantic integration.


Civil Society


Democratic Transitions


UkraineAlert

Aug 19, 2021

Making the most of Ukraine’s tech talent

By
Constantine Yevtushenko

Ukraine's IT sector is playing an increasingly important role in the country's economic growth. The key now is to build the right ecosystem to allow Ukraine's tech talent to flourish, says Constantine Yevtushenko.


Digital Policy


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Aug 19, 2021

Ukraine shines a spotlight on Putin’s Crimean crime

By
Peter Dickinson

Representations of forty countries are set to gather in Kyiv on August 23 for the inaugural Crimea Platform summit to address the ongoing Russian occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2021

Biden and Merkel must confront Putin’s imperial ambitions in Ukraine

By
Peter Dickinson

Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent essay "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" argued that Russians and Ukrainians are "one people," but an overwhelming majority of Ukrainians do not agree.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Aug 16, 2021

Afghanistan collapse sparks wave of alarm in Ukraine

By
Alyona Getmanchuk

The complete collapse of the US-backed Afghan government in recent weeks has sparked alarm in Ukraine and led to questions over the future of the country's own strategic partnership with America.


Afghanistan


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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Jun 1, 2015

The Odesa Gambit

By Michael Hikari Cecire

Mikheil Saakashvili has a varied resume: former President of Georgia, Justice Minister, parliamentarian, senior statesman, and Ukrainian presidential adviser. On May 30, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko added another line to his CV. He named Saakaskvili regional Governor of Odesa, a vulnerable and strategic port city on the Black Sea. Despite having served in Georgia through […]

The Caucasus Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 28, 2015

Russia’s Secret Funerals

By Melinda Haring

Sgt. Leonid Kichatkin of the Russian 76th Airborne Division and Russian soldier Anton Tumanov died in August 2014 while fighting in eastern Ukraine. Their deaths amply demonstrate that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that there are no Russian troops in Ukraine is false.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 27, 2015

Putin Celebrates Stalinism. Again.

By Stephen Blank

Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 10 once again justified the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as a statesmanlike act of defending Russia’s national interests. This time Putin did so with German Chancellor Angela Merkel next to him. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact—the 1939 deal that split Eastern Europe between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany—was a death warrant for […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 26, 2015

The Disastrous EU Summit on the European Partnership

By Anders Åslund

The European Union’s Summit on the Eastern Partnership, held May 21-22 in Riga, was a disaster for Ukraine. For friends of democracy, the rule of law, and Ukraine, it would have been better had this EU summit never taken place and its joint declaration never written.

European Union International Organizations

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