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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 15, 2021

The West must not force a Russian “peace” on Ukraine

By
Volodymyr Vasylenko

By appeasing Russia in Ukraine and pressuring Kyiv to accept peace on the Kremlin's terms, the democratic world risks turning Minsk into a new Munich, argues veteran Ukrainian diplomat Volodymyr Vasylenko.


Conflict


International Norms


UkraineAlert

Aug 12, 2021

Ukraine must do more to protect civilians living close to the conflict contact line

By
Beatrice Godefroy, Suleiman Mamutov

With little hope of a breakthrough towards peace in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities must focus their attention on protecting civilians caught up in the ongoing conflict.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Aug 12, 2021

Countering Putin’s passport policies in Ukraine

By
Vitaliy Nabukhotny

Moscow has weaponized the distribution of Russian passports as part of its hybrid campaign to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty. How should Ukraine and the international community fight back?


Conflict


Non-Traditional Threats


UkraineAlert

Aug 9, 2021

Remembering Yevhen Marchuk

By
Peter Dickinson

Ukrainian politician Yevhen Marchuk passed away on August 5 at the age of eighty. Marchuk was one of the country’s most prominent public figures during the early years of Ukrainian independence, founding the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) before serving as both Prime Minister and Defense Minister.


Politics & Diplomacy


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 7, 2021

The 2008 Russo-Georgian War: Putin’s green light

By
Peter Dickinson

The 2008 Russo-Georgian War is now widely recognized as a landmark event in Russia's emergence under Vladimir Putin as a revisionist power seeking to reverse the verdict of 1991.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

Aug 5, 2021

Time to remind Russia that Crimea is Ukraine

By
Oleksii Reznikov

The inaugural meeting of Ukraine's new Crimean Platform initiative will take place in Kyiv later this month as efforts continue to end the seven-year Russian occupation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Aug 5, 2021

How Ukraine can push back against Vladimir Putin’s twisted history

By
Tom Warner

Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent article on Ukrainian history has been interpreted by many as a declaration of war against Ukrainian national identity. How should Ukraine respond to this ominous essay?


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Aug 5, 2021

Here to dine in Kyiv

By
Melinda Haring

Looking for a quick foodie holiday? The food in Ukraine is by turns inventive and inexpensive, creative, and delicious.


Civil Society


Ukraine


BelarusAlert

Aug 4, 2021

Belarus dissident death in Ukraine fuels fears over Lukashenka death squads

By
Brian Whitmore

The suspicious death of exiled Belarus dissident Vital Shyshou in Kyiv this week is fueling speculation over dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka's use of death squads to eliminate political opponents across Europe.


Belarus


Non-Traditional Threats


UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2021

The next hot food destination is Ukraine

By
Melinda Haring

It's only a matter of time before foodies the world over discover these gems in Ukraine.


Civil Society


Ukraine

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