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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

Sep 9, 2015

Reforms Will Succeed, But They Alone Won’t Save Ukraine

By
Andreas Umland

Will Ukraine make it? Conditions necessary for Ukraine’s current reform drive to succeed look more promising than they did in 2013. Not only does Ukraine now have its most pro-European parliament and reform-oriented government since independence in 1991; it’s also seen at least four other significant shifts in domestic politics that, taken together, render any […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Sep 9, 2015

Russia from Ukraine to Syria: Helping the Cat Down the Tree

By
Ariel Cohen

Russia’s military involvement in Syria and Ukraine obligates the United States and its European allies to bring the Kremlin back to Earth and recognize that such adventures cannot be sustained indefinitely. Russia simply does not have the money and human resources to do so in view of low oil prices and birth rates. It will […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Sep 8, 2015

Kremlin Uses Minsk Protocol to Undermine Ukraine Government

By
Alina Polyakova

In peacetime, September 1 is an eventful day for Ukrainian children—it marks the first day of school. But the war in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, now in its second year, has put a dark stain on this usually festive occasion. This year, Ukrainian kids in Kyiv started school following violent protests outside Parliament. On August […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Sep 2, 2015

Mr. Lavrov Builds His Dream World

By
Adrian Karatnycky

Each summer, as part of ongoing efforts to influence their young, Russia’s government leaders and propagandists head to a conference center on the Klyazma River about 130 miles northeast of Moscow to address the “Terra Scientia” Russian Youth Education Conference. Despite its lofty name, the conference bears little trace of free inquiry. Over the course […]


Russia


UkraineAlert

Sep 2, 2015

In the Face of Russian Aggression in Ukraine, a New US Agenda for Europe

By
Stephen Blank

Since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, the world has seen precious little Western leadership when it comes to confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin—despite US and European Union sanctions, recent efforts to strengthen NATO’s conventional deterrence in Europe, and the first signs of increased defense spending in Europe. Even in the face of plans to send […]


NATO


Russia


UkraineAlert

Sep 1, 2015

Frozen Conflict in Moldova’s Transnistria: A Fitting Analogy to Ukraine’s Hybrid War?

By
Sergiy Gerasymchuk

History is a great teacher, so it’s no surprise that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and his subsequent Kremlin speech justifying it brought back memories of the Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland in 1938. Parallels between Hitler and Putin abound, as do their motivations and the eventual global impact of the two […]


Moldova


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 31, 2015

Outflows of ‘Hot Money’ Exacerbate Europe’s Growing Refugee Crisis

By
Diane Francis

The recent collapse in stock markets and the sudden flow of refugees into Europe led world headlines in August—in a convergence of phenomena that are closely linked. Unprecedented flows of hot, or illicit, money are damaging most economies, causing both investors and migrants to flee. Ironically, China has outperformed all other economies, even though it […]


UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2015

Lviv Welcomes Crimean Tatar Community With Open Arms

By
Matthew Kupfer

The Russian annexation of Crimea in March 2014 is widely regarded as a tragedy for Crimean Tatars. But for Adile Namazova, it was also a professional catastrophe. A recent university graduate with near flawless English, Namazova, 22, had been working as a language tutor before annexation. But once Crimea changed hands, travelers stopped coming, food […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2015

Russian Narrative of Ukraine Conflict Fails to Sway Opinions in Odesa

By
Ruben Gzirian

Eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region is strewn with remnants of Russian-made cartridges from AK-74U rifles, littered with the splintered, hollowed-out ruins of Russian-made BTR-80 armored personnel carriers, and scarred with the skeletons of Russian T-74B battle tanks. Yet the Kremlin’s incursion into Ukrainian territory is not isolated to the Donbas. Its influence has also permeated the […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Aug 30, 2015

Ukraine Must Privatize Failing State-Owned Enterprises Quickly

By
Anders Åslund

Privatization has generated controversy in every post-communist country. Ministers of privatization are usually accused of heinous crimes, regardless of how impeccably they have performed their jobs. Yet privatization is vital for all such nations, not least for Ukraine. The goal must be to limit state-owned enterprises so that the private sector dominates. The aim isn’t […]


Ukraine

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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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UkraineAlert

Jun 2, 2015

The Dangerous Game of Truth Telling in Ukraine

By Danielle Johnson

As commentary on Ukraine increasingly focuses on the next Russian offensive and ways to end the war, now is the time to consider how to rebuild a unified country. Any attempt to move past the violence and establish a stable basis for reform must involve a frank discussion of the past. A truth commission is […]

Russia Ukraine

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