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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

Jan 13, 2023

Ukraine struggles to repair power grid as Russian airstrikes continue

By
Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Efforts to repair damage to Ukraine's electricity system caused by Russia's strategic bombing campaign are being hampered by a shortage of critical transformers, writes Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti.


Conflict


Drones


UkraineAlert

Jan 12, 2023

The West reaps multiple benefits from backing Ukraine against Russia

By
Taras Kuzio

Ukraine is often viewed as being heavily reliant on Western support but the relationship is mutually beneficial and provides the West with enhanced security along with valuable intelligence, writes Taras Kuzio.


Conflict


Cybersecurity


UkraineAlert

Jan 12, 2023

Post-war Ukraine needs a smart digital transformation strategy

By
Anatoly Motkin

The war with Russia is far from over but it is important to begin looking ahead and setting the stage for Ukraine's post-war digital transformation, writes StrategEast Center president Anatoly Motkin.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jan 10, 2023

Putin’s faltering Ukraine invasion exposes limits of Russian propaganda

By
Victor Tregubov

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was supposed to be a short and victorious war. Instead, it has transformed him into a pariah and shattered Russia’s reputation as a military superpower. How could he have got it so wrong?


Conflict


Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Jan 8, 2023

Ukraine’s nation-building progress spells doom for Putin’s Russian Empire

By
Dennis Soltys

Many observers seek to blame Putin's Ukraine invasion on his imperial ambitions or Kremlin fears over NATO expansion, but in reality the war is a desperate Russian response to Ukraine's historic nation-building progress.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jan 8, 2023

Rebuilding Ukraine the right way

By
Stephen Blank

Ukraine's post-war reconstruction will be one of the largest international undertakings of the twenty-first century. The Ukrainian authorities must begin laying the foundations for future success before Putin is defeated.


Conflict


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Jan 4, 2023

Ukraine’s growing veteran community will shape the country’s future

By
Aleksander Cwalina, Benton Coblentz

Ukraine's rapidly expanding veteran community can make a major contribution to the country's post-war future but will require a range of support measures in order to reintegrate into civilian life successfully.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Jan 3, 2023

Putin is preparing for a long war

By
Alexander Motyl

Vladimir Putin used his traditional New Year address on December 31 to mobilize the Russian public for a long war in Ukraine while warning that the West is intent on "destroying Russia," writes Alexander Motyl.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Jan 2, 2023

Digitalization and transparency are vital for Ukraine’s reconstruction

By
Oleksandra Azarkhina

Ukraine's reconstruction will depend on digitalization and the recruitment of motivated personnel from the military, writes Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Development Oleksandra Azarkhina.


Civil Society


Conflict


UkraineAlert

Dec 26, 2022

Eight reasons for Ukrainian optimism in 2023

By
Brian Mefford

Ukrainians have experienced an incredibly traumatic year but the country enters 2023 with reason for cautious optimism that Vladimir Putin's criminal invasion can be decisively defeated, writes Brian Mefford.


European Union


NATO

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Content

UkraineAlert

Jan 27, 2015

DIRECT TRANSLATION: Nadiya Savchenko’s Lawyer Warns Putin She May Die in Moscow Prison

By Irena Chalupa

Ukrainian Officer-Pilot Reaches 45 Days on Hunger Strike Against Her Abduction and Politicized Trial Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian army officer and pilot who was captured in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and spirited to prison in Moscow, may die in captivity there on the hunger strike she has pursued for 45 days, her lawyer wrote yesterday. […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 27, 2015

When Putin’s Brittle Regime Implodes, Our Protection Will Be a Stable Ukraine

By Alexander J. Motyl

Backing Kyiv’s Independence Will Contain Russian Expansionism—And Damage From the Next Russian Revolution Although “regime change” has become a dirty phrase, the best thing that could happen to Russia, its neighbors, and the world would be a change from Vladimir Putin’s brand of strongman authoritarianism to some form of democracy.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 23, 2015

Two Months After Elections, Moldovan Political Gridlock Deepens the Country’s Risks

By New Atlanticist

Pro-Europe Parties Won a Narrow Victory at the Polls, But Can’t Agree on a Government Eight weeks after voters in Moldova gave a narrow victory to the three main parties inclined toward greater democracy and ties with Europe, those groups are locked in a political battle that has prevented the formation of a government. The […]

Moldova Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 23, 2015

Russian Troops Lead Moscow’s Biggest Direct Offensive in Ukraine Since August

By James Rupert

As Kremlin Escalates, the War Costs Ukraine $6 Million-Plus Daily, Atlantic Council’s Herbst Says A “substantial number” of Russian Federation special forces troops led this week’s capture of the Donetsk airport amid what appears to be Russia’s biggest direct military offensive in Ukraine since last summer. The offensive, by thousands of Russian troops, appears aimed […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 20, 2015

Russian Militia in Ukraine Says It’s Building an Air Force: Is that Quixotic or Dangerous?

By New Atlanticist

The Kremlin-loyalist Russian TV station LifeNews told the story January 17 that the Lugansk People’s Republic, the mini-state propped up by Russia in Ukraine’s Lugansk province, is establishing an air force. The station played just a minute of video showing men in winter military uniforms rolling a 1960s-era two-seat jet trainer—marked with the red star […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 20, 2015

Russia Sends New Army Troops Into Ukraine War, Kyiv Says

By James Rupert

Intensified Combat and a Wave of Bombings May Be Kremlin Pushing Ukraine to Accept New Talks Russia reportedly has sent two battalions of troops into Ukraine’s Donbas region to strengthen its forces there amid a week-long spike in combat. At a minimum, Russia’s injection of new regular troops, tanks and rockets is a warning to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2015

Four Months after Ukraine-Russia Truce, Putin Can’t Risk Implementing It

By James Rupert

The War at Donetsk’s Airport is On—And Peace Talks Planned for This Week Are Off The intensified battle between Ukraine and Russia for the airport in Donetsk seems likely to be a fight over this month’s military message in the Donbas war. Russia’s army veterans, fighting as mercenaries, form the bulk of the anti-Ukraine force […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2015

Ukraine’s Dignified Warrior: Nadiya Savchenko Confronts the Kremlin

By Irena Chalupa

Paratrooper, Pilot, Parliamentarian, She Pressures Moscow with Hunger Strike in Prison In seven months since a Russian-backed militia in southeastern Ukraine captured Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian paratrooper and pilot has become one of her country’s biggest icons in its war against the Russian invasion. Her captors spirited her illegally into Russia, held her in isolation, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 13, 2015

Rajan Menon: For Security, Ukraine Needs an Army, the West—and China

Author of New Book on Ukraine Conflict Urges Careful Priorities for Kyiv Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Rajan Menon, chairman of political science at the City College of New York, has just co-authored a new book, Conflict in Ukraine, with Eugene Rumer of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The book, to be published in March […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 13, 2015

As Ukraine Sinks Below ‘Life Support,’ the West Gropes for Loan Money

By James Rupert

Slowly Dribbling Out Help May Cost More in the End, George Soros and Economist Tim Ash Say Ukraine’s finances are now “beyond life support,” says economist Tim Ash as its foreign reserves plunged to $7.5 billion last month, less than half of what the International Monetary Fund considers critical to a country’s financial health. The […]

Eastern Europe Ukraine