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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

Jul 2, 2019

Five reasons why investors are giving Ukraine another look

By
Daniel Bilak

The ambitions of Ukraine House Toronto arise from what UkraineInvest has witnessed over the last year: a renewed confidence in and interest among investors for exposure to the Ukrainian market.


Democratic Transitions


Fiscal and Structural Reform


UkraineAlert

Jun 28, 2019

Finally a new window of investment opportunity in Ukraine?

By
Basil Kalymon

The fight against corruption, linked to a continued commitment to EU integration and general system reform, could greatly boost Ukraine’s economic strength.


Conflict


Corruption


UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2019

Everything you know about the Donbas is wrong

By
Melinda Haring

Many Western experts avoid the Donbas because it’s a knotty problem without an easy solution, and there’s plenty in Kyiv to keep one busy. I was one of those experts until a few weeks ago, when I finally jumped into a car and sped to Kramatorsk.


Civil Society


Inclusive Growth


UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2019

Putin finally tells Russians the truth (sort of)

By
Anders Åslund

In his annual television marathon “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin” on June 20, the Russian president did something unusual. To my knowledge, this is the first time he specified the impact of Western sanctions on Russia, which he usually presents as having a positive effect on the Russian economy because of import substitution. “Look, according […]


Conflict


Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion


UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2019

PACE sells out for 33 Million euros

By
Andrej Lushnycky

On June 25, Russia was allowed back into the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) as a full voting member, after being expelled five years ago for its aggression in Ukraine. Through an innocuous sounding measure that pledged to strengthen the assembly’s decision-making processes on credentials and voting, 118 parliamentarians agreed to let […]


Conflict


Human Rights


UkraineAlert

Jun 27, 2019

Five predictions for Ukraine’s parliamentary elections

By
Brian Mefford

With the Constitutional Court of Ukraine affirming the dismissal of parliament last week, new elections are moving ahead for July 21. Here are five predictions on what to expect. First, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People has a legitimate chance to form a one-party majority in the parliament. This would mark the first time since […]


Elections


Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Jun 25, 2019

How the US got rich, and Ukraine can too

By
Diane Francis

The United States invented many things, but anti-trust laws and competition policy was arguably the most profound. These laws establish fair rules for the marketplace, and are why the country became the richest and most powerful on the planet. Without these, the United States would look like Russia or Ukraine: An impoverished populace and a […]


Central Europe


Financial Regulation


UkraineAlert

Jun 25, 2019

Hard talk

By
Melinda Haring

“Some of the greatest Ukrainian patriots aren’t even Ukrainian,” the eminently quotable public intellectual Yevhen Hlibovotsky is fond of saying. While he didn’t have John Sung Kim in mind, he might have. Kim, forty-five, is a wealthy Korean-American entrepreneur who built and sold two companies (one IPO, one all cash sale) in Silicon Valley before […]


Entrepreneurship


Inclusive Growth


UkraineAlert

Jun 24, 2019

What Ukraine’s new parties bring to the table

By
Vitalii Rybak

June has been challenging month to keep up with Ukraine’s vibrant politics. Numerous new political parties—Servant of the People, Holos, Might and Honor, Ukrainian Strategy, and others—held party conventions and presented their candidates and programs for snap parliamentary elections slated for July 21. Let’s take a look at the three most important newcomers to the […]


Corruption


Elections


UkraineAlert

Jun 24, 2019

Zelenskyy starts off on the right foot with the business community

By
Andy Hunder

“I obviously mistook the dress code,” confessed Viacheslav Klymov standing tieless onstage where Ukraine’s president sat clad in his Sunday-best in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 20. The newly-elected president replied to the head of the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs not to fret and instantly removed his own tie in front of the audience of seven […]


Inclusive Growth


Political Reform

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.

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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Content

UkraineAlert

Mar 6, 2015

The Kremlin’s Secret War: Soldiers’ Families Shattered and Silenced

By New Atlanticist

A Vice News Documentary Shows What Russia Is Hiding—and How Since last summer, when President Vladimir Putin’s government first deployed major units of Russian conventional army troops to fight in its war against Ukraine, the Kremlin has used state secrecy, propaganda, intimidation, and violence to conceal the story. Police have obstructed journalists, arrested them—and in […]

Russia Ukraine

Testimony

Mar 6, 2015

US and Allies Risk War with Russia by a ‘Hesitancy on Ukraine’

By New Atlanticist

Wilson: Only the US Can Lead in Defending Europe Against Putin’s Rising Ambition The United States and its allies must confront the aggressive actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin because failing to do so will escalate his ambitions—perhaps to the point of forcing a war with NATO, the Atlantic Council’s Damon Wilson told the US […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2015

Before Russia’s Next Offensive, Obama Should Take the Lead

By New Atlanticist

Burns: Give Arms to Ukraine, More NATO Cover to Baltics—and Leadership for Europe President Barack Obama has given space for Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel to lead recently in the Western response to Russia’s war on Ukraine. But it’s now time for the US president to take the reins back, writes former Undersecretary of State Nicholas […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2015

The Myth of the West’s Threat to Russia

By Alexander J. Motyl

Did NATO Provoke a War By Trying to ‘Take’ Ukraine From Russia? Much Western thinking about the causes of the Russo-Ukrainian War is rooted in a myth. It posits that the West—or, more specifically, NATO—attempted to wrest Ukraine from Russia’s sphere of influence, thereby forcing Vladimir Putin to defend Russia’s legitimate strategic interests by going […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

UkraineAlert

Mar 3, 2015

Europe Averts Winter Gas Cutoff for Now with Ukraine-Russia Deal

By New Atlanticist

For Long-Term Security, EU Should Push Moscow to Obey Rules and Kyiv to Reform Gas Sector By brokering a March 2 interim gas deal between Ukraine and Russia, the European Union helped avert a wintertime cutoff of gas to Ukraine and other parts of Europe. Russia had threatened to halt supplies to Ukraine in the […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Mar 3, 2015

To Secure Europe’s Energy, Build a Market and Integrate Ukraine

By Basil Kalymon and Adonis Yatchew

Europe Should Press Moscow to Respect EU Rules—and Kyiv to End Gas Monopoly In recent days, Russia has once more threatened the security of Europe’s gas supplies by announcing that it will refuse to pipe gas through Ukraine and will require that a southern alternative be built through Turkey. The European gas supply system has […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Mar 2, 2015

Is the IMF Bailout Enough for Ukraine?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

MIT Economist Says Rescue Plan Is Too Small, May Need Adjustment An International Monetary Fund bailout for Ukraine underestimates the banking sector’s needs and is unrealistic about government expenditure on security and defense, according to Andrei Kirilenko, a Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ukraine has secured a $40 billion bailout from the IMF […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Mar 1, 2015

Nemtsov Assassination Is Rooted in Putin’s Authoritarianism

By John E. Herbst

Passive Responses to Putin Darken the Future for Ukraine—and for Russia The professional killing of Boris Nemtsov February 27 confronts us with two facts that Western policymakers ignore at great cost in the Russia-Ukraine war. First, Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine is potentially a great domestic political liability for him. Second, it is central to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 25, 2015

The Flawed Minsk Peace Accord—And How to Use It

By Adrian Karatnycky

Truce Buys Ukraine Time to Get a Little Real Help From Its Friends Ukraine and its allies hope this month’s cease-fire deal agreed with Russia and Russian-backed rebels brings relative calm to southeastern Ukraine. But the Minsk agreement is deeply flawed, and there is every chance it may yet unravel, even if it holds for […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 18, 2015

Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Battle Slogs Ahead

By Olena Tregub

New Prosecutor Briefly Arrests an Oligarch; Anti-Corruption Bureau Seeks a Director The Ukrainian campaign to actually begin cleaning up Europe’s most corrupt government and economy is progressing more slowly than many Ukrainians have demanded. But the past week showed some movement in two critical government agencies: the prosecutor general’s office and the nascent National Anti-Corruption […]

Ukraine