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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 31, 2019

Ukraine Needs Carrots and Sticks to Fight Corruption

By
Oleksandr Danylyuk

There is no silver bullet when it comes to defeating systemic corruption in any country. Despite many opportunities, Ukraine has failed to achieve economic success due to its entrenched corruption which offsets the positive effects from many of the hard-earned and difficult reforms we have implemented since independence.


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 30, 2019

An Exemplary Life

By
Tatiana Vorozhko

On January 23, Ukrainian-Briton Nadia Diuk passed away. This was reported on Facebook by her sister, who wrote that Nadia had died at home after a long battle with cancer. The previous day, President Petro Poroshenko bestowed the Order of Princess Olga (III degree), one of Ukraine’s highest honors to Diuk, who had dedicated her […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 29, 2019

Time to Shame Putin Again

By
Maksym Eristavi

Chechnya is at it again. Recent reports indicate that there’s another anti-gay pogrom underway in the Russian region of Chechnya. It is said to include kidnappings, secret torture chambers, and arbitrary executions. Violence against these individuals is escalating, and it’s the biggest spike of targeted attacks against gay Chechens since 2017 when 100 LGBTQ people […]


Russia


UkraineAlert

Jan 29, 2019

Why the Hungarian Link in Russia’s Grand Strategy Is Overblown

By
Gergely Varga

Editor’s Note: This article is a response to Stephen Blank’s essay, Putin’s Energy Strategy Is More Ambitious than You Think, which we published on January 4, 2019.   Energy policy is a crucial part of Russia’s strategy to maximize its influence in Europe and divide the European Union. As highlighted by critics of Russia’s assertive energy […]


Hungary


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 28, 2019

Five Key Takeaways from Davos 2019 for Ukraine

By
Andy Hunder

“No other event has the same global appeal,” commented Andy Christie, private jets director at Air Charter Service, predicting up to 1,500 individual private jets flights to be made in and out of this year’s Davos summit. Top global business leaders, political leaders, economists, celebrities, and journalists turn up year after year to the World […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 25, 2019

Ukraine’s Slow but Steady Strangulation Is Taking Place in Plain Sight

By
Peter Dickinson

Russia’s war against Ukraine is about to enter its sixth year, but many remain in denial over the true nature of the conflict. There is still widespread international reluctance to acknowledge the global significance of Vladimir Putin’s invasion, leading to a preference for the kind of euphemistic language that blurs the lines between victim and […]


Germany


Russia


UkraineAlert

Jan 25, 2019

Here’s How to Nurture Risk-Taking Among Ukraine’s IT Sector

By
Maksym Bakhmatov

Ukraine is a country of opportunity and talent. Home to one of the fastest-growing IT industries in the world, Ukraine has over 4,000 technology companies and about 2,000 startups. In 2018, investment in startups reached almost $300 million. Additionally, the country has roughly 184,000 software developers, and Ukrainians register over 12,000 patents annually for various […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 24, 2019

Are Things Really Changing at Ukroboronprom?

By
Melinda Haring

Pavlo Bukin has been on the job for nearly a year, and he’s in good spirits. It’s not the most enviable position: he’s the general director of Ukroboronprom, the state-owned defense company, and has been charged with cleaning up the company and making its business practices market friendly. Ukroboronprom (UOP) has serious reputational issues. Ukraine’s […]


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2019

Who wanted Boris Nemtsov dead? New book offers new look at evidence

By
Anders Åslund

Boris Nemtsov was jollier and more outgoing than most. Unlike most of Russia’s reformers, he abstained from wealth, choosing to live modestly as an opposition politician. He could work with anyone. On February 27, 2015, he was murdered just off the Kremlin.


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 21, 2019

Ukraine emerges from isolation

By
James Brooke

Transportation links provide advance warnings as to where a society is going physically and mentally. Until five years ago, all of Ukraine’s roads led to Moscow. Now they go west. On land, more Ukrainians traveled by train to Europe than to Russia last year for the first time since Czarist railroads were built in the […]


Macroeconomics


Russia

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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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Dec 23, 2014

As US and Europe Press Ukraine to Reform, They Also Must Help Save It from Default

By Sabine Freizer

The Ukrainian Project to Keep Europe Whole and Free Needs Adequate Financing—and Quickly  Ukraine’s new government has unleashed a “tiger team” of ministers committed to quick and comprehensive reforms—but as that work begins, the costs of war and recession have pushed Ukraine to the edge of default.  Ukraine has begun to take steps to slash […]

European Union International Organizations

UkraineAlert

Dec 19, 2014

Putin Leaves All Options Open on Economic Crisis and Ukraine War

By James Rupert

Pascual: As Russia Faces Economic Downturn, West Should Probe Kremlin on Chances of a Merkel-Brokered Deal In his annual press conference this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered no clear suggestion for how he proposes to dig Russia out of its deepening economic hole. And he signaled no new direction in government’s sponsorship of the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 19, 2014

Measuring Ukraine’s War on Corruption: Key Signs to Watch in Early 2015

By New Atlanticist

As Ukraine’s new government has taken office and vows to clean up endemic corruption—publicly perceived as Europe’s worst, according to Transparency International—here are some leading indicators of its progress, as suggested by the Atlantic Council’s Kyiv-based senior fellow, Brian Mefford. You can find his full essay on this at his own blog.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 17, 2014

Ruble’s Collapse Will Force Putin to Move. But Which Way?

By James Rupert

Russia’s Choice, Between Market Reforms and State Controls, May Open or Shut Doors to Détente Over Ukraine The Russian ruble’s stunning collapse this week may lead President Vladimir Putin to order changes at the country’s central bank and in his cabinet. As he does, will he tilt his government toward Russia’s market-oriented economic reformers or […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 16, 2014

Ukraine’s New Cabinet Lineup Offers Broad Competence for Reforms

By New Atlanticist

Atlantic Council Analyst Lists Whom to Watch in the Battle to Improve Governance and Economy Ukraine’s overhauled cabinet lineup, now complete, offers clues to the new leadership’s seriousness and competence for its critical task of reforms. For a government that must decentralize governance, make official transactions transparent, prosecute and prevent graft, rebuild its finances, resuscitate […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 16, 2014

President Obama Will Sign Congress’ Bill to Aid Ukraine: Here’s Why

By James Rupert

‘Freedom Support Act’ Authorizes, But Does Not Require, Arms Sales to Ukraine In passing its bill to boost US support for Ukraine last week, Congress left President Barack Obama largely free to decide how and when to apply its provisions – and that flexibility is one reason Obama has chosen to sign the act, even […]

Eastern Europe Russia

UkraineAlert

Dec 12, 2014

Ukraine: Suddenly, an Information Ministry Is Born

By Irena Chalupa

Poroshenko’s Team Creates a Government Agency in 60 Hours; Critics Ask if This Is the Way to Counter Kremlin Propaganda President Petro Poroshenko’s government created a Ministry of Information Policy last week in sixty hours from first proposal to parliamentary approval—and did so over the objections of pro-reform legislators, journalists, and democracy activists.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 12, 2014

Meet Ukraine’s New Anti-Corruption Lawmakers

By New Atlanticist

Pro-Democracy Activists Join Parliament—and the Battle for Ukraine’s Future The new parliament and political leadership taking office in Ukraine includes members of an energetic, young class of leaders who have emerged from last year’s Maidan movement, with its demands for greater democracy and an end to massive political corruption. Our colleagues at the National Democratic […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 12, 2014

DIRECT TRANSLATION: ‘My First Ten Days as a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament’

By Irena Chalupa

Anti-Corruption Journalist Who Ran for Office Says Poroshenko Has Stifled Dissent Within the New Government Serhiy Leshchenko, age thirty-four, is a Kyiv-based investigative journalist and blogger who has been deputy chief editor of Ukrainska Pravda, the country’s most prominent independent news website. After supporting last year’s pro-democracy Maidan movement, he opted this year to run […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Dec 9, 2014

Is Russia’s Economic Pain Forcing Putin to Step Back on Ukraine?

By Elizabeth Pond

Russian President’s Softened Rhetoric and Talks with Ukraine Suggest a Change Are Western economic sanctions and falling oil prices starting to deter President Vladimir Putin from his larger ambitions in the Ukraine crisis? While Putin has vowed that Russia will overcome its economic isolation, ordinary Russians are feeling increased pain from an economy sliding into […]

Eastern Europe Russia