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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

May 7, 2020

Putin woos Trump with WWII nostalgia but Russia’s hybrid war continues

By
Eugene Czolij

Presidents Trump and Putin recently issued a joint statement praising the WWII meeting of US and Soviet troops as “an example of how our countries can build trust.” However, with Russia waging a hybrid war against the West, trust is in short supply.


Conflict


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

May 4, 2020

East Ukraine: Between a pandemic and a war zone

By
Eric Fritz and Frank Martin

Covid-19 is a global crisis, but its impacts on war zones will prove to be uniquely tragic. Nowhere is this more evident than in the conflict-stricken Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.


Conflict


Coronavirus


UkraineAlert

May 4, 2020

Zelenskyy prefers to stay silent on Russian war guilt

By
Taras Kuzio

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made ending the country’s ongoing war with Russia his top priority. However, his reluctance to hold Moscow publicly responsible for the conflict risks complicating efforts to secure peace.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

May 4, 2020

A serious but flawed look at peace in the Donbas

By
John E. Herbst

The conflict in the Donbas cannot be solved by Ukraine and Russia alone, but the West must not unconditionally accept a "Russian consensus" to achieve it.


Conflict


European Union


UkraineAlert

May 3, 2020

Zelenskyy fails to deliver on promise of a new beginning

By
David Clark

Volodymyr Zelenskyy won the Ukrainian presidency in spring 2019 as a political outsider promising an end to decades of corrupt government. One year on, Ukrainians are still waiting for evidence of this fight against corruption.


Democratic Transitions


Populism


UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2020

Putin must end Ukraine war if he wants sanctions relief

By
Lisa Yasko

The Kremlin is calling for sanctions to be relaxed as part of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, but Putin has shown no accompanying inclination to end Russia's six-year war in Ukraine.


Conflict


Coronavirus


UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2020

Ukraine must continue electoral reform in 2020

By
Harald Jepsen

Ukraine's fledgling democracy has made huge progress in recent years, but further reform of the country's Election Code is urgently required ahead of October's planned local elections, argues Harald Jepsen.


Democratic Transitions


Elections


UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2020

Broadening Ukraine’s foreign policy horizons in the post-coronavirus world

By
Hanna Shelest

Ukraine's foreign policy has traditionally focused on the choice between Russia and the West, but the country could benefit from a more global approach to diplomacy with clearly defined regional strategies.


Coronavirus


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Apr 28, 2020

Coronavirus crisis spells doom for Putin’s dreams of rebuilding the Soviet empire

By
Solomiia Bobrovska

The coronavirus crisis has sparked a collapse in oil prices that is hitting Russia hard. With the Kremlin coffers increasingly empty, could change be on the horizon in Moscow for the first time since 1991?


Coronavirus


Russia


UkraineAlert

Apr 28, 2020

Three more reasons to be optimistic about Ukraine’s future

By
Adair Appleton and Doug Klain

After spending a year studying with some of the best political scientists and economists in the United States, Ukraine's up-and-coming innovators make their mark.


Civil Society


Economy & Business

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

Feb 6, 2015

Amid Escalated War, U.S. Weighs Defensive Weapons for Ukraine

By New Atlanticist

France & Germany Seek to Halt the Fighting, May Use Specter of a Better-Armed Ukraine to Press Putin The Obama administration has announced no decision on whether to help Ukraine use US-made weapons to defend against Russian-sponsored attacks. But France and Germany are probing to see whether that threat might help push Russian President Vladimir […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 3, 2015

Will Moldova’s Dangerous Political Deadlock Force Out Its Prime Minister?

By New Atlanticist

Foreign Minister and Europeanist Nataliya Gherman May Become Next Leader Moldova’s political parties are deadlocked on forming a government, and the parliament has until next week (February 12) to either confirm Prime Minister Iurie Leanca in his post or find an alternative. But Leanca is sure of having only 42 of the 51 votes he […]

Moldova

UkraineAlert

Feb 3, 2015

US Should Provide Arms, Military Aid to Ukraine, Eight Ex-Officials Say

By New Atlanticist

‘We Face a Critical Juncture’ in Halting Russian Aggression in Eastern Europe, Group Says Eight former senior US officials—diplomats, ranking Pentagon and State Department office-holders, military commanders and US appointees to NATO—today urged the Obama administration and its NATO allies to strengthen support for Ukraine by urgently providing military aid, including defensive weapons, for its […]

Ukraine
An article on the CitySakh.ru website, from Russia's Pacific Far East region, shows a Russian marine, identified by the patch on his sleeve, filmed in the battle for Donetsk airport. (CitySakh.ru/ www.citysakh.ru)

UkraineAlert

Jan 30, 2015

DIRECT TRANSLATION: Russian Marine, Home From Ukraine War, Says ‘A Lot of Russian Military’ Are Fighting There

By Irena Chalupa

Troops from Russia’s Pacific Far East Region Are Prominent in a War 4,200 Miles to the West The Russian island of Sakhalin, in the Pacific Ocean just north of Japan, is fully a continent away from the war raging in southeastern Ukraine. But Konstantin Gorelov, a 22-year-old, active-duty Russian naval infantry commando, made the 4,200-mile […]

Ukraine

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