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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

Feb 4, 2020

International law may yet contain Putin in Ukraine

By
Michel Waelbroeck and Willem Aldershoff

Rival interpretations of the 2015 Minsk Protocols have brought Ukraine and Russia to deadlock in negotiations to end the undeclared six-year war between the two nations – but could international law help Ukraine to win the diplomatic argument?


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Feb 4, 2020

US-Ukraine ties after the impeachment drama

By
Volodymyr Dubovyk

The Trump impeachment drama has placed enormous strain on US-Ukraine ties but Kyiv continues to rely on American support in its struggle against Russian aggression. How will the US-Ukraine partnership now evolve?


Conflict


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jan 30, 2020

Сегодня Крым, Россия завтра?

By
Melinda Haring

С аннексии Крыма весной 2014 года, Россия изменяла Украинский полуостров на темную дырку человеческих прав и огромная военную базу. Эта худшая ситуация может быть переменены в других местах в России и дальше, предупреждает Мелинда Харинг.


Conflict


Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion


UkraineAlert

Jan 30, 2020

Crimea today, Russia tomorrow?

By
Melinda Haring

Since seizing Crimea in spring 2014, Russia has transformed the Ukrainian peninsula into a human rights black hole and a giant military base. This deteriorating situation could be replicated elsewhere in Russia and beyond, warns Melinda Haring.


Human Rights


Russia


UkraineAlert

Jan 30, 2020

Climate change threatens the Ukrainian breadbasket

By
Anna Ackermann

Ukraine is currently experiencing one of the mildest winters on record. This is sparking concern over the pace of climate change in the country and the implications for an economy that relies heavily on its status as an emerging agricultural superpower.


Climate Change & Climate Action


Macroeconomics


UkraineAlert

Jan 30, 2020

Pressuring Putin is the only way to end Ukraine’s pain

By
Paul Niland

Many observers believe the undeclared war between Russia and Ukraine has already become a de facto frozen conflict – but Paul Niland argues the only way to secure a lasting peace is to focus on increasing the cost of Russian aggression.


Conflict


Russia


UkraineAlert

Jan 27, 2020

Ukraine’s fate will shape global security – and Americans should care

By
Peter Dickinson

During a January 24 post-interview exchange, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly asked a radio host, "Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?" This has sparked a lively debate about US-Ukrainian ties and the threat posed by Russian aggression.


Conflict


National Security


UkraineAlert

Jan 27, 2020

PACE risks becoming a watchdog with no bite

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

Ukraine's return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is in danger of being overshadowed by efforts to make it much more difficult to impose sanctions similar to the measures aimed at Russia over the 2014 invasion of Ukraine. Will Europe's human rights watchdog lose its bite?


Europe & Eurasia


International Organizations


UkraineAlert

Jan 27, 2020

Is Putin preparing a new Ukraine strategy?

By
Anders Åslund

The departure of Vladimir Putin's gray cardinal Vladislav Surkov and his replacement as Ukraine policy curator by Dmitry Kozak has led to speculation that Russia could be planning a change in its Ukraine strategy.


Conflict


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Jan 24, 2020

Rumors of Ukraine’s death on Capitol Hill are greatly exaggerated

By
John E. Herbst

Ukraine's role at the heart of the Trump impeachment process has raised concerns that bipartisan support for the country could suffer but John E. Herbst argues that US backing for Ukraine remains strong.


Politics & Diplomacy


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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Sep 23, 2014

Russia Cracks Down in Crimea, Shuts Tatar Community Offices

By James Rupert

Police, Masked Thugs Bar Tatar, Other Ethnic Leaders From Attending UN Conference Today Russian authorities in Crimea have moved since last week to silence and isolate the peninsula’s main ethnic Tatar community and political organization, the Mejlis. Russia’s government has shut down the group’s headquarters in Crimea and tried to prevent Tatar representatives from attending […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 22, 2014

Russians Protest Putin’s War on Ukraine: What Does It Mean for Kyiv?

By James Rupert

Like Poroshenko’s Reception in Congress, It’s a Morale Boost—But Ukraine Is Fighting on Its Own Yesterday’s images from Moscow could hardly be more welcome for Ukrainians: thousands of Russians marching in their capital to condemn their government’s war against Ukraine. The protest was fueled partly by the spreading news in Russia that scores, perhaps hundreds, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2014

Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert: Version 2.0

By James Rupert

With today’s edition, the Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert newsletter is six months old. Readers will notice that it arrives in a new package: concise and colorful. Its content will remain much the same, although we’re always working to improve it.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 18, 2014

Poroshenko’s Stark Message to Washington

By John E. Herbst

Russia’s Assault Threatens Not Just Ukraine, but Europe and Eurasia Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko delivered a stark but necessary message in Washington September 18.  Addressing a Joint Session of Congress, he noted that:

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2014

Can Ukraine’s Parliament Election Bring Moderate Voices From Embattled East?

Could Ukraine’s parliamentary elections in six weeks produce representatives from eastern Ukraine who might provide a clear alternative voice for that region, distinct from those of the thuggish, Kremlin-sponsored “people’s republics?” If so, that could offer President Petro Poroshenko a set of credible, more moderate interlocutors to bring into negotiations to come over the east’s […]

Elections Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2014

Ukraine’s President Seeks Urgent US Help to Defend against Russian Aggression

By John E. Herbst

Petro Poroshenko Will Ask Congress’ Support in Getting US Weapons President Petro Poroshenko arrives in Washington this week at the most perilous moment in the history of independent Ukraine. After the Kremlin’s months of attacking Ukraine with its proxy militias, it directly invaded southeast Ukraine last month with thousands of regular Russian army troops, thus […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 11, 2014

Mariupol: Russia’s Next Target in Ukraine War?

A Strategic City Prepares Its Defense; But if Truce Fails, Its Fate Will be Uncertain Amid the war between Russia and Ukraine, no city is watching the viability of the fragile cease-fire with more apprehension than Ukraine’s second-largest seaport, Mariupol. That is because the city, home to steel mills and, normally, a half-million residents, will […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 10, 2014

The Turning Point

By Timothy Ash

Inaction by US and NATO to Russia’s August Incursion Showed Putin He Could Invade Ukraine History books to be written about the Ukraine crisis and the Battle for Donbas will likely record as a military turning point the battle on September 5 for the town of Ilovaisk. A massive, pinpoint-accurate artillery barrage, using high-tech reconnaissance […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 8, 2014

Russian Court Orders Ukrainian Pilot-Soldier to Undergo Psychiatric Evaluation

Nadiya Savchenko Will Refuse to Submit to ‘Illegal’ Exam, Her Lawyer Says A Russian court has sent Ukrainian soldier and pilot Nadiya Savchenko for a “forensic psychiatric evaluation” at the Moscow institute where Soviet authorities for years performed abusive treatments on political dissidents. Savchenko says she will refuse to submit to the examination, which she […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 8, 2014

Ukraine, Facing Russia on Its Own, Takes the Risk of Truce and Compromise With Moscow

By James Rupert

A Cease-Fire, if It Holds, Could Let the Kremlin Strengthen Its Grip on the Donbas Region When Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko attended the NATO Summit on Friday, it was clear that the Alliance had chosen not to offer his country the weapons it needs to fight the Russian troops and paramilitaries who have invaded his […]

Russia Ukraine