UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine’s politics, economy, civil society, and culture. UkraineAlert sources analysis and commentary from a wide-array of thought-leaders, politicians, experts, and activists from Ukraine and the global community. UkraineAlert has become a major publication in Ukraine’s news landscape and has established itself not only through its quality of content but also significant partnerships with English, Ukrainian, and Russian-language media through the country.

Stay Updated

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

DIRECT TRANSLATION: ‘This Is Vladimir Putin’s War’

UkraineAlert
Sep 3, 2026

Putin cannot defeat NATO but he could divide and discredit the alliance

By
Peter Dickinson

If Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to attack NATO, his goal will be to divide and discredit the alliance rather than actually defeating it, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy

DIRECT TRANSLATION: ‘This Is Vladimir Putin’s War’

UkraineAlert
Aug 27, 2026

Ukrainians are not superheroes with endless powers of resilience

By
Lauren Van Metre, Elena Davlikanova

By celebrating Ukrainian resilience as an almost superhuman quality, the international community risks obscuring the much less glamorous reality that Ukrainians are actually ordinary people who have endured extraordinary violence for far too long, write Lauren Van Metre and Elena Davlikanova.

Civil Society
Conflict

DIRECT TRANSLATION: ‘This Is Vladimir Putin’s War’

UkraineAlert
Aug 25, 2026

A cultural renaissance is reshaping national identity in wartime Ukraine

By
Davis Richardson

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is fueling a defiant cultural outpouring that is redefining and strengthening Ukrainian national identity in ways that challenge centuries of Kremlin imperialism, writes Davis Richardson.

Civil Society
Conflict

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2019

Ukrainian business leaders want better economic policy and rule of law

By
Anders Åslund

The fifteen principles reflect a broad reform consensus in Ukraine, aiming at creating well-functioning markets and strong private property rights.


Fiscal and Structural Reform

Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2019

Zelenskyy’s greatest challenge ahead

By
Mykola Vorobiov

Despite enormous enthusiasm along with a strong readiness to fix things, many challenges lie ahead for Zelenskyy and his Servant of the People party. But the most serious one undoubtedly comes from Moscow.


Conflict

Crisis Management


UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2019

Slow down already

By
Melinda Haring

Zelenskyy is consolidating power. Ukraine is rapidly switching to a presidential republic from the parliamentary-presidential system its constitution prescribes. And the worst part is that there’s little to stop him.


Civil Society

Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Sep 10, 2019

What Zelenskyy’s perfect picture is missing

By
Olena Prokopenko

The future of Ukraine’s key reform driver, its vibrant civil society, is missing and seriously threatened both by internal and external challenges.


Civil Society

Elections


UkraineAlert

Sep 10, 2019

Ukraine’s libertarian revolution

By
James Brooke

Many Ukrainian free marketers are sulking in the sidelines because they misread the Zelenskyy movement last spring.


Elections

Macroeconomics


UkraineAlert

Sep 10, 2019

Removing the stigma: Ukraine launches suicide prevention hotline for veterans

By
Peter Dickinson

Mental health issues remain largely taboo in Ukrainian society, where the prevalence of traditional machismo culture has long fueled a “boys don’t cry” mentality


Conflict

Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding


UkraineAlert

Sep 8, 2019

It was worth it

By
Alexander Khrebet

The whole world watched his first steps in this direction today on the tarmac of the Boryspil airport, and this success may give the new president greater confidence as well.


Conflict

Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding


UkraineAlert

Sep 8, 2019

What price did Ukraine pay for prisoner exchange?

By
Iryna Matviyishyn

The long-awaited return brought tears not only to the eyes of their loved ones but also to many Ukrainians who rooted for their liberation.


Conflict

Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding


UkraineAlert

Sep 8, 2019

Q&A: What does Ukraine-Russia prisoner swap mean?

By
Melinda Haring

"Putin may hope that Western praise for his 'humanitarian gesture' will reduce the pressure on Moscow to end its undeclared war in the Donbas and place the onus on Zelenskyy to make all of the concessions."


Conflict

Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding


UkraineAlert

Sep 6, 2019

The saga of David and Goliath on the outskirts of Kyiv

By
Yuri Polakiwsky

As a newly elected president and parliament have been sworn in, and a new government formed, the new political class must be ready to radically transform the values of Ukraine’s business culture.


Economy & Business

Political Reform

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spotlight

Resilience in the face of adversity

Ukraine’s transformation

Ukraine has moved tentatively toward an open society and market economy since independence. The country has held several democratic elections and made halting progress in addressing corruption and state control in its economy. Since the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Ukraine has undertaken significant governance and economic reform and moved decisively toward a Europe-Atlantic foreign policy. Since 2022, Ukraine has resiliently continued to advance some reforms despite fighting for its very existence against the full-scale Russian invasion.

Learn more about Ukraine

DIRECT TRANSLATION: ‘This Is Vladimir Putin’s War’

UkraineAlert
Dec 5, 2024

Ukraine’s entrepreneurial class can drive the country’s economic recovery

The Ukrainian SME sector has demonstrated remarkable wartime resilience and is poised to be at the forefront of efforts to create a modern, innovative, postwar economy, writes Anton Waschuk.

Read More

DIRECT TRANSLATION: ‘This Is Vladimir Putin’s War’

UkraineAlert
Oct 1, 2024

Ukraine needs international investors to maintain defense tech momentum

By
Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s rapidly expanding defense tech sector can play a game-changing role in the war against Russia but Ukrainian companies need international investment, writes Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Artificial Intelligence
Conflict

DIRECT TRANSLATION: ‘This Is Vladimir Putin’s War’

UkraineAlert
Jun 13, 2024

Ukraine officially embraces English as historic westward pivot continues

By
Oleksiy Goncharenko

By officially embracing English, Ukrainians aim to support their country’s historic pivot away from Moscow and return to the European community of nations, writes Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Civil Society
Conflict

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

Sep 4, 2014

DIRECT TRANSLATION: ‘This Is Vladimir Putin’s War’

By Irena Chalupa

Russia’s Former Deputy Prime Minister Explains to Ukrainians Why His Government Has Invaded Their Country Again With Russia again having escalated its war on Ukraine last month (sending in paratroopers from its 76th and 98th Airborne Divisions, plus armor and artillery), few are asking what is really driving the Kremlin’s military campaign in Ukraine’s southeast. […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2014

DIRECT TRANSLATION: Russian Tycoon “Will No Longer Be Silent” on Ukraine War

By Irena Chalupa

Mikhail Khodorkovsky Calls for General Strike in Russia to Protest Invasion The Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former chairman of Yukos, once Russia’s biggest oil company, is speaking out against the toll that the Kremlin’s undeclared war on Ukraine is taking on Russians. Khodorkovsky, a Putin foe who spent nearly ten years in prison on politically […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2014

Russia Secretively Buries its Soldiers Killed in the Ukraine War

By Irena Chalupa

Russian military officials stood at a cemetery surrounded by forest in far northwestern Russia, early Tuesday morning, and carefully vetted the army officers, soldiers and family members arriving for a funeral to be held in secrecy. Two paratroopers from Russia’s 76th Airborne Division were to be buried. They died last week – no one would […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 28, 2014

Russian Troops in Ukraine: It’s Really an Invasion After All

By James Rupert

As Media Harden Their Accounts of Russia’s Assault, Will the West Harden Its Response? Russia’s attacks into Ukraine this week (exactly six months after its troops began their invasion of Crimea) are bringing the actual word ”invasion” into media headlines. Atlantic Council analysts and others say the key question now is how hard a response […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 25, 2014

Ukraine’s Independence Day: Opposed Observances

By Irena Chalupa

Rebels Parade Prisoners to Declare That Ukraine Is Nazi-Inspired Ukraine’s government marked the country’s twenty-third anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union yesterday with a military parade and a vow by President Petro Poroshenko to sustain Ukraine’s war against Russian-sponsored separatists in the southeast. In Donetsk, the separatists paraded bruised and dirty Ukrainian soldiers, their […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2014

Watching For Putin’s Plan ‘B’ in Ukraine

By James Rupert

With Kremlin’s Proxy War Stumbling, Kyiv and West Guard Against ‘Humanitarian Intervention’ As Russia’s government moves its proposed convoy of humanitarian aid toward the war zone in Ukraine that it has created with its support of separatist militias, Ukraine and Western governments are warning it not to try using Russian military forces on the border […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 14, 2014

New Ukraine Orthodox Leader Signals Continued Church Divide

By Irena Chalupa

Ukrainians’ Traditional Loyalty to Moscow Patriarch is Strained by His Close Tie to Kremlin  The longstanding divide between Ukraine’s two main Orthodox churches will continue with little change following the election yesterday of a new leader, or metropolitan, by the Moscow-aligned faction. Metropolitan Onufriy is a religious conservative loyal to his church’s formal subordination to […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 11, 2014

Russian-Backed Rebels Put a Local Man Out Front, But Still Look Divided

By Irena Chalupa

Separatists Show No Unity Under New Donetsk ‘Prime Minister,’ Kremlin Paper Says The Kremlin and its proxy rebellion in southeastern Ukraine seemed to recognize last week that as a supposedly Ukrainian uprising, it should have a titular Ukrainian leader, rather than a Moscow-based Russian ultra-nationalist with ties to the Kremlin. So after three months as […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 7, 2014

Putin Will Decide Captured Ukrainian Pilot’s Fate, Her Lawyer Says

By Irena Chalupa

Nadiya Savchenko’s Trial is Political, Not Legal, Says Human Rights Attorney Mark Feygin Although a Russian court is preparing to try Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko on war-related charges, it is Russian President Vladimir Putin who will decide her fate, said Savchenko’s defense attorney, Russian human rights lawyer Mark Feygin.

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 7, 2014

Kremlin Silences Crimea’s Last Pro-Ukraine TV Station

By Irena Chalupa

Shutdown Virtually Completes Muffling of Crimean Media On August 1, police in Crimea entered the headquarters of the Chornomorska Television Company to shut it down, virtually completing Russia’s silencing of all Ukrainian and independent media on the peninsula five months after its invasion. The Moscow-backed authorities had already halted other Ukrainian broadcasts and have progressively been constricting Chornomorska […]

Russia Ukraine
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