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

Putin’s Balkan Gambit

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

Putin’s Balkan Gambit

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

Putin’s Balkan Gambit

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

Nov 3, 2014

Russian-Ukraine Gas Deal Gives Moscow the Leverage and Europe the Energy

By
John E. Herbst

Ukrainians Will Get Gas, Too, But Their Cost and Risk of Cutoffs Remain High European Union leaders in Brussels may be celebrating the gas deal signed Thursday between Ukraine and Russia as an assurance of Russian gas supplies to Europe this winter, but Ukrainians can at best take cold comfort from the agreement. EU Energy […]


Eastern Europe

Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Oct 31, 2014

Ukraine Gas Deal May Show That the West’s Sanctions on Russia Are Working

By
James Rupert

The gas supply deal signed in Brussels yesterday among Russia, Ukraine and the European Union “is perhaps the clearest indication yet that sanctions imposed on Russia are working in terms of changing Russia’s behavior,” writes Timothy Ash, an economist who directs emerging markets strategy at Standard Bank in London.


Eastern Europe

Energy & Environment


UkraineAlert

Oct 30, 2014

Russian-Backed ‘People’s Republics’ in Ukraine Prepare Elections for Sunday

By
James Rupert

Donetsk, Lugansk Vote for ‘Parliaments’ Violates Truce and Raises Risks, Say Analysts The Russian-backed, miniature, “people’s republics” declared in southeastern Ukraine are preparing to elect parliaments and heads of state on Sunday, a step backed by Moscow to consolidate their self-declared statehood. Those elections promise to further undermine the already wobbly political deal that underpins […]


Russia

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 27, 2014

Today’s Corruption Video: Which Ukrainian Officials Own These Palaces?

By
New Atlanticist

The former director and deputy director of Ukraine’s state-owned gas company, Naftogaz, will have been waiting today to hear if they are elected to Ukraine’s parliament, not least because winning seats would offer them immunity from prosecution. Prosecution for what?


Elections

Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Oct 27, 2014

Ukraine Counts Its Votes: Here Is What They Mean

By
New Atlanticist

Official Tallies Are Tracking With Polls Predicting a Strong, Pro-Europe and Reformist Coalition With 71 percent of Ukraine’s ballots counted today, the official results are broadly tracking the recent days’ polls, suggesting that Ukraine’s next government will be a pro-European coalition built across several political parties, with President Petro Poroshenko likely to rely on his […]


Eastern Europe

Elections


UkraineAlert

Oct 27, 2014

Ukrainians Vote for a European Future and for Reform

By
John E. Herbst

Parliament Election is a Defeat for Russia’s Putin: How Will He Respond? If Sunday’s exit poll accurately depicts Ukraine’s parliamentary vote, the outcome is a stunning victory for reform and a pro-European orientation—and a big defeat for Russian President Vladimir Putin. It immediately raises the question whether Putin will respond with a new aggressive move […]


Eastern Europe

Elections


UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2014

George Soros on Ukraine: Europe Is Sleeping Through Its Decisive Fight

By
New Atlanticist

Billionaire investment magnate and pro-democracy philanthropist George Soros has sounded what he says is a wake-up call to Europe (and to the United States) over a failure to see that it is “facing a challenge from Russia to its very existence.” You can read here his full 3,200-word essay for the New York Review of […]


European Union

International Organizations


UkraineAlert

Oct 24, 2014

A Night in War-Shattered Lugansk: Russian Soldiers Share Vodka with Western Journalists

By
James Rupert

‘You Didn’t See Us Here,’ Officer Admonishes, as Moscow Keeps Military Options in Ukraine As Ukrainians elect a parliament this weekend, new evidence pops up of Russia’s military role in their country: Western journalists this week found destroyed Russian tanks in Donetsk—and very live (if somewhat drunk) Russian soldiers happy to socialize at one of […]


Russia

Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Oct 20, 2014

Ukraine Prepares to Elect Its Most Pro-European Parliament in History

By
New Atlanticist

Poroshenko’s Party Leads; Yatsenyuk Improves Chance of Remaining Prime Minister On Sunday, Ukrainians will elect their first parliament since the Maidan revolution and the Russian invasions of Crimea and Donbas. Kyiv-based political analyst Brian Mefford, now a nonresident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council, analyzes Ukrainian politics and elections on his website’s blog. Mefford’s analysis […]


Elections

Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Oct 17, 2014

Yanukovych Birthday Video Reflects What Is Angering Ukrainians Now

By
James Rupert

Kyiv Says It Fires 39 Officials as Voters Show Frustration Over Continued Corruption Eight months after Ukrainians forced the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, they will elect a parliament amid rising public anger over the persistence of government corruption under the still-new regime of President Petro Poroshenko. Public discussion about how many new leaders are […]


Ukraine

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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

Putin’s Balkan Gambit

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

Putin’s Balkan Gambit

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

Putin’s Balkan Gambit

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

Oct 16, 2014

Putin’s Balkan Gambit

By Damon Wilson

Buoyed by Successes in Europe’s East, Russia’s Leader Turns His Gaze to Serbia and Its Neighbors Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine aims to deny that nation a European future, partly by closing the door permanently to membership in NATO or the European Union. Putin’s aims, however, are not limited to extending a Russian […]

Russia The Balkans

UkraineAlert

Oct 10, 2014

General Wesley Clark: America’s Global Strategy Begins With Ukraine

By James Rupert

Former NATO Commander Says Every US Strategic Interest Is Tied to Russia-Ukraine Crisis America’s five most broadly dangerous 21st-century challenges are disparate, says former presidential candidate and retired senior general Wesley Clark. They stretch from an aggressive China and frail cyber-security to climatic disruptions, unstable financial systems, and terrorism rooted in the Islamic world. All […]

Eastern Europe NATO

UkraineAlert

Oct 6, 2014

Four More Crimean Tatars Vanish, One Dead Amid Russian Crackdown

By James Rupert

19 Tatars Abducted or Disappeared Since Moscow’s Takeover of Crimea At least nineteen ethnic Tatars have been abducted or have disappeared in Russian-ruled Crimea, four of them in the past ten days, Tatar and human rights activists say. Russian authorities up to the office of President Vladimir Putin have promised to investigate the disappearances, which […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2014

Ukraine’s New Parliament Will Strengthen Poroshenko, but Independents Will Make It Unpredictable

By New Atlanticist

Analysis: Putin Unlikely to Scrap the Ceasefire Before October 26 Vote While Russia’s President Vladimir Putin still has unmet ambitions in Ukraine, he is likely to avoid launching any new military offensive there before Ukraine’s October 26 parliamentary election, writes Timothy Ash, an economist who directs emerging markets strategy at Standard Bank in London. Putin […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2014

Can US Support for Ukraine Help Prevent a New Russian Invasion?

By James Rupert

Canadian Analyst Says US Should Signal Moscow To Avoid Any Assault in South Amid the relative lull in the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian military specialists say Russia may soon re-invade Ukraine to seize a critical overland supply route to Crimea. But some analysts and officials in the West are less worried. In the end, says military […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2014

As Winter Nears in Ukraine, Will Moscow Attempt Another Strategic Invasion?

By James Rupert

Continued Attacks Show Kremlin May Be Preparing Drive Toward Crimea, Analysts Say Distracted US and European policymakers may feel grateful that this month’s truce has slowed the Russia-Ukraine war. The Obama administration is seized with the Syria-Iraq crisis and Congress has gone home to campaign for the November 4 election. Europe faces an internal battle […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Sep 25, 2014

Ukraine’s Parliamentary Election: Poroshenko Leads Big at Campaign’s Start

By James Rupert

Early Voter Surveys Reflect Anti-Russian, Pro-Independence Mood Ukrainians will elect a new parliament in exactly thirty days, completing the electoral portion of the political revolution triggered by last winter’s Maidan movement. As the campaign began in recent weeks, two Ukrainian polling organizations conducted surveys that yielded similar numbers on the early mindset of Ukraine’s electorate. […]

Elections Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Sep 25, 2014

A Dangerous October: Ukraine Contests an Election As It Fears a Truce

By John E. Herbst

Kyiv Feels Little Supported by the West, Hopes to Survive an Unequal Ceasefire With Russia KYIVA junction of war and politics dominates public life in Ukraine as autumn settles firmly in Kyiv. An unequal cease-fire this month in southeast Ukraine will let Moscow maintain there a core of the invasion force it sent in last […]

Elections Politics & Diplomacy

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
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