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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

Aug 13, 2020

Ukraine must address the legal ambiguity enabling Putin’s not-so-secret war

By
Wayne Jordash

Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine is one of the world's worst-kept secrets, but a failure to end the legal ambiguity shrouding Russia's role in the ongoing conflict makes progress towards peace impossible.


Conflict


Disinformation


UkraineAlert

Aug 11, 2020

Zelenskyy’s old new faces

By
Adrian Karatnycky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to power in 2019 promising a new era in Ukrainian politics but the recent appointment of figures from the discredited past raises questions about this fresh start.


Democratic Transitions


Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Aug 6, 2020

Can new legislation revive Ukraine’s defense reforms?

By
Serhiy Piontkovsky

Ukraine's defense industry has become a major source of state spending since the onset of hostilities with Russia in 2014, but corruption allegations have been a problem. Can new legislation revive reform efforts?


Defense Policy


Defense Technologies


UkraineAlert

Aug 4, 2020

From Russian war to European opportunity: Reinventing eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region

By
Oleksii Reznikov

Putin has place eastern Ukraine's Donbas region at the heart of his "Russian World" mythology, but in reality the region has a cosmopolitan heritage that could help to inspire a new era of European investment.


Conflict


Economy & Business


UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2020

How to overcome Ukraine’s IT industry brain drain

By
Bill Brown

Ukraine’s booming IT industry is fueling the country's economic growth. The future of the sector depends on creating a professional climate that will convince talented young Ukrainian IT professionals to stay.


Entrepreneurship


Internet


UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2020

For Ukraine, endless Putin means endless hybrid war

By
Mark Temnycky

Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent constitutional amendments will allow him to extend his reign until 2036. This undermines faint hopes for an end to the six-year Russo-Ukrainian War.


Conflict


Defense Policy


UkraineAlert

Aug 1, 2020

Kyiv names street in honor of journalist who exposed Stalin’s Ukrainian genocide

By
Peter Dickinson

Kyiv City Council has confirmed plans to name a street in the Ukrainian capital in honor of British journalist Gareth Jones, who first brought news of Stalin's 1933 Ukrainian genocide to international audiences.


Disinformation


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Jul 30, 2020

The coronavirus crisis and statelessness in Ukraine

By
Andrew D’Anieri

For the estimated 35,000 stateless people living in Ukraine, access to even the most basic resources like food, medicine, and hygienic products, has been all but cut off due to the coronavirus pandemic.


Coronavirus


Human Rights


UkraineAlert

Jul 29, 2020

Hard political realities threaten Ukraine’s soft power ambitions

By
Marina Pesenti

The Ukrainian Institute was established in 2018 in order to make the most of the country's untapped soft power potential, but this cultural diplomacy initiative faces numerous political and bureaucratic obstacles.


Civil Society


Politics & Diplomacy


UkraineAlert

Jul 28, 2020

Zelenskyy’s bad economics: Inflation and devaluation will not help Ukraine grow

By
Anders Åslund

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s policymakers are causing concern by flirting with the dangerous idea that high inflation and substantial currency devaluation can boost economic growth.


Democratic Transitions


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.

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Content

UkraineAlert

Jul 17, 2014

New US Sanctions on Russia: A Good Step, Two Weeks Too Late

By John Herbst

Putin Used West’s Hesitation to Escalate Kremlin’s War on Ukraine The news that the United States has sanctioned several major Russian banks and firms, greatly limiting their use of American financial markets, is the first good news in months in terms of Western support for Ukraine. The designation of Vnesheconombank (Bank for Development and Foreign […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 16, 2014

The Kremlin’s Myth About Ukraine Militias Echoes in the Baltics

By James Rupert

A Diaspora Russian Declares That 500 Pro-Kremlin Fighters Could Break Up Latvia Latvia’s government and the world’s mainstream media may have been right to publicly ignore a Latvia-born Russian named Andrey Neronsky this week when he declared that “about 500 [Donbas-style] militiamen would be enough to end the existence of Latvia as a unified state.” […]

Northern Europe Russia

UkraineAlert

Jul 14, 2014

After the West’s Retreat on Sanctions: Putin, Tanks & Missiles Escalate the War on Ukraine

By James Rupert

Kyiv Government and Local Residents Report New Tanks From Russia Entering the Fight A week after the European Union backed away from its vow to impose broad economic sanctions on Russia over the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, the government of President Vladimir Putin has intensified the assault. Ukraine’s government and independent reports say Russia has […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 11, 2014

As EU Decides Russia Sanctions July 16, Will the US Have to Lead on Its Own?

By James Rupert

Damon Wilson: White House May Have to Decide to Act Without European Union The United States has only a dwindling few days left to persuade the European Union to join it in imposing broad economic sanctions against Russia for its attacks on Ukraine. After the EU Council meets on Wednesday, July 16, the Obama administration […]

European Union International Organizations

UkraineAlert

Jul 10, 2014

Ukraine’s War Zone: Government Claims New Advances

By James Rupert

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council has issued a map showing what it says are its troops’ latest advances on the battlefield in the two southeastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk as of July 9, 2014 (at noon Ukrainian time).

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 10, 2014

Ukraine’s Female Pilot-Soldier Surfaces in a Russian Prison

By James Rupert

At age 33, Nadiya Savchenko has served her country as a paratrooper in the combat zone of Iraq, as a helicopter navigator, and as a volunteer National Guard infantrywoman in the three-month-old war against Russian-backed militias. Yesterday she surfaced in a new role – as Ukraine’s most prominent prisoner of that war, detained in a […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 7, 2014

A Day in Luhansk: Crimes and Uncertainties of War

By Tanya Lokshina, Human Rights Watch

Tanya Lokshina, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, published on July 5 an account, excerpted below, of a visit to the conflict zone in Luhansk province. Read her full report here.

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 7, 2014

Ukraine, Having Seized Rebel-Held Cities, Now Must Govern Them

By James Rupert

Stabilizing a Recaptured Conflict Zone Will Test Kyiv’s Skills at Reconciliation While Ukraine’s weekend victory in seizing back two cities in Donetsk province is its biggest in the three-month war with Russian proxy forces, it immediately poses some tough new tests for the government in Kyiv. And, at a critical moment in Ukraine’s fight against […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 7, 2014

Why Ukraine Was Forced to Fight

By Damon Wilson

The West Retreated From Its Vow of Sanctions, Leaving Kyiv No Option   The Ukrainian military’s counter-offensive in southeast Ukraine suddenly has become Kyiv’s most effective response so far to the three-month-old proxy insurgency waged by Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the fight will be longer and riskier if the West continues its hesitation to […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2014

Poroshenko’s Vow to Fight Seals a Defeat for Putin

By James Rupert

President Petro Poroshenko’s cancellation of Ukraine’s cease-fire yesterday seals a strategic defeat for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Seven months after Putin strong-armed a malleable Ukrainian leader into scrapping Ukraine’s plan for closer ties to Europe, Ukraine is prepared to fight Russia to preserve exactly that choice.

Ukraine