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

Latest analysis


UkraineAlert

May 3, 2017

Mikheil Saakashvili: “By my own standards, I failed on every account in Odesa.”

By
Diane Francis

Mikheil Saakashvili strode into the Toronto Four Seasons Hotel on a Saturday morning, all smiles and apologies for being late. The café was empty, except for myself, a handful of patrons, and a young waiter who had recently immigrated from Ukraine. I told him who I was waiting for and he smiled. Saakashvili is only […]


Russia


The Caucasus


UkraineAlert

May 2, 2017

Does RT Really Believe in Free Speech? Prove It

By
Jeffrey Gedmin

RT aims to discredit the United States in a straightforward way. The Kremlin-funded television network—established in 2005, operating in English, Arabic, and Spanish—doesn’t report on America and the West warts and all, but rather focuses single-mindedly on warts alone. That’s not all. Sins of omission, falsehoods, and conspiracy theories—like Ukraine shooting down the Malaysian Airlines […]


France


Russia


UkraineAlert

May 1, 2017

What Can Ukraine Learn from the Balkans?

By
Gunther Fehlinger

Ukraine wants to join the European Union, but the level of support among many EU member states is low or nonexistent. Many are afraid of Russia’s reaction and lack a clear understanding of both the climate in post-Euromaidan Ukraine and the country’s strong commitment to Western integration. The situation is challenging in all aspects. War […]


Moldova


The Balkans


UkraineAlert

Apr 26, 2017

How Ukraine Can Win Back Crimea

By
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko

The Crimean Tatars are finally receiving the attention they deserve, and that Ukraine must give, if it is to regain Crimea and again be a unified country. On April 19, 2017, the International Court of Justice at The Hague issued a provisional ruling calling for an end to racial discrimination against Crimean Tatars, as well […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 25, 2017

NATO’s Real Problem Isn’t Defense Spending

By
Stephen Blank

When US President Donald Trump attends the NATO summit in Brussels on May 25, he should press the Alliance to confront Moscow’s conventional military superiority and nuclear blackmail tactics, rather than endlessly needle the Europeans about defense spending. NATO undoubtedly needs additional funding sources, but the unwillingness of European countries to meet their 2 percent […]


NATO


Russia


UkraineAlert

Apr 25, 2017

What Do European Countries Think about Russia?

By
Jakub Janda

On April 24, the European Values Think-Tank released a new major study examining how individual member states of the European Union perceive the threat coming from the Russian Federation. More than 450 policy documents, intelligence reports, and other sources were used to assess how Russia’s aggressive behavior impacts the foreign and security policies of the […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 24, 2017

Russia Funds and Manages Conflict in Ukraine, Leaks Show

By
Aric Toler and Melinda Haring

Hacked emails show that the Kremlin directs and funds the ostensibly independent republics in eastern Ukraine and runs military operations there. In late 2016, Ukrainian hacker groups released emails purportedly taken from the office of Kremlin official Vladislav Surkov, who oversees Ukraine policy for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Surkov leaks confirm what many have […]


Russia


Ukraine


UkraineAlert

Apr 24, 2017

Russia’s Desperation for More Soldiers Is Taking It to Dark Places

By
Valentyn Badrak, Lada Roslycky, Mykhailo Samus, and Volodymyr Kopchak

Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine and intensive military operations in Syria have caused a very big problem: a shortage of qualified people to man its occupation forces. This personnel gap, caused by permanent, heavy losses suffered by Russia’s forces, has drastically changed the scale and character of its military missions. At the early stages of […]


Russia


Syria


UkraineAlert

Apr 24, 2017

More Solidarity with Ukraine Needed, Say Speakers at the Kyiv Security Forum

By
Ariel Cohen

The Tenth Kyiv Security Forum—an important foreign affairs conference conducted annually by the Open Ukraine Foundation—occurred on April 6-7. Headed by Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and his wife Terezia, the conference underscored an important message: the need for the West to stay engaged and maintain security in the borderlands between Russia and Central […]


Belarus


Moldova


UkraineAlert

Apr 20, 2017

Who’s Been Monkeying with Ukraine’s Judicial Reforms Again?

By
Mykhailo Zhernakov

Ukraine is building its new Supreme Court from scratch–a bold move as a part of its comprehensive judicial reform. Candidates who are running for the Supreme Court have undergone a series of tests, but still must pass a final interview. All along, this process offered great hope for dramatic change in Ukraine’s judiciary, but it […]


Ukraine

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.

Follow us on social media
and support our work

Content

UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2014

Opinion Poll Shows Russian Support for Arming Separatist Militants in Ukraine

By Irena Chalupa

Nearly two-thirds of Russians in a survey this month support the arming of the Russian-backed separatist fighters in southeastern Ukraine, according to the Moscow-based Levada Center for public opinion research. In other words, the Russian people are giving President Vladimir Putin the green light to do what he is doing, even as he says he […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2014

US Ambassador Discusses Ukraine Crisis, OSCE Role

By Irena Chalupa

Russian-backed militants in Ukraine have detained (and ultimately released) three varied teams monitoring the crisis there under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Security threats to the monitors, including those detentions, are hampering the work of the OSCE in its role as the main international body observing and mediating in […]

OSCE Security & Defense

UkraineAlert

Jul 1, 2014

DIRECT TRANSLATION: Dispatch from Donetsk – How a Cease-Fire Failed

By Irena Chalupa

As Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced an end to the cease-fire by government forces fighting Russian-backed militants in the Donbas region of the southeast, new accounts emerged to show how futile was the ten-day truce. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry reported that the country’s armed forces lost 27 soldiers killed and 69 wounded. And from Donetsk, the […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 26, 2014

Amid the ‘Dirty War’ in Ukraine, Hundreds Have Disappeared – and a Few Volunteers Search for Them

By Irena Chalupa

Kateryna Serhatskova, a 26-year-old Russian reporter for the Ukrainian news website Ukrainska Pravda, is becoming one of the main documenters of the “dirty war” for control of the Donbas region of southeastern Ukraine. Serhatskova, who lived for several years in Crimea, travels regularly to some of the most violent and fearful towns in the Donbas […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jun 23, 2014

US, EU Should Use Sanctions to Push Russia for a Single Base Price for Gas Sales to Europe

By Irena Chalupa

Former US Ambassador Bryza Urges Stepped-Up Effort to End Political Pricing by Kremlin and Gazprom  Russia has unsheathed its gas weapon again, demanding higher prices this spring from Ukraine and announcing last week a cutoff in sales to its neighbor unless paid for in advance. (As Moscow twists Ukraine’s arm over gas, it has retreated […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Jun 23, 2014

The New Ordeal of Nadiya Savchenko

By Irena Chalupa

Ukraine Military’s Most Famous Female Pilot is Now a Captive of Separatist Rebels She looks tired, her face slightly puffy, but her blue eyes are calm and clear, and she appears utterly unafraid. Dressed in military fatigues, her hair cut short, she sits in the corner of a white-tiled room, handcuffed to a set of […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 26, 2014

President-Elect Poroshenko’s Post-Election Remarks

President-elect Poroshenko makes his first remarks after Ukraine’s landmark elections. English subtitles available via close captioning, and translation available below.

Ukraine
REUTERS/Baz Ratner

UkraineAlert

May 12, 2014

DIRECT TRANSLATION: ‘How I Voted – Four Times – Against the Donetsk People’s Republic’

By Irena Chalupa

Russian-Sponsored Rebels Hold a ‘Referendum’ on Separation from Ukraine, But a Local Journalist Finds It a Farce Donetsk resident Ihnat Svyachyshyn sets off to vote in the May 11 Donetsk separatist referendum. He asks his neighbors, a couple in their mid-twenties to join him but they refuse. While they support a federalization of political power […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

May 5, 2014

DIRECT TRANSLATION: An End to Peace in Odessa

By Irena Chalupa

The Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukraine’s third-largest city and a coveted metropolis both for Ukrainians and Russians, became a battleground between pro-Russian militants and Ukrainians opposed to the country’s division. Accounts in Ukraine’s news media say the city’s police responded much as in the eastern Ukrainian cities hit by separatist violence so far, doing […]

Ukraine
REUTERS/Baz Ratner

UkraineAlert

May 2, 2014

Why Slaviansk? Ukraine is Attacking the Command Center of Russian-Backed Militias

By James Rupert

Ukraine has launched its most serious counter-attack yet on Russian-backed separatist militias at Slaviansk, a relatively minor city in eastern Ukraine. Slaviansk, by all evidence, serves as the main command center for the armed groups that have seized towns in Donetsk and Luhansk provinces. The Ukrainian operation appears “well mounted with concern for the lives […]

Russia Ukraine