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

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

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

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

Mar 18, 2019

Why Ukraine should abandon efforts to criminalize illicit enrichment

By
Leonid Antonenko

In late February, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared the criminal code’s article criminalizing illicit enrichment unconstitutional. The response among activists, independent media, and Western embassies was unanimous: the decision was a massive step back for Ukraine. It undid the small but real progress that the country had made toward prosecuting corrupt officials. However, this […]


Corruption

Northern Europe


UkraineAlert

Mar 18, 2019

Bad advice

By
Stephen Blank

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko recently advocated building intermediate-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles to target and presumably use against Russia. No doubt Poroshenko calculated that he might gain a political advantage during the final days of a tough campaign for reelection by adopting this hawkish stance. And he may have also thought it made military […]


Conflict

Defense Industry


UkraineAlert

Mar 18, 2019

Too little, too late

By
Anders Åslund

On November 25, the Russian Coast Guard attacked and illegally seized three Ukrainian naval vessels on international waters in the Black Sea. The twenty-four Ukrainian sailors on board were arrested for having violated Russian territorial waters and jailed in the nineteenth century KGB prison Lefortovo in Moscow. These Ukrainian sailors were on Ukrainian vessels going […]


Conflict

European Union


UkraineAlert

Mar 14, 2019

Brilliant, broke, and Ukrainian? Harvard still wants to hear from you

By
Melinda Haring

Eighteen-year-old Tetiana Tsunik, who grew up in a tiny village in eastern Ukraine, won a full ride to the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, a well-regarded prep school. There she’s taking two Advanced Placement courses plus six others. She’s part of the debate club, and is editor-in-chief of two student publications. Last summer, she spent […]


Civil Society

Migration


UkraineAlert

Mar 12, 2019

Complications in Tbilisi’s friendship with Kyiv

By
Tamar Chapidze and Andreas Umland

Georgia and Ukraine have become close political allies over the last two decades. That closeness may be currently under threat, however. Despite the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s groundbreaking autocephaly, or independence, from the Russian Orthodox Church at the beginning of 2019, the Georgian Orthodox Church has failed to congratulate Ukrainian authorities or take any official position […]


Civil Society

Nationalism


UkraineAlert

Mar 12, 2019

Why the West should be worried about Ukraine’s flagging fight against graft

By
Oleksandra Drik

The last week of February was a great one for corrupt officials in Ukraine. They finally got off scot-free. Ukraine’s Constitutional Court (CCU) eliminated criminal liability for illicit enrichment. This decision is a major step back in Ukraine’s struggle to fight high-level corruption. (Incidentally, the US Ambassador to Ukraine agrees with this assessment.) And the […]


Corruption

Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Mar 7, 2019

What a $2.8 Million scheme to rip off the state says about corruption in Ukraine

By
Matthew Kupfer

Fictional houses, “dead souls,” but real embezzlement — it sounds like the plot of a horror film. But it’s actually a corruption scheme that ran for over eight years in Ukraine’s Kirovograd Oblast. From 2009 to 2017, the management of the regional gas distribution company, Kirovogradgaz, inserted hundreds of fictional addresses into its electronic billing […]


Corruption

Oil and Gas


UkraineAlert

Mar 6, 2019

Could Zelenskiy be a reformer?

By
Alexander J. Motyl

Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy tops the polls in Ukraine and may be the next president. Some argue that Zelenskiy is the country’s only shot at reform and that he might be able to break the old system.     Could Zelenskiy be a reformer? The short answer is: No. Here’s why. The American political scientist, Samuel Huntington, […]


Elections

Political Reform


UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2019

European involvement with Nord Stream 2 is a deal with the devil

By
Stephen Blank

Apart from the bypassing of Ukraine and the potential corrupting of German politics, Nord Stream 2 essentially forces German and Eastern European states and customers to subsidize Russian state expenses and unwittingly assist in Naftogaz’s destruction.


Energy Markets & Governance

European Union


UkraineAlert

Mar 5, 2019

Their brand is crisis

By
Melinda Haring

Exactly five years ago, the country’s most important independent crisis communications center was set up in Kyiv in less than forty-eight hours. It started with a text message and a series of phone calls. Shortly after the protesters in the Maidan won and former Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych fled on February 22, 2014, Russia’s “little […]


Civil Society

Democratic Transitions

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

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

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

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

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

UkraineAlert

Aug 4, 2014

‪‪Why The EU Finally Decided on Strong Sanctions

By John E. Herbst

Russian Fighters’ Thuggishness Eroded Germany’s Putin-Verstehen ‪Last week was a good one for both the transatlantic relationship and the cause of freedom in Ukraine. It followed weeks in which Moscow had escalated its war in southeast Ukraine, sending advanced weaponry and more fighters, and directly shelling Ukrainian forces. On Tuesday, after a month of dawdling, […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 31, 2014

From Lugansk to Las Vegas: The Corrupt Empire of Oleksander Yefremov

By Irena Chalupa

How a Ukrainian Boss and His Political Machine Have Helped Russia’s Attack on Ukraine Oleksander Yefremov, a boyish-looking sixty-year-old, is one of eastern Ukraine’s most prominent politicians and businessmen. For over a decade, he has been the corrupt strongman of Lugansk, one of the two provinces where Russia’s government and military have been sponsoring the […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 28, 2014

A Hostage in War: Vasyl Budik is Both Captive and Press Spokesman of Rebel Leader Bezler

By Irena Chalupa

Vasyl Budik has spent eighty-six days as the hostage of Russian Lieutenant Colonel Igor Bezler, a rebel commander in southeast Ukraine. But not just any hostage. Budik has at times been Bezler’s intermediary with Ukrainian authorities and his spokesman to local media. He has the freedom to make a Skype call to a reporter – […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 28, 2014

The Flight of ‘The Demon’: A Brutal Russian Officer Reportedly Flees His Place In the Ukraine War

By Irena Chalupa

Lieutenant Colonel Igor Bezler Leaves as Ukrainian Troops Advance, His Hostage Says As Ukraine’s army advances against the Russian proxy forces in southeast Ukraine, it has forced one of the rebels’ most prominent and brutal commanders, former Russian army Lieutenant Colonel Igor Bezler, out of his headquarters. Ukrainian troops and Bezler’s rebels fought battles at […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 28, 2014

Here’s Why Russia’s Military Is Now Directly Attacking Ukraine

By John E. Herbst

As Ukrainian Army Weakens Kremlin’s Proxy Forces, Putin Steps Up War to Avoid Defeat The war in Ukraine has heated up significantly in the ten days since the Russian-led and supplied insurgents shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17. Ukrainian forces retook the city of Lysychansk from the rebels late last week and have established control […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 21, 2014

Through the Looking Glass: Russian Media Cover the MH17 Disaster

By irena Chalupa

Alternate Reality Presented to the Russian Public by its Media Four days after the destruction of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, Russia’s state-dominated news media are bending fact and credulity in an effort to blame Ukraine for the disaster. Within hours of the crash, Russia’s second largest news agency, RIA Novosti, announced that the Boeing 777 […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 21, 2014

A Death of Innocents Jolts Europe’s Business-as-Usual With Russia

By John E. Herbst

Calls for Probe of Flight MH17 Will Disturb Back-Room Policymaking The shooting down of the Malaysian airliner by the Russian-led insurgents in southeastern Ukraine appears to have awakened Europe’s conscience. The principal powers in the EU had been able thus far in the Ukraine crisis to avoid directly accusing the Kremlin of responsibility for the […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 17, 2014

Airliner Shot Down Over Ukraine: Rapid Reaction by Atlantic Council Expert John Herbst

By John Herbst

Around the time the plane disappeared, Russian Col. Girkin (Strelkov) on his ‘VKontakte’ page (‘VKontakte’ is the Russian Facebook equivalent) noted that a plane (which he called an Antonov – a Ukrainian transport plane) had been shot down in the region of Torez. The post also mentioned that the local authorities had warned all not […]

Ukraine
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