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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

Dec 18, 2025

Prisoner releases are welcome news but talk of a Belarus thaw is premature

By Hanna Liubakova

The freeing of 123 political prisoners in Belarus last week is encouraging news but should not be interpreted as an indication of more fundamental change, writes Hanna Liubakova.

Belarus
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Dec 18, 2025

What’s in the new US defense bill for Ukraine?

By Doug Klain

The NDAA includes the best legislative support from Congress that Ukraine has received all year. At the same time, it also underscores the dramatic reduction in overall US support for Ukraine during 2025, writes Doug Klain.

Conflict
Human Rights

UkraineAlert

Dec 16, 2025

‘Putin is lying’: Zelenskyy visits front to expose false claims of Russian gains

By Peter Dickinson

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid a personal visit last week to a front line city that Putin has repeatedly bragged of seizing in order to expose the Russian leader’s habit of lying about battlefield gains, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Dec 16, 2025

The only winner from Ukrainian wartime elections would be Putin

By Yuriy Boyechko

Ukrainians are fighting to defend their democracy against Kremlin authoritarianism, but they are also in no rush to hold wartime elections amid relentless Russian bombardment and with millions of Ukrainians displaced, writes Yuriy Boyechko.

Conflict
Elections

UkraineAlert

Dec 11, 2025

Russia’s insistence on a defenseless Ukraine betrays Putin’s true intentions

By Peter Dickinson

Russia’s key demands during US-led peace talks all appear designed to leave Ukraine disarmed and defenseless. This is a clear indication of Vladimir Putin’s intention to continue his invasion and complete the conquest of Ukraine, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Dec 10, 2025

Russian drones and blackouts test the resilience of Ukraine’s second city

By Maria Avdeeva

With Putin’s army now advancing to the east and the Russian bombardment of civilian targets intensifying, Kharkiv residents are now facing what may become the most difficult winter of the entire war, writes Maria Avdeeva.

Defense Technologies
Drones

UkraineAlert

Dec 9, 2025

Europe’s choice: Fund Ukraine now or pay a far higher price if Russia wins

By Elena Davlikanova, Lesia Orobets

Europe’s reluctance to pay for Ukraine’s defense is shortsighted, write Elena Davlikanova and Lesia Orobets. If Russia’s invasion succeeds, Europe will soon have to boost defense spending to levels that would completely dwarf the current cost of backing Ukraine.

Conflict
Economic Sanctions

UkraineAlert

Dec 8, 2025

Ukraine’s wartime experience provides blueprint for infrastructure protection

By Oleksandr Bakalinskyi, Maggie McDonough

Since 2014, Ukraine’s critical infrastructure has faced sustained and increasingly sophisticated attacks but continues to function, adapt, and evolve, offering the world one of the most comprehensive case studies for resilience under unrelenting cyber-kinetic pressure, write Oleksandr Bakalinskyi and Maggie McDonough.

Conflict
Cybersecurity

UkraineAlert

Dec 4, 2025

Ukraine’s warning to the West: A bad peace will lead to a bigger war

By Myroslava Gongadze

It is delusional to think that sacrificing Ukraine will satisfy Russia. Instead, a bad peace will only lead to a bigger war, while the price of today’s hesitation will ultimately be far higher than the cost of action, writes Myroslava Gongadze.

Conflict
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Dec 4, 2025

Russia has learned from Ukraine and is now winning the drone war

By David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s more agile army and vibrant tech sector initially gave the country an edge in the drone war against Russia, but Moscow has now regained the initiative thanks to an emphasis on mass and training, writes David Kirichenko.

Conflict
Defense Industry

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

Aug 29, 2023

Ukraine’s remarkable resilience may prove decisive in long war with Russia

By Peter Dickinson

With hopes of a decisive Russian military victory fading fast, Vladimir Putin is pinning his hopes on outlasting the West and breaking Ukraine's will to resist. However, he may have fatally underestimated Ukrainian resilience, writes Peter Dickinson.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 27, 2023

Ukraine upgrades digital education efforts

By Valeriya Ionan

The full-scale Russian invasion has thrust Ukraine’s vibrant tech sector into the limelight and led to an upgrade of the country's flagship digital education and training initiative, writes Valeriya Ionan.

Conflict
Digital Policy

UkraineAlert

Aug 23, 2023

Putin’s Russia is trapped in genocidal denial over Ukrainian independence

By Mercedes Sapuppo

Russia’s longstanding denial of Ukrainian national identity and refusal to accept the reality of Ukrainian independence are now fueling an invasion that many view as genocidal in nature, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Aug 23, 2023

Ukraine’s fight against Russian imperialism is Europe’s longest independence struggle

By Peter Dickinson

The war unleashed by Vladimir Putin eighteen months ago is best understood as the latest chapter in a dark saga of Russian imperial aggression against Ukraine that stretches back centuries, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

Fast Thinking

Aug 23, 2023

What Prigozhin’s plane crash tells us about Putin’s Russia

By Atlantic Council

Atlantic Council experts share their insights on the apparent death of Wagner Group founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin.

Conflict
Europe & Eurasia

UkraineAlert

Aug 22, 2023

Putin weaponizes history with new textbook justifying Ukraine invasion

By Taras Kuzio

A new Kremlin-approved history textbook for Russian schoolchildren offers an unapologetically imperialistic view of Russia's past while attempting to justify the current invasion of Ukraine, writes Taras Kuzio.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Aug 22, 2023

Belarus dictator Lukashenka must face justice for role in Russia’s Ukraine war

By Katie LaRoque

It is time for a serious conversation on how to hold Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka accountable for his participation in Russia’s brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, writes Katie LaRoque.

Belarus
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2023

Ukraine’s state authorities must follow private sector in unlearning old habits

By Roman Waschuk

To achieve individual, business, and national goals of renewal, Ukrainians need their government to be just as nimble and adaptive as the country’s private sector, writes Ukraine's Business Ombudsman Roman Waschuk.

Conflict
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2023

Ukraine’s vibrant tech ecosystem is a secret weapon in the war with Russia

By Mykhailo Fedorov

Ukraine’s secret weapon in the war against Russia is a vibrant and sophisticated tech ecosystem including around 300,000 IT professionals and hundreds of defense tech startups, writes Mykhailo Fedorov.

Cybersecurity
Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Aug 17, 2023

Putin must not be allowed to turn the Black Sea into a Russian lake

By Melinda Haring

Western countries must take urgent action to prevent Vladimir Putin from turning the Black Sea into a Russian lake, warns Melinda Haring.

Conflict
European Union