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

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

UkraineAlert

Dec 3, 2025

Returning Ukraine’s abducted children should be central to any peace plan

By Kristina Hook

The United States should lead efforts to secure the release and return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. This could help build confidence in the peace process and boost efforts to end the war, writes Kristina Hook.

Conflict
European Union

UkraineAlert

Dec 2, 2025

Ukraine peace plan must not include amnesty for Russian war crimes

By Ivan Horodyskyy

US President Donald Trump’s 28-point peace plan for Ukraine includes an amnesty for war crimes that critics say will only strengthen Putin’s sense of impunity and set the stage for more Russian aggression, writes Ivan Horodyskyy.

Conflict
European Union

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

Apr 20, 2023

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is also being fought in cyberspace

By Vera Mironova

While the war in Ukraine often resembles the trench warfare of the twentieth century, the battle for cyber dominance is highly innovative and offers insights into the future of international aggression, writes Vera Mironova.

Conflict
Cybersecurity

UkraineAlert

Apr 18, 2023

Russia’s Ukraine invasion is the latest stage in the unfinished Soviet collapse

By Richard Cashman

Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is best understood as the latest stage in the unfinished collapse of the Soviet Union and as part of Russia's historic retreat from empire, argues Richard Cashman.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Apr 18, 2023

Vladimir Kara-Murza’s 25-year sentence is a verdict against all Russians

By Arseniy Yatsenyuk

Vladimir Kara-Murza's 25-year prison sentence for speaking the truth about the invasion of Ukraine is a major milestone in modern Russia's descent into Stalinism, says former Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Apr 14, 2023

Ukrainian victory “could help ensure Europe’s future energy security”

By Diane Francis

Ukraine has massive potential to increase domestic energy production and could eventually replace Russian energy exports to the European Union in the post-war era, says Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov.

Conflict
European Union

UkraineAlert

Apr 13, 2023

Putin cancels Victory Day parades as Ukraine invasion continues to unravel

By Peter Dickinson

The cancellation of Victory Day parades in multiple Russian regional capitals is a blow to Putin's personal prestige that exposes the grim reality behind Moscow's upbeat propaganda portrayals of the faltering Ukraine invasion, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Apr 12, 2023

Poland and Ukraine: The emerging alliance that could reshape Europe

By Taras Kuzio

Poland's leading role in the European response to Russia's Ukraine invasion is fueling talk of a eastward shift in Europe's geopolitical center of gravity with the Polish-Ukrainian alliance set to become increasingly influential.

Conflict
Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Apr 11, 2023

Ukraine’s energy sector survives winter

By Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Vladimir Putin's winter bombing campaign targeting Ukraine's civilian infrastructure failed to achieve its goal of breaking Ukrainian resistance and freezing the country into submission, writes Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti.

Conflict
Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Apr 11, 2023

Ukraine resumes electricity exports in latest show of wartime resilience

By Aura Sabadus

Ukraine resumed energy exports to Europe in early April. The move confirmed the failure of Russia's six-month energy infrastructure bombing campaign and underlined Ukraine's remarkable wartime resilience, writes Aura Sabadus.

Conflict
Energy Transitions

UkraineAlert

Apr 10, 2023

Russian nukes in Belarus: Putin’s creeping annexation continues

By Hanna Liubakova

Putin's plan to place nukes in Belarus has been widely interpreted as as an escalation in his ongoing nuclear saber-rattling tactics but it will also greatly strengthen the Russian dictator's grip over the neighboring country.

Belarus
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Apr 8, 2023

Human wave tactics are demoralizing the Russian army in Ukraine

By Olivia Yanchik

Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has not gone according to plan but he still hopes to win a long war of attrition. However, Russia's reliance on human wave tactics risks undermining morale within his invading army, writes Olivia Yanchik.

Conflict
Defense Policy