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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

Sep 14, 2023

Putin’s North Korean “pariah summit” underlines his international isolation

By Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin’s recent meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was a “Pariah Summit” that underlined the scale of Russia’s international isolation as a result of the country’s criminal Ukraine invasion, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2023

Now is the time for businesses to look at Ukraine

By Andy Hunder

Ukraine’s reconstruction promises to be the largest national recovery project in Europe since World War II and will create unique business opportunities, writes AmCham Ukraine’s Andy Hunder.

Conflict
Economy & Business

UkraineAlert

Sep 12, 2023

Russia seeks to legitimize occupation of Ukraine with sham elections

By Mercedes Sapuppo, Olivia Yanchik

In early September, Russia staged sham parliamentary elections in occupied regions of southern and eastern Ukraine as Moscow attempted to legitimize its earlier illegal annexation of five Ukrainian provinces.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Sep 12, 2023

US expected to decide soon on long-range missiles for Ukraine

By Benton Coblentz

ATACMS missiles would greatly increase Ukraine’s ability to strike the logistical networks supporting Russia’s invasion and would make it increasingly difficult for Putin’s army to operate inside Ukraine, writes Benton Coblentz.

Conflict
Maritime Security

UkraineAlert

Sep 7, 2023

Ukraine’s partners cannot remove Putin but they can stop legitimizing him

By Richard Cashman

As long as Vladimir Putin is in power, Russia will remain a rogue state. Western policies that legitimize him through fear of a potential post-Putin Russia are perverse, writes Richard Cashman.

Conflict
Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Sep 6, 2023

Belarus dictator weaponizes passports in new attack on exiled opposition

By Hanna Liubakova

Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka has banned the country’s embassies from issuing or renewing passports in a move that critics see as his latest escalation against Belarus’s exiled pro-democracy opposition, writes Hanna Liubakova.

Belarus
Civil Society

UkraineAlert

Sep 5, 2023

Removal of defense minister shows wartime Ukraine is changing

By Melinda Haring

The removal of Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in early September came following a series of minor but damaging corruption scandals and signaled a zero tolerance approach to graft in wartime Ukraine, writes Melinda Haring.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Sep 4, 2023

Jewish president picks Muslim defense minister: Ukraine’s diverse leadership debunks Russia’s “Nazi” slurs

By Peter Dickinson

Ukraine now has a Jewish president and a Muslim minister of defense, underlining the diversity of the country’s leadership while exposing the absurdity of Russia’s “Nazi Ukraine” propaganda, writes Peter Dickinson.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 31, 2023

Russia is losing in Ukraine but winning in Georgia

By Giorgi Kandelaki

If Putin is able to reassert Russian dominance over Georgia while continuing to occupy 20% of the country, he will be encouraged to believe that a similar outcome will eventually prove possible in Ukraine, writes Giorgi Kandelaki.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Aug 31, 2023

Putin’s Russia must not be allowed to normalize nuclear blackmail

By Olivia Yanchik

Vladimir Putin has used nuclear threats to intimidate the West and reduce the flow of military aid to Ukraine. If this trend does not change, Russia will succeed in normalizing nuclear blackmail as a foreign policy tool, writes Olivia Yanchik.

Arms Control
Conflict

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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UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

Is Russia preparing to target vital Norwegian energy exports to Europe?

By Thomas S. Warrick

Recent drone activity close to Norwegian energy infrastructure has sparked calls for urgent security measures to prevent potential Russian sabotage of vital oil and gas exports to Europe in the coming months.

Conflict
Energy & Environment

UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

Will Putin send mobilized Russians to Belarus for a new Kyiv offensive?

By Alesia Rudnik

Vladimir Putin’s decision to order Russia’s first mobilization since World War II has revived fears in neighboring Belarus that the country could be dragged into the invasion of Ukraine and a new march on Kyiv.

Belarus
Civil Society

UkraineAlert

Oct 3, 2022

European unity is essential as Putin prepares to weaponize winter

By Kira Rudik

European unity will be vital in the coming months as Russia attempts to weaponize winter in order to convince EU leaders to abandon their support for Ukraine and end their opposition to Vladimir Putin's ongoing invasion.

Conflict
Economy & Business

UkraineAlert

Sep 30, 2022

Putin denounces imperialism while annexing large swathes of Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially annexed four regions of Ukraine while denouncing Western imperialism and proclaiming Russia as the leader of a global "anti-colonialism movement."

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Sep 29, 2022

Referendum coverage proves media is still vulnerable to Russian disinformation

By Peter Dickinson

International coverage of Russia's sham referendums in occupied regions of Ukraine has served to highlight the continued influence of Kremlin disinformation at some of the world's leading media outlets, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Sep 27, 2022

Putin threatens to increase attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure

By Victor Kevluk

Vladimir Putin has threatened to destroy Ukrainian civilian infrastructure in a targeted campaign designed to crush the country's will to resist the ongoing Russian invasion.

Conflict
Energy & Environment

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2022

The West should not fear the prospect of a post-Putin Russia

By Richard D. Hooker, Jr.

Many in the West believe the fall of Vladimir Putin would pave the way for an even more extreme successor in Moscow but post-Putin Russia may actually reject the anti-Western policies of today's Kremlin.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2022

From the UN to The Late Show, Ukraine’s diplomats are winning

By Pete Shmigel

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba recently quipped at the UN that "Russian diplomats flee almost as aptly as Russian soldiers.” This one-liner was typical of the creative diplomacy that is bolstering Ukraine's war effort.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2022

Ukrainian priest recounts escape from Russian siege of Mariupol

By Melinda Haring, Vladislav Davidzon

The Siege of Mariupol was the deadliest engagement so far in Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian priest Father Pavel Kostel recounts his harrowing experience of escaping from the encircled city.

Conflict
Freedom and Prosperity

UkraineAlert

Sep 22, 2022

Will Ukraine invasion condemn Putin to place among Russia’s worst rulers?

By Anders Åslund

Vladimir Putin has long dreamed of securing his place among the titans of Russian history but his disastrous Ukraine invasion now leaves him destined to be remembered as one of the country’s worst rulers.

Conflict
Corruption