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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

Putin’s nuclear ultimatum is a desperate bid to freeze a losing war

UkraineAlert Sep 30, 2025

Putin’s dream of demilitarizing Ukraine has turned into his worst nightmare

By Peter Dickinson

Putin had hoped to demilitarize and decapitate the Ukrainian state, but his self-defeating invasion has inadvertently created the militarily powerful and fiercely independent Ukraine he feared most of all, writes Peter Dickinson.
Conflict Defense Technologies
Putin’s nuclear ultimatum is a desperate bid to freeze a losing war

UkraineAlert Oct 2, 2025

Drone superpower Ukraine is teaching NATO how to defend against Russia

By David Kirichenko

Ukraine’s unrivaled experience of drone warfare makes it a key partner for NATO and an indispensable ally in the defense of Europe as the continent faces up to the mounting threat posed by an expansionist Russia, writes David Kirichenko.
Conflict Defense Technologies
Putin’s nuclear ultimatum is a desperate bid to freeze a losing war

UkraineAlert Oct 14, 2025

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are a European problem

By Aura Sabadus

Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure are no longer just a Ukrainian problem. Moscow’s bombing campaign will become a wider European issue unless more support is offered to Kyiv, writes Aura Sabadus.
Conflict Drones

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Sep 30, 2023

Can US Abrams tanks help Ukraine achieve a battlefield breakthrough?

By Olivia Yanchik

The first US M1 Abrams tanks arrived in Ukraine in late September, writes Olivia Yanchik. Will these American tanks help Ukraine to achieve a breakthrough against Vladimir Putin’s deeply entrenched Russian invasion force?

Conflict
Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Sep 27, 2023

Ukraine’s counteroffensive is making real progress on the Crimean front

By Peter Dickinson

Ukraine’s escalating attacks in Crimea are steadily undermining Russia’s invasion and are a reminder that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is not limited to the relatively static front lines of the war, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Sep 26, 2023

Ukraine’s drone army is bringing Putin’s invasion home to Russia

By Mykola Bielieskov

Ukraine’s increasingly formidable drone army is enabling Kyiv to bring Vladimir Putin’s invasion home to Russia and strike strategic targets throughout the Russian Federation, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Conflict
Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Sep 22, 2023

Russia resumes bombing campaign of Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure

By Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Following a six-month pause, Russia renewed its bombing campaign of Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure on September 21, signalling that Ukrainians face another winter of blackouts as Putin tries to freeze the country into submission.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2023

Anti-corruption progress in Ukraine and Moldova is vital for EU integration

By Olivia Yanchik

Ukraine and Moldova stand at a crossroads as both countries seek to strengthen their institutions to stamp out corruption and accelerate their integration with Europe, writes Olivia Yanchik.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Sep 20, 2023

Zelenskyy tells United Nations: Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine

By Taras Kuzio

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UN this week that Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine. Efforts to legally prove genocidal intent will likely focus on the genocidal rhetoric of Putin and other Russian leaders, writes Taras Kuzio.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Sep 20, 2023

Ukraine’s wartime resilience portrayed on stage in Washington

By Jacob Heilbrunn

Ukraine’s remarkably resilient response to Russia’s full-scale invasion has captured the world’s imagination and has now inspired a quirky stage adaptation by Kyiv-born playwright Sasha Denisova, writes Jacob Heilbrunn.

Conflict
Drones

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2023

What would it take to hold elections in Ukraine?

By Peter Erben, Gio Kobakhidze

Calls for elections in Ukraine are premature and do not take into consideration the extremely unfavorable wartime conditions that make it virtually impossible to stage a free, fair, and safe vote, write Peter Erben and Gio Kobakhidze.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Sep 19, 2023

Putin “knows very well” NATO poses no security threat to Russia

By Peter Dickinson

Russia’s recent demilitarization of its NATO borders proves that Putin does not view alliance as a genuine security threat and makes a complete mockery of Kremlin propaganda blaming the invasion of Ukraine on NATO, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict
Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Sep 14, 2023

It is still far too early to write off Ukraine’s counteroffensive

By Dennis Soltys

The slow pace of Ukraine’s much hyped counteroffensive is sparking fresh calls for a negotiated peace, but the Ukrainian military may yet achieve its goals as long as international support continues, writes Dennis Soltys.

Conflict
Disinformation
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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.

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Putin’s nuclear ultimatum is a desperate bid to freeze a losing war

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.

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Putin’s nuclear ultimatum is a desperate bid to freeze a losing war

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’s nuclear ultimatum is a desperate bid to freeze a losing war

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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UkraineAlert

Sep 21, 2022

Putin’s nuclear ultimatum is a desperate bid to freeze a losing war

By Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine is a sign of the Russian dictator's mounting desperation as his invasion continues to unravel and his country's geopolitical isolation deepens.

Central Asia
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Sep 20, 2022

Weaponizing education: Russia targets schoolchildren in occupied Ukraine

By Oleksandr Pankieiev

The Kremlin is attempting to impose the russification of Ukrainian schoolchildren in occupied areas as part of Moscow's campaign to extinguish Ukrainian statehood and eradicate all traces of Ukrainian national identity.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Sep 18, 2022

Most multinationals remain in Russia and fund Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

By Diane Francis

Despite much coverage of multinational corporations leaving the Russian market in protect over the invasion of Ukraine, in reality the majority of international companies have yet to fully exit Russia.

Conflict
Economy & Business

UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2022

Putin’s Russian Empire is collapsing like its Soviet predecessor

By Taras Kuzio

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was meant to extinguish the Ukrainian state once and for all. Instead, Russian influence in the post-Soviet region is in danger of receding to levels not witnessed in hundreds of years.

Belarus
Central Asia

UkraineAlert

Sep 15, 2022

Putin’s self-defeating invasion turns southern Ukrainians away from Russia

By Michael Druckman

Putin framed his Ukraine invasion as a crusade to rescue Russian-speaking Ukrainians but polling data indicates that the war has turned traditionally Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine decisively against the Kremlin.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Sep 14, 2022

The complex reality behind Vladimir Putin’s nuclear blackmail in Ukraine

By Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti

Putin's recent efforts to blackmail European leaders by threatening a nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Ukraine reflect Russia's use of fear and energy as foreign policy tools.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2022

Ukrainian victory shatters Russia’s reputation as a military superpower

By Andriy Zagorodnyuk

The stunning success of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region has exposed the rotten reality behind Russia’s military superpower reputation and convinced many that a decisive Ukrainian victory is now possible.

Conflict
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Sep 13, 2022

Ukraine is winning but needs weapons to end Russia’s genocidal occupation

By Kristina Hook

Ukraine's recent Kharkiv counteroffensive was a major breakthrough but the country's Western partners must now deliver more weapons in order to achieve a decisive victory and end Russia's genocidal occupation.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Sep 11, 2022

Russia is facing defeat in Putin’s gas war against the European Union

By Aura Sabadus

Vladimir Putin has declared an energy war against the European Union but there are growing signs that the Russian dictator may have overplayed his hand, writes Aura Sabadus.

Conflict
Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Sep 9, 2022

Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine demands special international tribunal

By Olena Khomenko

Ukraine is urging the international community to establish a special tribunal in order to prosecute Russia for the crime of aggression and bring an end to the impunity that is fueling the Putin regime's criminal foreign policy.

Conflict
European Union
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