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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

Western weakness has emboldened Putin and invited Russian aggression

UkraineAlert Jul 1, 2025

Putin’s escalating air offensive is overwhelming Ukraine’s defenses

By Mykola Bielieskov

Russian aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities are expanding rapidly and killing growing numbers of civilians. Kyiv must urgently find technological solutions to defend against Putin’s escalating air offensive, writes Mykola Bielieskov.
Conflict Defense Industry
Western weakness has emboldened Putin and invited Russian aggression

UkraineAlert Jun 23, 2025

‘All of Ukraine is ours’: Putin’s Russian imperialism is now on full display

By Peter Dickinson

Putin declared last week that “all of Ukraine is ours.” The Kremlin dictator’s revealing comments highlight the resurgent Russian imperialism driving Europe’s largest invasion since WWII, writes Peter Dickinson.
Conflict Disinformation
Western weakness has emboldened Putin and invited Russian aggression

UkraineAlert Jun 12, 2025

Putin’s peace plan is a blueprint for the end of Ukrainian statehood

By Tetiana Kotelnykova

Russia’s peace plan sends a clear signal that Moscow wants to erase Ukraine as a state and as a nation. If Western leaders wish to avoid this catastrophic outcome, they must convince Putin that the alternative to a negotiated peace is a Russian defeat, writes Tetiana Kotelnykova.
Conflict Freedom and Prosperity

Latest analysis

UkraineAlert

Jan 2, 2025

Missiles, AI, and drone swarms: Ukraine’s 2025 defense tech priorities

By Nataliia Kushnerska

Ukrainian defense tech companies will be focusing on domestic missile production, drone swarms, and AI technologies in 2025 as Ukraine seeks to remain one step ahead of Russia in the race to innovate, writes Nataliia Kushnerska.

Conflict Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Dec 24, 2024

Putin faces antisemitism accusations following attack on ‘ethnic Jews’

By Joshua Stein

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing fresh antisemitism accusations after claiming that “ethnic Jews” are seeking to “tear apart” the Russian Orthodox Church, writes Joshua Stein

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

Dec 24, 2024

How might Germany’s coming election shape future support for Ukraine?

By Stuart Jones, Katherine Spencer

There is a good chance Germany’s snap elections in February 2025 will result in increased support for Ukraine but Kyiv will be hoping the campaign does not send signals of Western disunity to Moscow, write Stuart Jones and Katherine Spencer.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Dec 19, 2024

Five things Russia’s invasion has taught the world about Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has thrust the country into the global spotlight and transformed international perceptions of Ukraine in ways that will resonate for decades to come, writes Peter Dickinson.

Defense Technologies Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Dec 19, 2024

Ukraine seeks further progress toward EU membership in 2025

By Kateryna Odarchenko

With little prospect of an invitation to join NATO while the war with Russia continues, Ukraine will be hoping to advance further on the road toward EU integration in 2025, writes Kateryna Odarchenko.

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

Dec 17, 2024

Putin’s quiet Syrian surrender reveals the weakness behind his intimidation tactics

By Peter Dickinson

Vladimir Putin’s inability to save his Syrian ally Bashar Assad is a timely reminder that Russia is far weaker than many appreciate and Western fears of Kremlin escalation are wildly exaggerated, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Dec 12, 2024

Why Finland thinks Finlandization is a bad idea for Ukraine

By Minna Ålander

Some believe the Finlandization of Ukraine is the most realistic option to end Russia’s invasion, but any attempt to impose neutrality would leave Ukraine in a precarious position, writes Minna Ålander.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Dec 12, 2024

Foreign troops help Putin avoid pitfalls of another Russian mobilization

By Katherine Spencer

Russia’s growing use of foreign troops in Ukraine is a dangerous trend that promises to prolong the war and has the potential to fuel international instability, writes Katherine Spencer.

Central Asia Conflict

UkraineAlert

Dec 10, 2024

Ukraine is expanding its long-range arsenal for deep strikes inside Russia

By Peter Dickinson

Ukraine is producing its own arsenal of long-range weapons as Kyiv seeks to bypass Western fears of escalation and bring Vladimir Putin’s invasion home to Russia in 2025, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

Dec 10, 2024

Russian victory in Ukraine would spark a new era of global insecurity

By Victor Liakh

If Vladimir Putin’s Russia is allowed to claim even a limited victory in Ukraine, it will embolden other authoritarian regimes and plunge the world into a new era of insecurity, writes Victor Liakh.

Civil Society Conflict
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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
Western weakness has emboldened Putin and invited Russian aggression

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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Western weakness has emboldened Putin and invited Russian aggression

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
Western weakness has emboldened Putin and invited Russian aggression

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

Jan 14, 2022

Western weakness has emboldened Putin and invited Russian aggression

By Tinatin Khidasheli

The West's weak response to repeated instances of Russian aggression in the ex-USSR has emboldened Vladimir Putin and created today's European security crisis, says former Georgian defense minister Tinatin Khidasheli.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Jan 13, 2022

Russia Crisis: War fears mount as West rejects Putin’s ultimatum

By Peter Dickinson

A week of high-stakes meetings between Kremlin officials and their US, NATO and OSCE counterparts has failed to defuse tensions in Eastern Europe or reduce the threat of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Conflict NATO

UkraineAlert

Jan 12, 2022

Cutting off Russia from SWIFT will really sting

By Harley Balzer

While Russia has attempted to reduce its dependence on the SWIFT payment system, it remains vulnerable to a sanctions cut-off in the event of a new Kremlin offensive in Putin's eight-year undeclared war against Ukraine.

China Conflict

UkraineAlert

Jan 11, 2022

Ukrainians call on US Senate to sanction Putin’s pipeline weapon

By Ukrainian civil society representatives

US senators are set to vote in the coming days on a bill for new sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Ukrainian civil society representatives have issued an appeal calling on senators to back sanctions.

Conflict Economic Sanctions

UkraineAlert

Jan 10, 2022

The US and NATO must attack Vladimir Putin’s intimidation strategy

By Harlan Ullman

The current US approach to the crisis with Russia is predictable and conventional. The principle author of the "shock and awe" doctrine, Harlan Ullman, believes it is time to turn Putin's intimidation tactics against him.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

Jan 9, 2022

How to make a Russian invasion of Ukraine prohibitively expensive

By Andriy Zagorodnyuk

Bolstering Ukraine's ability to wage an effective asymmetric campaign on home soil may be the most effective way to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Conflict Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Jan 6, 2022

Can diplomacy deter Vladimir Putin and avert a major war in Ukraine?

By Peter Dickinson

Senior Russian and Western officials will hold a series of meetings next week in a bid to defuse mounting tensions and avert the possibility of a major escalation in Vladimir Putin’s eight-year war against Ukraine.

Conflict NATO

UkraineAlert

Jan 5, 2022

Appeasing Putin in Ukraine would be disastrous for European security

By Stephen Blank

Any attempt to appease Moscow and Beijing over Ukraine and Taiwan would be a dangerous betrayal of Western values that would invite bolder acts of aggression against a much more enfeebled West.

China Conflict

UkraineAlert

Dec 30, 2021

How to deal with the Kremlin-created crisis in Europe

By Eurasia Center

The Kremlin appears to be setting the stage for a major conventional assault on Ukraine. Twenty-five distinguished experts and former senior officials urge the Biden administration to take decisive action.

Conflict Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Dec 29, 2021

Debunking the myth of a divided Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

Russia's attempts to promote the false narrative of an artificial and divided Ukraine are a central element of the Kremlin's ongoing campaign of imperial aggression against the country.

Conflict Democratic Transitions
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