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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

Jan 23, 2022

Ukraine Crisis: Putin the gambler may have gone too far to back down

By Timothy Ash

Russian President Vladimir Putin has gained the world’s attention with his threat to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine but he may now feel he must act or risk a serious loss of credibility on the international stage.

Conflict
European Union

UkraineAlert

Jan 22, 2022

Stop asking what Putin wants and start asking what Ukrainians want

By Mychailo Wynnyckyj

Fears of a major European war have sparked endless speculation over what Putin may want and how the West should react, but Ukraine itself has been largely reduced to the status of bystander in its own national drama.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Jan 19, 2022

Don’t believe Putin’s propaganda. Sanctions are hurting Russia.

By Harley Balzer

International sanctions imposed on Russia since 2014 in response to Moscow’s attack on Ukraine continue to have a negative impact on the country’s economy despite Kremlin efforts to claim otherwise.

Conflict
Defense Technologies

UkraineAlert

Jan 18, 2022

Ben Wallace: Putin’s bogus NATO fears disguise Ukraine ambitions

By Peter Dickinson

As geopolitical tensions continue to mount in Eastern Europe, UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace has published an essay exposing the chilling reality behind Russian President Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions in Ukraine.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Jan 17, 2022

Countering the growing Russian naval threat in the Black Sea region

By Skyler Blake

With Russian President Vladimir Putin currently threatening to escalate his eight-year war against Ukraine, it is now vital to implement an effective NATO security strategy for the Black Sea region.

Conflict
Maritime Security

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2022

Kyiv Diary: Ukrainians await Putin’s invasion and Poroshenko’s arrest

By Vladislav Davidzon

The threat of a full-scale Russian invasion and the prospect of a major political scandal sparked by the arrest of former president Petro Poroshenko have failed to induce panic among the hardy crisis veterans of Kyiv.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Jan 16, 2022

Calls grow within Germany for tougher stance towards Putin’s Russia

By Alexander Motyl

German foreign policy experts have published an appeal demanding Germany’s Russia policy be fundamentally changed from tacit encouragement to open resistance of Vladimir Putin’s expansionist designs.

Conflict
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Jan 15, 2022

Moscow’s Memory Wars: Putin seeks to whitewash Russia’s Stalinist past

By Gina Lentine

Russia’s recent move to shut down the Memorial International human rights organization is part of an ongoing Kremlin campaign to rehabilitate the Soviet era and whitewash the crimes of Russia’s Stalinist past.

Civil Society
Disinformation

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

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UkraineAlert

Apr 5, 2022

Zelenskyy tells UN: Act now on Russia or dissolve yourself altogether

By Oleksii Riabchyn

President Zelenskyy has called for the wholesale reform of the United Nations in an emotional address to the UN Security Council marked by scathing criticism of its toothless response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Conflict
European Union

UkraineAlert

Apr 5, 2022

The whole world would benefit from a Ukrainian victory over Russia

By Chris Alexander

From the countries of the former USSR to nations targeted by Vladimir Putin's destabilization campaigns and secret wars, the whole world would stand to gain from a Ukrainian victory over Russia.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Apr 3, 2022

The West must choose: Either arm Ukraine or enable Putin’s genocide

By Peter Dickinson

Revelations of Russian war crimes outside Kyiv underscore the urgency of providing the Ukrainian military more weapons.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Apr 2, 2022

Putin’s War: Ukraine can defeat Russia but urgently needs more weapons

By Oleksandr Danylyuk

Western leaders must urgently rethink their cautious attitude towards arming Ukraine and provide the country with the offensive weapons it needs in order to defeat Putin on the battlefield, argues Oleksandr Danylyuk.

Conflict
European Union

UkraineAlert

Apr 1, 2022

Russian contempt for Ukraine paved the way for Putin’s disastrous invasion

By Anders Åslund

The many miscalculations that paved the way for Vladimir Putin's disastrous invasion of Ukraine are rooted in longstanding Russian ignorance of Ukraine and contempt for all things Ukrainian, writes Anders Åslund.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Mar 31, 2022

Ukrainian civil society can help hold Russia accountable for war crimes

By Danielle Johnson

The quest for international justice over the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine is already underway and should seek to involve Ukrainian civil society, argues Danielle Johnson.

Civil Society
Conflict

UkraineAlert

Mar 31, 2022

Putin will win unless the West sends Ukraine offensive weapons

By Alyona Getmanchuk

Western weapons have played a key role in helping Ukraine to inflict punishing losses on Putin's invasion force but Russia may still secure a bloody victory if the democratic world fails to accelerate arms deliveries.

Conflict
European Union

UkraineAlert

Mar 29, 2022

Russia in retreat: Putin appears to admit defeat in the Battle for Kyiv

By Peter Dickinson

Kremlin officials have announced plans to withdraw troops from the Kyiv region in what is widely being seen as a major setback for Putin's war and tacit recognition of Russia’s failure to seize the Ukrainian capital.

Conflict
National Security

UkraineAlert

Mar 28, 2022

No compromises with the Kremlin: Why we must denazify Putin’s Russia

By Kateryna Zarembo

Russian President Vladimir Putin claims to be engaged in a crusade to "denazify" democratic Ukraine, but in reality it is his own increasingly authoritarian regime that is in urgent need of "denazification," writes Kateryna Zarembo.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Mar 27, 2022

Russian energy embargo: Europe must stop financing Putin’s Ukraine war 

By Diane Francis

Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko has accused European countries of funding Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and called for an immediate embargo on all Russian energy exports in order to stop the war.

Conflict
European Union