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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

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

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

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

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

Nov 26, 2024

Abandoning Georgia to the Kremlin would be a big geopolitical blunder

By Zviad Adzinbaia

Georgia is far from a lost cause, but it will require bold Western leadership to prevent the country’s capture by the Kremlin, writes Zviad Adzinbaia.

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

Nov 21, 2024

Ukraine wary of Western disunity ahead of possible Russia peace talks

By Katherine Spencer

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s recent call to Vladimir Putin has sparked alarm in Kyiv and criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Ukraine seeks maximum Western unity ahead of possible Russia peace talks, writes Katherine Spencer.

Conflict European Union

UkraineAlert

Nov 18, 2024

Imposing neutrality on Ukraine will not stop Putin or bring peace to Europe

By Mykola Bielieskov

Imposing neutrality on Ukraine will not bring about a durable peace in Europe. On the contrary, it would leave Ukraine at Putin’s mercy and set the stage for a new Russian invasion, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

Civil Society Conflict

UkraineAlert

Nov 18, 2024

1000 days of war: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine passes grim milestone

By Kira Rudik

1000 days of war in Ukraine: Russia’s 2022 invasion was expected to be short and victorious. Almost three years on, Vladimir Putin is still deeply embroiled in the largest European conflict since World War II, writes Kira Rudik.

Conflict Freedom and Prosperity

UkraineAlert

Nov 18, 2024

Biden’s green light highlights the diminishing power of Putin’s red lines

By Peter Dickinson

US President Joe Biden’s decision to allow long-range Ukrainian strikes inside Russia will not win the war, but it does underline the diminishing power of Putin’s red lines, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Nov 14, 2024

Forcing Ukraine to cede land will only increase Putin’s imperial appetite

By Peter Dickinson

If Ukraine is forced to cede land to Russia in exchange for peace, Vladimir Putin’s entire invasion will be legitimized and his imperial appetite will only grow, writes Peter Dickinson.

Conflict Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Nov 14, 2024

Ukrainian civil society leaders call for extension of Nord Stream 2 sanctions

By Ukrainian civil society leaders

Representatives of Ukraine’s civil society have penned an appeal to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee calling for the extension of United States sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Economic Sanctions Energy & Environment

UkraineAlert

Nov 14, 2024

Freezing the front lines in Ukraine would condemn millions to Russian occupation

By Mercedes Sapuppo

Donald Trump’s election win is fueling speculation of a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, but any attempt to freeze the front lines would condemn millions of Ukrainians to the horrors of Russian occupation, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Nov 13, 2024

Russia’s economically vital energy sector is Vladimir Putin’s Achilles’ Heel

By Oleksiy Zagorodnyuk

By introducing additional sanctions on Russia’s energy industry and intensifying implementation cooperation, the West can undermine Putin’s ability to wage war and strengthen the global order against further acts of international aggression, writes Oleksiy Zagorodnyuk.

Conflict Economic Sanctions

UkraineAlert

Nov 12, 2024

Russia emerges as the real winner of Georgia’s disputed election

By Nicholas Chkhaidze

Critics say Georgia’s October parliamentary elections were marred by widespread vote-rigging, but the success of the ruling Georgian Dream party is nevertheless a major victory for Russia that consolidates Moscow’s position in the Caucasus region.

Civil Society Democratic Transitions
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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
Kyiv Diary: Ukrainians await Putin’s invasion and Poroshenko’s arrest

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

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

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 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

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
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