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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

Ukraine Crisis: Deterring Putin is expensive but much cheaper than 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
Ukraine Crisis: Deterring Putin is expensive but much cheaper than 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
Ukraine Crisis: Deterring Putin is expensive but much cheaper than 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

Aug 5, 2021

How Ukraine can push back against Vladimir Putin’s twisted history

By Tom Warner

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent article on Ukrainian history has been interpreted by many as a declaration of war against Ukrainian national identity. How should Ukraine respond to this ominous essay?

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Aug 5, 2021

Here to dine in Kyiv

By Melinda Haring

Looking for a quick foodie holiday? The food in Ukraine is by turns inventive and inexpensive, creative, and delicious.

Civil Society
Ukraine

BelarusAlert

Aug 4, 2021

Belarus dissident death in Ukraine fuels fears over Lukashenka death squads

By Brian Whitmore

The suspicious death of exiled Belarus dissident Vital Shyshou in Kyiv this week is fueling speculation over dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s use of death squads to eliminate political opponents across Europe.

Belarus
Non-Traditional Threats

UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2021

The next hot food destination is Ukraine

By Melinda Haring

It’s only a matter of time before foodies the world over discover these gems in Ukraine.

Civil Society
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 27, 2021

Is Putin’s next big chance to take Ukraine now?

By Mark Temnycky

With the world distracted by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is anyone paying attention to Ukraine’s East? Distractions favor Putin, and he’s taken advantage of nearly every major sporting event of the last 14 years to stun the world.

Conflict
Crisis Management

UkraineAlert

Jul 27, 2021

More backsliding in Kyiv

By Andrew D’Anieri

President Zelenskyy’s exemption of infrastructure projects from standard tender procedures and oversight is a setback for reform. Yet the move has sparked necessary conversations on how to improve public procurement in Ukraine.

Corruption
Economy & Business
President Biden and Chancellor Merkel at a press conference at the White House.

UkraineAlert

Jul 27, 2021

Why is Biden letting Putin win?

By Diane Francis

Russia and Germany, enabled by a distracted and increasingly isolationist United States, trample Europe and ignore the wishes of Central and Eastern European and Baltic nation-states. What does the White House think it’s doing?

Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion
Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Jul 20, 2021

Infrastructure cooperation could hold the key to Armenia’s future security

By Ani Yeghiazaryan

As the South Caucasus looks to move on following last year’s Nagorno-Karabakh War, shared infrastructure projects could help foster greater regional stability and improve the chances for a sustainable peace.

Geopolitics & Energy Security
Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

UkraineAlert

Jul 18, 2021

UKRAINE AT 30: Andriy Shevchenko’s three decades as unofficial ambassador

By Peter Dickinson

No Ukrainian has done more to raise the country’s international profile that footballer Andriy Shevchenko, who has been quite simply the most famous Ukrainian in the world since the early years of independence.

Resilience & Society
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jul 18, 2021

Ukraine takes a big step towards judicial reform

By Olena Halushka and Tetiana Shevchuk

Ukraine took a big step towards judicial reform on July 13 when MPs adopted laws that establish credible foundations for the reboot of the country’s deeply compromised legal system.

Civil Society
Corruption
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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
Ukraine Crisis: Deterring Putin is expensive but much cheaper than 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.

Read More
Ukraine Crisis: Deterring Putin is expensive but much cheaper than 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
Ukraine Crisis: Deterring Putin is expensive but much cheaper than 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

Feb 11, 2022

Ukraine Crisis: Deterring Putin is expensive but much cheaper than war

By Andriy Zagorodnyuk

Deterring Putin from launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine is an expensive business, but it is infinitely cheaper than the price the international community will have to pay if Russia unleashes a major European war.

Conflict
European Union

UkraineAlert

Feb 10, 2022

Black Sea blockade: Ukraine accuses Russia of major maritime escalation

By Peter Dickinson

While the world watches Ukraine's land borders with Russia and Belarus for signs of Putin's threatened full-scale invasion, Moscow may be in the process of opening a maritime front with a Black Sea blockade.

Economy & Business
Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion

UkraineAlert

Feb 10, 2022

Defending Ukraine on the energy front

By Olga Bielkova

The idea that we are stronger together has long been a guiding principle in Ukraine-EU relations. Bolstering our shared defenses against Russian aggression on the energy front is an important step towards this vision.

Energy & Environment
Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Feb 8, 2022

With Putin poised to invade, Zelenskyy must prioritize Ukrainian unity

By Kira Rudik

With Russian troops poised to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it is time for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to put personal rivalries to one side and unite the country's political forces, says Kira Rudik.

Conflict
Corruption

UkraineAlert

Feb 8, 2022

Ukraine prepares to unplug from Russian electricity amid invasion fears

By Aura Sabadus

Amid mounting fears of a full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine remains determined to proceed with a planned trial disconnection from the Russian electricity grid in order to progress towards European energy integration.

Conflict
Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Feb 7, 2022

Still not too late for Germany to honor its commitment to Ukraine

By Eugene Czolij

Germany says a sense of "historical responsibility" over Nazi crimes prevents Berlin from adopting a firmer stand against Russia. Many in Ukraine ask why this logic does not also apply to the millions of Ukrainian WWII victims.

Conflict
Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion

UkraineAlert

Feb 7, 2022

US delegation: America stands with Ukraine against Russian threat

By Eurasia Center

The Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center organized a delegation to visit Kyiv on January 30-February 1 planned around a major public event organized in concert with Yalta European Strategy and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, a partner of the Eurasia Center.

Conflict
European Union

UkraineAlert

Feb 4, 2022

Russia demands security guarantees but what Putin really wants is Ukraine

By Iulian Romanyshyn

Russian President Vladimir Putin claims to seek security guarantees and an end to NATO expansion but the crisis he has recently engineered is really all about reasserting Kremlin control over Ukraine, says Iulian Romanyshyn.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

UkraineAlert

Feb 3, 2022

Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine playbook echoes the traditional tactics of Russian imperialism

By Łukasz Adamski

Putin's hybrid war against Ukraine has been portrayed as innovative but Moscow’s approach also echoes more traditional tactics from the golden age of Russian imperialism and the era of Soviet expansionism.

Conflict
Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Feb 2, 2022

The new Ukraine needs a new census

By Andrew D’Anieri

Ukraine has not conducted a national census in more than two decades and must address this issue in order to provide up-to-date information reflecting the dramatic changes taking place within Ukrainian society.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions
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