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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

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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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.

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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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