War in Ukraine

Experts from across the Atlantic Council are assessing the consequences of Russia’s February 2022 invasion, including what it means for Ukraine’s sovereignty, Europe’s security, and the United States’ leadership.

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War in Ukraine

Four years on

Four years since the invasion, Atlantic Council experts are assessing the state of the war and the prospects for peace—and forecasting what the future holds for Ukraine, Russia, NATO, the United States.

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War in Ukraine

Fast Thinking Aug 18, 2025

Was Trump’s summit with Zelenskyy and European leaders a turning point for Russia’s war in Ukraine?

Our experts share their perspectives on what the White House summit means for efforts to end Russia’s war on Ukraine and provide security assurances for Kyiv.

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War in Ukraine

New Atlanticist Aug 15, 2025

Experts react: Trump and Putin just left Alaska without a deal. Here’s what that means for Russia’s war on Ukraine.

By Atlantic Council experts

The US and Russian presidents met in Anchorage for nearly three hours, but the talks did not bring a halt to Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine.
Conflict Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding
War in Ukraine

Inflection Points Aug 17, 2025

Will Europe rise to its strategic moment?

By Frederick Kempe

With the future of European security on the line, the Ukrainian president and several European allies will meet with US President Donald Trump on Monday.
Europe & Eurasia NATO
War in Ukraine

UkraineAlert Aug 14, 2025

Trump should insist on the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia

By Mercedes Sapuppo

When US President Donald Trump sits down with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, he must demand the return of the thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.
Conflict Human Rights
War in Ukraine

UkraineAlert Aug 7, 2025

Ukraine’s expanding robot army can help address manpower shortages

By David Kirichenko

Robotic systems are in many ways an ideal battlefield solution for Ukraine as the country seeks ways to leverage its proven tech prowess in order to defend itself in a grueling war of attrition against a far larger enemy, writes David Kirichenko.
Conflict Defense Industry
War in Ukraine

UkraineAlert Jul 30, 2025

A Ukraine without Ukrainians: Putin is erasing Europe’s largest nation

By Peter Dickinson

Russia is systematically erasing all traces of Ukrainian national identity throughout occupied Ukraine as Vladimir Putin pursues an extreme form of eliminationist imperialism in the heart of twenty-first century Europe, writes Peter Dickinson.
Civil Society Conflict

WATCH

“Putin’s endgame: The stakes beyond Ukraine,” an Atlantic Council documentary

Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine may be closer to its end than its beginning. How it ends will matter not only for Ukraine, but for the whole of Europe and the wider world. The first-ever documentary from the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, “Putin’s endgame: The stakes beyond Ukraine,” discusses the threat of Russian aggression beyond Ukraine and the dangers it poses to US interests today and in the future.

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Content

New Atlanticist

Sep 22, 2008

Russia Back in the Game: It’s the West’s Move

By Ioan Mircea Pascu

With its invasion of Georgia, Russia demonstrated the determination to “come back into the game” in style. Regenerated through the surge of energy prices, Russia’s leaders want to make up their losses from the 1990s and get payback for the accompanying humiliation. Her aggressive policies, heralded by the political use of the energy weapon starting […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Sep 22, 2008

NATO’s Tunnel Vision: Seeing Beyond Russia

By Nikolas Gvosdev

Perusing the media reports after the meeting of NATO defense ministers in London, I was most struck by what did not appear. For instance, no apparent discussion about what is a growing threat to the economic security of the entire Euro-Atlantic world—the increasing ability of both “rogue states” and non-state actors (warlords, rebels and terrorist […]

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Sep 16, 2008

Debate: Is Russia Rational?

By James Joyner

A question that has been raised repeatedly, both explicitly and implicitly, since Russia’s invasion of Georgia is the degree to which Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev are rational actors.  Surely, many argue, it makes no sense for Russia to risk isolating itself from the West to make a point?

Russia

New Atlanticist

Sep 16, 2008

Russia a Rational Actor? Nyet!

By Robert Manning

After all the huffing and puffing about what civilizations don’t do in the 21st century (does Abu Ghraib ring a bell?) on the one side, and finger-wagging about spheres of influence on the other, what does the Georgia tragedy add up to? Is cooperation with Russia fading beneath a new Cold War? Is Russia facing […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Sep 16, 2008

Russia a Rational Actor? Da!

By Christopher Harness

The world sat startled when Russia heavy-handedly violated the sovereignty of Georgia.  It is currently aggravated at Russian reluctance to promptly leave.  In the aftermath, everyone is hurriedly analyzing, grasping for reasons why Russia felt the need to go all in.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Sep 15, 2008

Cold War II

By James Joyner

The dramatic escalation in tensions between NATO and Russia that followed the West’s recognition of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia and, especially, Russia’s invasion of Georgia, have many analysts fearing a return to the bad old days of the Cold War.   Jim Townsend, the Atlantic Council’s vice president for international security programs, declared to a C-SPAN […]

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Sep 11, 2008

Russia’s Godfathers

By Fran Burwell

Is French President Nicolas Sarkozy negotiating with Don Corleone? Sarkozy, leading the European Union effort to secure a Russian withdrawal from Georgia, has returned from Moscow with another agreement. This time, Russian troops are to withdraw from the so-called “buffer zone” after the placement of 200 EU monitors in the regions outside South Ossetia and […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Sep 10, 2008

Will the Near Abroad Go Nuclear?

By Alexander Motyl

As Europe redefines its security interests vis-à-vis Russia in the aftermath of Vladimir Putin’s war against Georgia, both sides have reverted to the kind of geopolitical thinking that, while reasonably accurate during the Cold War, is devoid of reality today.

Europe & Eurasia Russia

New Atlanticist

Sep 9, 2008

Russia’s Empty Promises

By James Joyner

Mark Mardell, the BBC’s resident Euroblogger, is quite pleased with Moscow’s concessions to Nicolas Sarkozy and his EU delegation.  While hedging his bets, he writes, “If this first superficial take is as it appears then Sarkozy has done rather well and those who insisted on both unity and a firmish line at the EU summit […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Sep 8, 2008

Would NATO Defend Narva?

By Alexander Motyl

Russia’s war against Georgia has forced Europeans to ask where their true interests lie and which country they’d be willing to defend if and when a Russian push ever comes to shove.

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