A nation must think before it acts.
Understanding Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
Introduction
On February 24, 2022 Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
In times of crisis, balanced, in-depth analysis and trusted expertise is paramount. The Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) remains committed in its mission to provide expert analysis to policy makers and the public on the most pressing foreign policy challenges.
To help you understand this evolving crisis, we have compiled a list of publications, event recordings, and podcasts to help explain current events in Ukraine. FPRI has also included resources about other protracted conflicts, the neighboring Baltic states, and the role of NATO in managing the fallout from the war.
If you have not already done so, be sure to follow the FPRI fellows listed below for further reading and resources. For press inquiries, please contact press@fpri.org
Russian Aggression in Ukraine & Russian Defense
Analysis
- Moscow’s Mind Games: Finding Ideology in Putin’s Russia – February 2023
- The Confrontation with Russia and US Grand Strategy – February 2023
- Tanks a Lot (Well, Actually Not That Many for Ukraine) – February 2023
- Wagner Group Redefined: Threats and Responses – January 2023
- ‘Let’s Make a Deal’? Ukraine and the Poor Prospects for Negotiations with Putin – January 2023
- Will Russia Survive Until 2084? – December 2022
- How the Battle for the Donbas Shaped Ukraine’s Success – December 2022
- Ecological Path to Peace Is Possible in Ukraine – November 2022
- Putin’s Philosophers: Reading Vasily Grossman in the Kremlin – November 2022
- The Russian-Ukrainian War Triggers an Energy Revolution – September 2022
- Ukraine’s Defense Industry and the Prospect of a Long War – September 2022
- Understanding Russia’s Efforts at Technological Sovereignty – September 2022
- Watching the War on Russian Television – August 2022
- War Crimes in Ukraine: In Search of a Response – August 2022
- Why Russian Elites Are Standing By Putin – July 2022
- Climate Action Meets Energy Security: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine Adds a New Dimension to Energy Transition – June 2022
- The War’s Impact on Russia’s Economy and Ukrainian Politics – June 2022
- The Evolving Political-Military Aims in the War in Ukraine After 100 Days – June 2022
- How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine has Affected Kazakh Politics – June 2022
- Russia’s Use of Cyberattacks: Lessons from the Second Ukraine War – June 2022
- What’s Next for Ukraine’s (and its Neighbors’) Domestic and Foreign Policy? – June 2022
- Reviving the Prospects for Coercive Diplomacy in Ukraine – May 2022
- Food Prices, Elections, and the Wagner Group in Africa – April 2022
- Appraising the War in Ukraine and Likely Outcomes – April 2022
- Ukraine War Sparks Suspicion over Russia’s Designs on Kazakhstan – April 2022
- Do Russians Really “Long for War” in Ukraine? – March 2022
- Kadyrov’s Ukraine Gamble – March 2022
- Lukashenka’s Fatal Mistake – March 2022
- What We Can Learn about Russian Strategy from Ivan III – March 2022
- The Russian Navy in the Russia-Ukraine War Scare – February 2022
- How Will China Respond to the Russia-Ukraine Crisis? – January 2022
- Moscow’s Compellence Strategy – January 2022
- Zapad 2021 and Russia’s Potential for Warfighting – September 2021
- Russia’s Coercive Diplomacy – August 2021
- Russia’s Forever Wars: Syria and Pursuit of Great Power Status – September 2021
- Understanding Russia’s Cyber Strategy – July 2021
- Russia’s Nuclear Strategy: A Show of Strength Despite COVID-19 – May 2021
- Even Thieves Need a Safe: Why the Putin Regime Causes, Deplores, and Yet Relies on Capital Flight for its Survival – November 2021
- Five Years of War in the Donbas – October 2019
- Coal Mines, Land Mines and Nuclear Bombs: The Environmental Cost of the War in Eastern Ukraine – September 2019
- Volodymyr Zelensky: Ukraine’s Servant of the People? – September 2019
- Russia’s Tragic Great Power Politics – March 2019
- Ukraine’s Presidential Election and the Future of its Foreign Policy – March 2019
- Bond of War: Russian Geo-Economics in Ukraine’s Sovereign Debt Restructuring – September 2018
- The Ukrainian Military: From Degradation to Renewal – August 2018
Events
- Reflecting on a Year of War – February 2023
- Will Russia Survive Until 2084? – January 2023
- The Russia-Ukraine War and Implications for Azerbaijan – July 2022
- Russia’s War in Ukraine: Uncompromising Objectives and an Uncertain Future – June 2022
- The State of Play in Ukraine – May 2022
- Russia’s War in Ukraine: Nukes, Negotiations, and Neutrality – April 2022
- Russia’s War in Ukraine: Implications for China – March 2022
- What the West Needs to Know About Russia’s War in Ukraine – March 2022
- Russia’s War in Ukraine: Analyzing the Western Military and Economic Response – March 2022
- Russia’s War in Ukraine: The Humanitarian Crisis and Prospects for Resolution – March 2022
- Russia’s Long Shadow and the Future of Europe – February 2022
- Russia-Ukraine Tensions: Will Moscow’s Compellence Strategy Work? – January 2022
- Interview with Russian Dissident Ilya & Former Duma Member Ilya Ponomarev – January 2022
- Russia’s Coercive Diplomacy – August 2021
- FPRI Special Briefing: U.S. Sanctions Against Russia – March 2021
- FPRI Special Briefing: Alexeyi Navalny and U.S.-Russia Relations – February 2021
Podcasts
- Don’t Mention the War – April 2023
- Torn in the USA: How Important is the War in Ukraine for the United States? – March 2023
- Ukraine One Year In: The Helpers – March 2023
- Reflecting on a Year of War – February 2023
- Will Russia Survive Until 2084? – January 2023
- Mobilize This – January 2023
- War in Ukraine: A Firsthand Account – December 2022
- Public Opinion in Russia: What Do We Know, What Can We Know? – November 2022
- Russia’s War in Ukraine: The Strategic Picture – September 2022
- The State of Play in Ukraine – May 2022
- Russia’s Manpower Conundrum in Ukraine – May 2022
- The Air War Over Ukraine – March 2022
- Debating a No Fly Zone: The Risk of Escalation with Moscow – March 2022
- Examining Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine – March 2022
- The Risk of War: Russia’s Options for War in Ukraine – February 2022
- The Risk of War in Ukraine: Moscow’s Military Posture – February 2022
- Tensions Over Ukraine: Russia’s Rationale for War – February 2022
- Russian Perceptions of Military AI and Automation – February 2022
- Russia’s Anti-Satellite Weapon: Understanding Russia’s ASAT Test – November 2021
- How Do You Solve a Problem Like Navalny? – September 2021
- Russia’s Coercive Diplomacy: Looking Back at the Ukraine Crisis – August 2021
- Russian-Turkish Relations and Their Implications for the West – May 2021
- Learning From Our Adversaries: Russian Aerial Operations in Syria – April 2021
Protracted Conflicts: Moldova and Georgia
Analysis
- War As a Neighbor: Moldova and the Challenges of Facing Russian Aggression in Ukraine – April 2023
- Strategic Connectivity in the Black Sea: A Focus on Georgia – December 2021
- Taking Stock of U.S. Military Assistance to Georgia – December 2021
- Georgia’s Democracy is in Trouble, It’s Time for Closer Engagement – November 2021
- Russia’ Permanent War Against Georgia – March 2021
- Georgia’s Doomed Deep-Sea Port Ambitions: Geopolitics of the Canceled Anaklia Project– October 2020
- Anatomy of a Fraud: The Moldovan Parliamentary Elections – March 2019
- Geopolitical Games Expected Ahead of Moldova’s 2018 Elections – October 2017
Events
- The Future of US Strategic Interests in the South Caucasus: Challenges and Opportunities for the Biden Administration – October 2021
- Tug of War in the Black Sea: Defending NATO’s Eastern Flank – July 2021
NATO
Analysis
- The Turkish Veto: Why Erdogan Is Blocking Finland and Sweden’s Path to NATO – March 2023
- Article 5 for the Next Decade of NATO – December 2022
- The Art of the Possible: Minimizing Risks as a New European Order Takes Shape – November 2022
- The Baltics Predicted the Suspension of the Ukraine Grain Deal — and Contributed to its Resumption – November 2022
- Good and Bad Neighbors: Perceptions in Latvian Society – September 2022
- Europe’s Wait for Turkmen Natural Gas Continues – September 2022
- From the Migrant Crisis to Aggression in Ukraine: Belarus is Still on the Baltic Agenda – July 2022
- Two Less Obvious Lessons for Baltic Defense from Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine – June 2022
- The Baltic Road to Energy Independence from Russia Is Nearing Completion – May 2022
- America Needs a Comprehensive Compellence Strategy Against Russia – April 2022
- Baltic Sea Mining as an Extension of the Russian Gray Zone – April 2022
- The Significance of the Turkish Straits to the Russian Navy – March 2022
- Fear, Solidarity, and Calls for Further Action in the Baltics as Russia Invades Ukraine – March 2022
- Latvia’s First Response to Russia’s War in Ukraine – March 2022
- Turkey’s Careful and Risky Fence-Sitting between Ukraine and Russia – February 2022
- At the Double: Poland’s Military Expansion – January 2022
- Turkey’s Response to the Russia-Ukraine Crisis – January 2022
- Afghanistan was a Turbulent NATO Proving Ground for the Baltic States – December 2021
- Crowded Pond: NATO and Russian Maritime Power in the Baltic Sea – December 2021
- Baltic Perspectives on U.S. and Transatlantic Nuclear Negotiations with Russia – October 2021
- Namejs vs. Zapad: Military Exercises on Both Sides of the Frontline – September 2021
- Reconceptualizing Lithuania’s Importance for U.S Foreign Policy – July 2021
- Russian-Turkish Relations and Their Implications for the West – April 2021
- Nord Stream 2: Germany’s Faustian Bargain with Gazprom and Why it Matters for the Baltics– December 2020
Events:
- Cooperation, Competition, and Compartmentalization: Russian-Turkish Relations and Their Implications for the West – May 2021
- America’s Approach to the Three Seas Initiative – May 2021
Podcasts:
- The Baltic States as NATO Heavyweights – March 2023
- The Future of European Energy – February 2023
- What’s Happening With Russian Speakers in Latvia? – January 2023
- We Can France if We Want To: What Does Paris Want for Ukraine and Europe? – November 2022
- Giorgia on My Mind: Italy’s Rightward Turn and Its Implications – October 2022
- Stuck in the Magyar: Why is Hungary the “Bad Boy” of Europe? – October 2022
- Bloc Party: The EU and the War in Ukraine – September 2022
- The View from Ukraine: An interview with Dr. Volodymyr Dubovyk – August 2022
- What Does Erdogan, Erdo-want? – July 2022
- Baltic Power Hour – July 2022
- No More Niinistö Nice Guy: Has Finland’s Security Calculus Changed? – June 2022
- Swedening the Deal: Stockholm Turns to NATO – June 2022
- The Energy Trilemma: An interview with Dr. Andrei Belyi – May 2022
- The Sejm Difference? Poland and the New, Old Europe – May 2022
- Bundes-where? Germany’s Politics and Security in Changing Times – May 2022
- Ukrainian Refugees in Latvia: An interview with Agnese Lāce – April 2022
- Who Speaks For Eastern Europe? – February 2022
- Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs on Latvia’s Foreign Policy Challenges – November 2021
- Reframing the Baltic states: An Interview with Dr. Andres Kasekamp – October 2021
FPRI Experts to Follow
- Rob Lee – @RALee85 Eurasia Senior Fellow, PhD Student at King’s College, London
- Bob Hamilton – @BobHam88 Black Sea Fellow, Research Professor at the U.S. Army War College
- Maia Otarashvili – @MaiaVanRijn Deputy Director of Research
- Aaron Stein – @aaronstein1
- Chris Miller – @crmiller1 Director of Eurasia Program, Assistant Professor at The Fletcher School, Tufts University
- Nikolas Gvosdev @FPRI_Orbis Editor, Orbis: FPRI’s Journal of World Affairs, Captain Jerome E. Levy Chair in Economic Geography and National Security at the U.S. Naval War College
- Clint Watts – @SelectedWisdom Distinguished Research Fellow, National Security Contributor for NBC News and MSNBC
- Indra Ekmanis – @indraekmanis Baltic Sea Fellow and Editor of the Baltic Bulletin
- Una Bergmane @UnaBergmane Baltic Sea Fellow, Researcher at the University of Helsinki
- Mitchell Orenstein @m_orenstein Eurasia Senior Fellow, Professor of East European and Russian Studies, University of Pennsylvania
- Stephanie Petrella @sdpetrella Eurasia Fellow
- Sara Ashbaugh @sara_ashbaugh Editor in Chief, BMB Russia
- Eilish Hart @EilishHart Eurasia Fellow, Eurasia Program
- Clara Marchaud @ClaraMarchaud Editor of BMB Ukraine