This work is a contemporary historical, narrative analysis of events in and around Ukraine from 2013 to 2019. These years were almost as significant for Ukraine as the achievement of independence in 1991, because Ukraine was in danger of losing its independence again after the victory of the "Maidan". This popular uprising against the kleptocratic regime of President Yanukovych led to a takeover of power by the parliamentary opposition—and to the total loss of influence by Russia. Against the threat of Russian troops deploying along the border, Russian agents in eastern Ukraine tried to bring about a "Crimea scenario," i.e. the secession of the eastern part of the country.

President Putin intended to resolve the "Ukraine conflict", which in truth is not a "civil war" but a Russian war of attrition against Ukraine, on his terms in the "Minsk process": namely, by creating an "autonomous" part of the Donbas within the Ukrainian state—as a lever for Russian influence over the whole of Ukraine.

The author concludes by placing the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the context of the dawning "Chinese century".

The book draws from academic literature, official publications, and a variety of current news in print and digital outlets. It is essential reading for everyone who wants to understand the current situation in Ukraine.

Winfried Schneider-Deters studied economics at Heidelberg University. Since 2004 he is retired and works as a free lance author in Heidelberg (Germany) and Kyiv (Ukraine). Publications on domestic and foreign policy of Ukraine, relations of Ukraine with the European Union and the Russian Federation. Previously, Schneider-Deters directed national and regional projects of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Latin America; East and Central Asia, and in the South Caucasus. From 1996 to 2000, he was head of the cooperation office of the FES in KYIV. His previous books include [in German] Ukraine: Power Vacuum between Russia and the European Union (BWV), Berlin 2012. His papers have been published by, among others, Osteuropa.