This book provides a detailed narrative analysis of the historic events in and around Ukraine from 2013 to 2019. These years were almost as significant for Ukraine as the achievement of independence in 1991. That was because Ukraine was in danger of losing its independence again after the victory of the Euromaidan Revolution of 2013-2014. This popular uprising against the kleptocratic regime of President Viktor Yanukovych led to a takeover of power by the parliamentary opposition-and to a total loss of influence by Russia. While regular Russian troops were 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"-in truth not a "civil war" but a Russian war of attrition against Ukraine-on his terms within the "Minsk process." By creating an "autonomous" Donbas region within the Ukrainian state, he wanted to create a lever for Russian influence over the whole of Ukraine. The book's conclusions place the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the context of the dawning "Chinese century." The indepth study draws from secondary 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 freelance author in Heidelberg and Kyiv. Previously, Schneider-Deters directed national and regional projects of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Latin America, Eastern and Central Asia, as well as the Southern Caucasus. From 1996 to 2000, he headed the Foundation's Kyiv cooperation office. His previous books include Die Europäische Union, Russland und Eurasien: Die Rückkehr der Geopolitik [The EU, Russia and Eurasia: The Return of Geopolitics] (co-edited with P. Schulze and H. Timmermann; BWV 2008) and Die Ukraine: Machtvakuum zwischen Russland und der Europäischen Union [Ukraine: Power Vacuum between Russia and the EU] (BWV 2012, 2014). His papers have been published in, among other outlets, Osteuropa, Neue Gesellschaft: Frankfurter Hefte, The European, Euromaidan Press, and Ukraine-Analysen.