Civil War? Interstate War? Hybrid War? – Dimensions and Interpretations of the Donbas Conflict in 2014–2020

This volume of collected papers takes stock of what has become known about the war in eastern Ukraine’s Donets Basin (Donbas) between April 2014 and mid-2020. It provides an introduction to the conflict and illustrates the key point of contention in the academic debate surrounding it―the question whether this war is primarily an internal Ukrainian phenomenon or the result of a covert Russian invasion. The contributions by recognized specialists from Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and Japan offer multifaceted views and insights into this long-lasting conflict for both expert readers and those who are new to the topic.

The volume’s contributors are Tymofii Brik, Jakob Hauter, Sanshiro Hosaka, Yuriy Matsiyevsky, Nikolay Mitrokhin, Maximilian Kranich, and Ulrich Schneckener.

The editor: Jakob Hauter, MA, studied International Relations and Contemporary European Studies in Dresden, Saint Petersburg, Bath, and Siena. Since 2018, he is a PhD Candidate at University College London’s (UCL) School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES). Previously, he worked as an analyst for Russian and Ukrainian media and current affairs for the United States Mission to the United Kingdom. His papers have been published by the Berlin Institute for European Politics (IEP) and in the Journal of Strategic Security.

The author of the foreword: Dr. Andrew Wilson is Professor of Ukrainian Studies at UCL SSEES.