This book examines why, when the conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014, fighting broke out in the Donets'k region, whereas it did not in Kharkiv city, despite the city, like the Donets'k region, being geographically proximate to Russia and similar in ethnic and linguistic make up.

Daria Platonova is a Researcher at King's College London.

Introduction 1. Explaining the Donbas conflict 2. Tools of Trade: The Methodology 3. Protest and Violence in Kharkiv and Donets'k, 2002 - 2014 4. Elites and Regional Patronage 5. Elites and Protest in Kharkiv and Donets'k, 2013 - 2014 Conclusion