SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE In My Name: The Impact of Regional Identity on Civilian Attitudes in the Armed Conflict in Donbas Serhiy Kudelia 1 * and Johanna van Zyl 2 1 Department of Political Science, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA and 2 Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA *Corresponding author. Email: Sergiy_Kudelia@baylor.edu Abstract This article examines the effect of shared group membership on civilian attitudes regarding insurgent forces during an armed conflict. We rely on the original survey conducted in eight towns of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in May–June 2015. Based on the bivariate and multivariate analysis of the survey results, this article finds that a sense of shared identity with rebel forces at the start of the armed conflict in Donbas had a strong independent effect on civilian views of insurgents. Those respondents who identified themselves as residents of the region were more likely to attribute ideational motives to insurgents, report no knowledge of civilian victimization caused by rebel forces, and feel secure in their presence. By contrast, respondents identifying themselves as Ukrainian citizens were more likely to attribute material motives to insurgents, indicate their responsibility for attacks against civilians, and feel intimidated during direct encounters with rebels. These findings point to broader significance of identity cleavages in explaining the Donbas conflict. Keywords: political violence; insurgency; regional identity; Donbas; Ukraine Introduction Does the sense of shared identity with a rebel side in an armed conflict favorably predispose civilians to insurgents? One argument asserts that civilians “in between the two fires” support a stronger side irrespective of other factors (Kalyvas 2006). This makes the level of territorial control by incumbent or insurgent forces the best predictor of public attitudes toward the warring sides. The theory of asymmetrical effect, by contrast, suggests that identities create strong in-group biases, which leads individuals to react differently to civilian victimization by incumbent and insurgent forces (Lyall, Blair, and Imai 2013). If civilians identify themselves with the same group as rebels, they are less likely to change their view of insurgency even in the face of rebel violence. The armed conflict in Donbas offers an important test of the role of identities in shaping civilian views of insurgents. The start of the fighting was preceded by a series of protest rallies across the region triggered by the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych in late February 2014. Protesters, some allegedly bused to boost rally size from the neighboring Russian regions, expressed a wide range of demands from holding a referendum on autonomy status for Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts to joining the Russian Federation. Tensions escalated further with the capture of regional govern- ment buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk on April 7 by local separatist groups and their subsequent announcement of the referendum on independence of the two oblasts. The military phase of the conflict began on April 12 with the takeover of the police station and city council of Sloviansk in Donetsk oblast by the armed unit led by a former officer of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Igor Girkin (also known as Strelkov). In response, the Ukrainian government declared the start of the counter-terrorist operation (ATO) and began mobilizing troops and volunteer units to stop the © Association for the Study of Nationalities 2019. Nationalities Papers (2019), 47: 5, 801–821 doi:10.1017/nps.2019.68