Since 2014, Shakhtar sometimes plays in Kyiv due to the Russian aggression which technically turned the rivalry into a city derby.

Dynamo and Shakhtar were the top Ukrainian clubs since introduction of the Soviet professional football competitions in 1936.

At the time, Dynamo Kyiv was the main representative of Ukraine in the Soviet League, while Shakhtar initially had some difficulties to secure their place there.

For several seasons Shakhtar was not even among the main contenders for the league title, which was often contested by either FC Dnipro or Chornomorets Odesa.

In the first years of the decade, Dynamo were still riding the wave of their late 1990s success, when they reached the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals and semi-finals in consecutive seasons.

After the death of their legendary manager Valeriy Lobanovskyi in 2002, Dynamo's success in the European and Ukrainian competitions began to decline.

This coincided with the continued rise of Shakhtar, who won their first Ukrainian league title in 2001–02, which took the rivalry between the two clubs to a whole new level.

Shakhtar defeated Dynamo in a 2008–09 UEFA Cup semi-final and then became the first side in the sovereign Ukraine era to win a European competition.

Since then, Shakhtar has been based in Kyiv, but until early 2020 played their home matches primarily at Metalist Oblast Sports Complex in Kharkiv.