They’ve been eager to fight ethnic Russians in the east of Ukraine from the very start, but the Ukrainian government has had a love-hate relationship with the Right Sector factions, a group of militias that embrace overtly fascist rhetoric and see crushing the rebels as just the first step.
“Officially, we are not here,” one such militia fighter was quoted as telling the Washington Post, as he and his forces, deployed along the frontlines, pass easily through military checkpoints. Unofficially, they are still part of the battle, and working closely with the military.
Their hostility to peace deals and comfort with neo-Nazi trappings make them a potential PR nightmare for Kiev, though in practice the promises to rein them in seem to have been sufficient distance for the government, and the fact that this reining in never involved doing anything was very much beside the point.
In the near-term, these ultranationalists will content themselves will attacks in the east, but the real danger for Kiev is what comes after the war. These groups were a key part of the regime change that put the current pro-West government in power, but many are very public in their view that they need another violent revolution to install an even more nationalist government.
Americas original funded regime changers, through Victoria Nuland, the coiners of the phrase after the coup, that they were going to get rid of the “Russian speaking sub human scum living in the Eastern Ukraine” Which of course the Eastern Oblasts including Crimea instantly took as words of the death and destruction and that they were genocidal in nature!
The opposition to Stalin was based on Nazis since WW2. It has remained active in Ukraine ever since, was an active force even in the 1950’s with US support run with the help of former Nazis in the employ of the CIA.
The current movement was always strongly flavored by a Nazi component, and they were proud of it. The opposition to Stalin is a proud force, and makes no secret of its origin.
It is an ugly group, and the US has played with it for a very long time. This latest discovery that it is part of the problem in Ukraine is a surprise only to those who knew nothing about Ukraine.
What surprises me is that there is even a rhetorical gap between the Ukraine regime and the neo-nazis. Most of the government rhetoric has been that Russia is or soon will invade, and we should hit back first ASAP.