Thread by @OzKaterji

A small thread on my firsthand experiences on the ground in Kyiv and the presence of the far right here:

I have been in Ukraine for exactly one month, and so far I have seen precisely one far right foreign volunteer, 3 individuals wearing Azov patches, and one small unit of about 8-10 guys heading to a frontline. I can definitely corroborate their existence here on the ground.

In that time though I have seen hundreds of armed men and women, I have spoken to dozens of them, I have met & interviewed people on Kyiv’s barricades from all walks of life with a wide spectrum of political beliefs.

The idea that the far right are running the show here, politically or militarily, simply is an extreme hyperbolic exaggeration. Yes, Ukraine has a far right problem, but so do many European countries.

Discussions surrounding this invasion that focus primarily on Ukraine’s far right are unhelpful to understanding what is happening to Ukraine. There are many other dynamics in play that are overlooked by these debates.

https://twitter.com/OzKaterji/status/1503070979412701184

This is a good primer on the issue
newstatesman.com/world/2022/02/…

A pro-Putin troll has informed me that one woman, who I did not speak to, but that was in a room with me when I was meeting foreign volunteers for the first time, is directly linked to the Austrian far right. So adding that to this thread for continued full disclosure.

This is easily the first time a troll has been helpful to my reporting, I can’t Google everyone I meet briefly without even speaking to, but I do think it’s important to be directly honest about anything I discover after-the-fact.

Can also confirm that among the French, Brits, Americans and Canadian foreign legion volunteers I met that day were two Middle Eastern Muslims and one American Jew, so the accusation that this is a far right battalion is false.

I’m collecting a lot of footage here of this stuff that I will publish in a long form format, you will have plenty of opportunity to judge these individuals for yourself.

Here is an interview I filmed with one of the lads I met there. As I said, judge them for yourself, with their own words.

https://twitter.com/ozkaterji/status/1503353019945172992