There is a fascism problem inside free Ukraine, indeed. It’s been there since around year 2005 in an increasing strength until year 2014 when it started decreasing, albeit sadly slowly.

It has never reached the levels it has in the Russia, but it was nevertheless very visible when I lived there in 2015 and 2016.
Putin’s project of funding fascism in the Russia and in all countries under Russian influence, that he started around year 2005, is horrible indeed! I can understand how the organizations were useful for doing his dirty work for him, but it’s horrendous that he chose to take that way.

Of course the fascist organizations in Ukraine lost almost all of their funding when they started fighting against the Russia, but it still takes time for all that to diminish away.

Also, just like you told, it is a success story how Ukraine managed to dilute the right-wing extremism from the nazi troops that saved its ass in 2014. Until around year 2018 there was a big risk of a fascist revolution, because in 2014 the Ukrainian military was nothing but a joke. It was only a tool for the highest officers to get free workforce for building dachas. And a horrible place to serve, causing deaths of servicemen. Basically the same thing as Belarusian military is now in 2026.

And at the same time, the nazi organizations got seriously good in fighting starting from 2014. Ukraine basically didn’t have an army at all and the nazis were really interested in doing a coup. Ukraine successfully defused the situation by slowly integrating those organizations in its official military forces. The leadership was forbidden from being openly nazi and an increasing amount of soldiers were without any nazi connections whatsoever.

It is very clear that the leadership of the Azov battalion are still okay with fascism, but they are not able to effectively push for it any longer. And once the war, after all these 12 years, is at last at its end, it can be at last disbanded. Currently they are still the most skilled army unit in Ukraine and without them, Ukraine would risk losing the war to the fascist country. If that happened, the funding of nazi organizations in Ukraine would return and we’d see a nazi problem far bigger than currently – most likely it would reach the same levels as currently on Crimea and Donbas, which are the only parts of Ukraine where far-right violence didn’t start getting less common in 2014, but instead increased a lot.

The current situation is weird, because Azov battalion, military unit still led by actual fascists, is keeping Ukraine securely on an anti-fascist path. If they disappear, nazism will become much more commonplace in Ukraine.

If you support the Russia in this war, you are a fascist.