As winter approaches, Ukraine’s embattled government faces a radically different set of challenges than those it grappled with just weeks ago. Instead of deriving comfort from the stillness that has descended on the Donbas battlefield with Russian-backed separatists, the authorities in Kiev must deal with an emerging threat from their own far right. A rebellion may not materialise soon, but it has the potential to cause plenty of trouble. In the longer term, Ukraine’s ultra-nationalists could prove even more dangerous to the government than the insurgency in the east.
The conflict with Russia has reinvigorated nationalist sentiment in Ukraine, energising far right organisations. They ...