Ukraine Tries To Control Its Many Militias

Tyres are set on fire during a rally held by members of the far-right radical group Right Sector, representatives of the Ukrainian volunteer corps and their supporters in central Kiev, Ukraine, in this July 3, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/VALENTYN OGIRENKO/FILES

Reuters: Special Report: Ukraine struggles to control maverick battalions

From a basement billiard club in central Kiev, Dmytro Korchynsky commands a volunteer battalion helping Ukraine's government fight rebels in the east. A burly man with a long, Cossack-style moustache, Korchynsky has several hundred armed men at his disposal. The exact number, he said, is "classified."

In the eyes of many Ukrainians, he and other volunteer fighters are heroes for helping the weak regular army resist pro-Russian separatists. In the view of the government, however, some of the volunteers have become a problem, even a law unto themselves.

Dressed in a colorful peasant-style shirt, Korchynsky told Reuters that he follows orders from the Interior Ministry, and that his battalion would stop fighting if commanded to do so. Yet he added: "We would proceed with our own methods of action independently from state structures."

WNU Editor: I am not optimistic that the Ukraine government is going to be able to control/disband these militias without bloodshed. Many of them are battle-hardened, they are not sympathetic to the Poroshenko government, they have many key supporters in the government, they are armed, and they do have some support in the eastern part of the country (not in the central part of the country, and definitely not in the east where the war is being fought). My prediction .... the government is still going to crack-down on the leadership, and when that happens be prepared to hear reports of shootings, arrests, and even riots.