Far-right nationalists protest in Ukraine capital
Thousands of demonstrators have held a march in Ukraine's capital Kiev in protest against the administration of President Petro Poroshenko for its handling of the crisis in the east.
Members of far-right nationalist groups, including Azov Battalion and Right Sector, held the march on Friday. The demonstrators waved torches and the flags of the groups.
The protest coincided with the anniversary of the creation of the controversial World War II-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army, also known as the UPA.
Earlier on Friday, Azov Battalion declared the formation of the National Corps political party.
"Today we become a party. And we must become the party of real action," Andriy Biletsky, a Ukrainian lawmaker who heads the movement, said at a meeting as they voted to create the new party.
"We want Ukraine to return to the ideas of Ukrainian patriotism, Ukrainian nationalism," Biletsky added.
The group has engaged in a battle with pro-Russians in eastern Ukraine. It initially emerged as a volunteer force fighting alongside Ukraine's army and was later integrated into Kiev's official forces.
In April 2014, the government in Kiev launched the first round of its military operations in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which are populated mostly by pro-Russians, to crush anti-government protests there. The operations, however, led to deadly clashes between the two sides.
The crisis in eastern Ukraine has left nearly 9,500 people dead and over 21,000 others injured, according to the United Nations.
Despite ceasefire efforts, sporadic fighting continues to claim more lives.
Ukraine has also been hit with anti-corruption protests. Two years after the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, many say Ukraine has yet to get rid of its corrupt elite.
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