Ukraine is a big country in all senses and really very diverse in all sorts of ways; social attitudes and political stances are not uniform across it. There is a particular form of Ukrainian ethnic nationalism that has often been associated with strong antisemitic sentiment, but it has little appeal the far West of the country in general and Galicia in particular. It is notable that Galicia was the only region of Ukraine not to vote for Zelensky in a landslide in the second round of the 2019 election, though he still carried two of its three oblasts. It makes up around about ten per cent or so of the country's population, or at least did so before Wartime. Elsewhere, well, there is a long history of antisemitism in Ukraine, but then there is also a long history of antisemitism in Russia and in literally every country in Europe: such is our history. Insisting that Ukraine had and has a
unique problem with it is perverse, doubly so as most of the people presently claiming this are objective antisemites themselves.
Related to this is the Nazi issue, and, once again:
A little bit 'Sins of the Father', don't you think? In any case far more Ukrainians - infinitely more - fought for the Red Army than for Bandera's OUN-B; in fact the eventual victory of the Red Army on the Eastern Front would not have been possible, or even plausible, without Ukrainian troops. The lazy and ridiculous tendency to assume otherwise is an excellent example of Norman Davies's observation that 'they [Ukrainians] were usually presented as 'Russians' or 'Soviets' whenever they were to be praised, and as 'Ukrainians' only when they did evil'.
If the issue is Bandera's memorialisation in contemporary Ukraine, then he is a controversial figure rather than a universally revered one. Zelensky has publicly expressed discomfort at the extent of his memoralisation and on this point he speaks for the majority: Bandera is popular only in Galicia and is actually quite thoroughly detested in much of the rest of the country.
There is an extreme Right political tendency in Ukraine, of course, and it briefly had serious electoral clout in Galicia (if not so much other places). This was disturbing, but is also very much a former phenomenon for the moment: as has already been noted. People associated with that political tendency can be found in the country's armed forces, but in a 'nation under arms' situation, what else would you expect? There are also anarchists and similar groups present in the Ukrainian military: it is a very unusual and very extreme situation.
