Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (click to enlarge):
Azov, Ukraine's Most Prominent Ultranationalist Group, Sets Its Sights on U.S., Europe
By Christopher Miller
KYIV -- Robert Rundo, the muscly leader of a California-based white-supremacist group that refers to itself as the "premier MMA (mixed martial arts) club of the Alt-Right," unleashed a barrage of punches against his opponent.
But Rundo, a 28-year-old Huntington Beach resident who would be charged and arrested in October over a series of violent attacks in his hometown, Berkeley, and San Bernardino in 2017, wasn't fighting on American streets.
It was April 27 and Rundo, whose Rise Above Movement (RAM) has been described by ProPublica as "explicitly violent," was swinging gloved fists at a Ukrainian contender in the caged ring of a fight club associated with the far-right ultranationalist Azov group in Kyiv.
A video of Rundo's fight, which was streamed live on Facebook (below), shows that the American lost the bout. But for Rundo, who thanked his hosts with a shout of "Slava Ukrayini!" (Glory to Ukraine), it was a victory of another sort: RAM's outreach tour, which included stops in Italy and Germany to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday and spread its alt-right agenda, brought the two radical groups closer together.
For the Ukrainians, too, the benefits extended outside the ring. It marked a step toward legitimizing Azov among its counterparts in the West and set in motion what appears to be its next project: the expansion of its movement abroad.
"We think globally," Olena Semenyaka, the international secretary for Azov's political wing, the National Corps, told RFE/RL in an interview at one of the group's Kyiv offices last week.
The Rundo fight has received fresh scrutiny following an FBI criminal complaint against him unsealed last month that preceded his arrest. In it, Special Agent Scott Bierwirth wrote that Azov's military wing is "believed to have participated in training and radicalizing United States-based white supremacy organizations."
READ THE FULL STORY HERE.
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for November 14, 2018. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.