Ukrainian nationalists fire FLARE GUN at Russian embassy in Kiev, threaten to storm diplomatic mission (VIDEO)

Ukrainian radicals have shot a round from a flare gun at the Russian embassy in Kiev, hitting the building's roof as they staged a rally outside the mission. Despite a heavy police presence, officers apparently stood idly by.

Russia's diplomatic mission in Kiev suffered the assault late on Saturday as a crowd of mostly far-right radicals gathered in front of the embassy and pelted its premises with flares and smoke pellets. At one point, someone also fired a flare gun round, which hit the building's roof to loud cheers from the crowd, which was chanting anti-Russian slogans, a video published on social media shows.

The radicals failed to set the building on fire but they desecrated a Russian flag by tearing it apart in front of the mission.

Russian diplomats said they would still check the embassy's premises to make sure that the assault did not result in any damage, however. The attack was condemned by the Russian OSCE mission, which also said that the radicals had threatened to storm the embassy.

Ultranationalists hit the streets of Ukraine's capital to mark so-called Volunteer's Day, which is described as a holiday commemorating the courage of those who defended Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. In fact, the occasion is related to the post-2014 Maidan coup events, when so-called volunteer battalions were formed and thrown against the self-proclaimed people's republics in the country's east.

The crowd that staged the march on this day particularly included members of the infamous Azov Regiment, mostly comprised of far-right volunteers, many of whom openly express white nationalist and neo-Nazi beliefs. The demonstrators waved flags with the regiment's logo and the 'Wolfsangel' – a rune used by the German 2nd SS Panzer Division 'Das Reich' in WWII – which the unit adopted as its symbol.

©  Reuters / Gleb Garanich

Ukrainian police deployed heavy forces to the embassy ahead of the ultranationalist march and cordoned off the building with metal barriers. According to some reports, there were even more police officers at the scene than there were demonstrators. Yet, they apparently never even tried to intervene as the radicals attacked the diplomatic mission.

Even more bizarrely, the police said after the march that they had found "no serious violations" of law and order during the action.

Russian diplomatic missions have frequently been targeted by Ukrainian radicals since the Maidan coup. In 2018, ultranationalists set the territory of the Russian consulate in the northeastern city of Kharkov on fire. In 2016, groups of radicals attacked another consular office in the western Ukrainian city of Lvov, while the embassy in Kiev was attacked twice in just 24 hours in March of the same year.

The Ukrainian authorities have always been reluctant to investigate such incidents, while Kiev's Western backers have preferred to turn a blind eye to such attacks.

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